The scope of patient autonomy has been gradually expanded, however, to the point where it has been argued that virtually any choice made by a patient must be accepted, regardless of the consequences. Recent years have seen growing acceptance of the notion that patients' rights include a "right to die" that implies that physicians should be permitted, or even obligated, to provide assistance to patients who wish to actively end their lives. These developments threaten to dramatically alter the most basic principles that have guided the professional behavior of physicians for centuries. These matters are of special concern to neurologists, whose patients (in chronic and unrelenting pain or with progressive debilitating diseases such as MS, Alzheimer's disease, or ALS) are among those for whom the choice of an "easy" death seems most compelling. Neurologists are likely to be asked to provide specific medical advice and effective means to enable patients to actively end their own lives or even to take some direct action with the intent of causing a patient's death.