It would come as no surprise that many readers may be shocked and intrigued by the title of our book. Some, especially our medical colleagues, may wonder why it is even worthwhile to raise the issue of killing by doctors. Killing is clearly antithetical to the art and science of medicine, which is geared toward easing pain and suffering and saving lives rather than smothering them. Doctors should be a source of comfort rather than a cause for alarm. Nevertheless, although they often don't want to admit it, doctors are people too. Physicians have the same genetic library of both endearing qualities and character defects as the rest of us, but their vocation places them in a position to intimately interject themselves into the lives of other people. In most cases, fortunately, the positive traits are dominant and doctors do more good than harm.