Increased support of active euthanasia & assisted suicide grows mainly out of a fear of medicine’s aggressive powers to extend life under poor circumstances. Two arguments that undergird the pro-euthanasia/pro-assisted suicide position– self-determination & a rejection of the killing & allowing to die distinction– are criticized. The right to self-determination is limited & does not justify claims to kill or be killed. The killing & allowing to die distinction has not only a logical validity, but a social validity & significance as well.