Euthanasia – the intentional killing of a patient, by act or omission, as part of his or her medical care – is, without doubt, one of the most pressing and profound issues confronting the modern world. It is pressing in that there appears to have been, as Dan Callahan indicates in his Foreword, a sea change in the climate of opinion, which is now more receptive than before to euthanasia and assisted suicide, and profound in that it raises questions of fundamental importance not only for health care professionals and their patients, but for lawyers and legislators, philosophers and theologians, and indeed all members of society.

Questions raised include: Is it always wrong for a doctor intentionally to kill a patient, even if the patient is suffering and asks for death? Do beneficence and respect for autonomy not require that his or her request be carried out? Do patients enjoy a ‘right to die’ and, if so, what does it mean? Are only some lives ‘worthwhile’ and, if so, which and why? Is there a moral difference between intending to hasten death and foreseeing that life will be shortened, or between killing and letting die, or between euthanasia and assisted suicide? Cart voluntary euthanasia be distinguished in principle from euthanasia without request? Can voluntary euthanasia be safely regulated or is the ‘slippery slope’ to euthanasia without request unavoidable? Is life a benefit for those in a ‘persistent vegetative state’ or should their treatment and feeding be stopped?