Ethical and legal considerations play a major role in nursing the terminally ill. It is, therefore, important before setting up a hospice program to examine the legal rights of a patient in that particular culture, and how the predominant religious belief influences those rights. This article will first analyze the basic rights of a dying patient. This is followed by a discussion of the Christian and Jewish religious beliefs and of how these beliefs may influence terminal care. The article concludes with a survey of the law in three different countries, as it pertains to terminal care: the United States, Great Britain, and Israel.