ABSTRACT
Suicide is only a legal right where it has been established by law, customary or explicit. That Cassius and Brutus did not wish to face the fate that defeat destined them to is quite understandable and that may justify their belief that suicide was a more desirable way to die. And so it may have always seemed if one must die and, if the time between knowing that and it occurring promises to be one of maximal psychic or physical discomfort, then suicide seems a quite reasonable alternative. When Socrates took hemlock, he drank it himself, and it was provided by the prison guard. Moreover, the effects of various drugs and their lethal doses are well known and, in any case, can be readily found in the Physician's Desk Reference. The physician as pharmacist is no longer required and need have no role to play in aiding a suicide.
