Although the change in law regarding physician-assisted suicide is both dramatic & recent, the basic arguments for & against this practice have not really changed since the issue was debated by Williams & Kamisar nearly 50 years ago. In this paper, the author argues in favour of Kamisar’s consequentialist framework. Any change in law & social policy should not be based soley on individual cases, no matter how compelling they may be. Instead, Steinbock assets we need to assess the need for physician-assisted suicide, & weigh this against the risks of mistake & abuse. (39 refs.)