This book is an attempt to explain the complexities of the most controversial issue of the 1980s and 1990s against the historical, legal, religous and cultural background.

The Right to Die is the result of objective research into and analysis of a subject that is not only controversial, but difficult to define quickly or easily a person's right to choose to die, whether alone or with the help of another.

In 1988 an attempt in California to change the law to permit physician-assisted suicide of a terminally ill person failed. Fresh reform attempts are being made in Washington and Oregon in 1991 and in California again in 1992.

In The Right To Die, the authors give a complete history of the subject, beginning with Greek and Roman attitudes towards dying. They cover active and passive euthanasia, suicide, mercy killing, and the medical and legal issues, as well as the moral and ethical questions on both sides.