l neither give a deadly drug to anybody when asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to that effect."(Levine 104). However, many who are for euthanasia say that the oath means that they should not give anybody a deadly drug to kill an enemy with, nor should they tell the person what to use to kill. A quote from Carol Levine says, " on the other hand, if the goal of medicine is not simply to prolong life but to reduce pain, then questions arise about the oath"(105). Many medical doctors oppose active euthanasia. They say that assisted suicide "violates one's will to survive" and that it violates our dignity. They believe that one of our natural human goals is to survive and if we practice euthanasia, then that goal is destroyed. The recovery from an illness even a terminal illness requires that we fight, even when all hope is lost. If we know that there is an easy way out, such as euthanasia, then the human consciousness instinctively tries to take that way out. (105) The main argument against the legality of active euthanasia is sometimes known as the slippery slope argument. People argue that if euthanasia was legally permitted, it would lead to a general decline in the respect for human life. It is professed that we would kill people in the beginning simply to put them out of extreme agony.Other problematic situations with active euthanasia are that a person with a non-terminal disease may blindly choose euthanasia without a settled desire to die (Haifetz 21). It is also likely that a person who chooses euthanasia may change his or her mind at the last moment and then it is obviously too late (Heifetz 21). Also, if an elderly patient is entered into a hospital, they are immediately deemed to be frail and are treated like terminal patients. The thought of euthanasia as a choice instead of a cure may prompt doctors to prematurely induce death (Moroney 2). On the other hand, a growing number of people believe that euthanasia is acc...
