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The applied ethical issue of euthanasia, or mercy killing, concerns whether it is morally permissible for a third party, such as a physician, to end the life of a terminally ill patient who is in intense pain. The euthanasia controversy is part of a larger issue concerning the right to die. Staunch defenders of personal liberty argue that all of us are morally entitled to end our lives when we see fit. Thus, according to …

…Euthanasia (Greenwood Press, 1980). o D. Humphry, The Right to Die: Understanding Euthanasia (Harper and Row, 1986). o Marvin Kohl, ed. Beneficent Euthanasia (Prometheus, 1975). o H. Kuhse, The Sanctity-of-Life Doctrine in Medicine: A Critique (Oxford University Press, 1987). o Daniel C. Maguire, Death by Choice (Doubleday, 1974). o James Rachels, The End of Life: Euthanasia and Morality (Oxford University Press, 1987). o Bonnie Steinbock, Killing and Letting Die (Prentice-Hall, 1980). o Richard M. Zaner, Death: Beyond Whole-Brain Criteria (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1988).