Defends the criminal prohibition of euthanasia and physician-assisteds suicide from the charge that it is hypocritical. The charge rests on five grounds: first, that the law is ineffective and winks at these practices; second, that it permits palliative treatment which shortens life; third, that by not prohibiting suicide it recognises a right to suicide; fourth, that it allows patients to end their lives by refusing treatmen, and, finally, that it allows life-prolonging treatment to be withheld or withdrawn.