ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a discussion in a different voice. It offers an analysis of some of the concepts that are central to the discussion of physician-assisted suicide: the nature of rights in general, the right to life and its relation to the right to die, the moral principles of respect and beneficence, and a conception of physician duty. Another aim is to show how the concept of a right to life actually supports the case for physician-assisted suicide. People who have a right to live, therefore, also have a prima facie right to commit suicide, and, within the medical environment, they have the right to refuse (or discontinue) life prolonging therapy. Some arguments appeal to the right to life while others refer to the right to die. These concepts have infused public discussion to such an extent that people find certain social action groups identified as "Right-to-Lifers", and there has even been a "Society for the Right to Die".
