The murderer Jack Kevorkian is going to be paroled in June. He promises not to assist any more suicides. But that doesn’t mean he won’t be lionized in the press. The media love outlaws of a certain kind. I am sure Barbara Walters, Oprah, and Katie Couric will be tripping over each other . . . . Continue Reading »
The Italian Supreme Court is going to hear a case about whether a patient should have the right to refuse unwanted life-sustaining medical treatment (a matter already settled in the United States). This isn’t euthanasia, as currently understood, which involves the active mercy killing of . . . . Continue Reading »
This took courage: With rabid animal rights activists in the UK having gone so far as to threaten to assassinate animal researchers, this study issuing a clarion call to encourage proper, humane, and rigorously regulated scientific and medical research with primates is most welcome. Tremendous . . . . Continue Reading »
The newest edition of my podcast Brave New Bioethics is now up. Using my earlier First Thing blog entry as my script, I compare the love of a father whose son has Down syndrome with the infanticide permissiveness of bioethicist Peter . . . . Continue Reading »
I received this request from a reader: “Dear Wes: I’m interested in your take on Dominion—a thoughtful book on the nature of our relationship with animals. I am reading it presently and find that he strikes a good balance so far- his view may be the elixir for those of us who . . . . Continue Reading »
The blood family of child abuse victim Haleigh Poutre wants justice for the near dehydration of Haleigh—who doctors said was in a PVS, but who can apparently now talk. There are complications about the family that I don’t want to get into, e.g., the mother lost her parental rights after . . . . Continue Reading »
I was interviewed for an hour by Derek Gilbert yesterday on KSSZ about transhumanism, post humanity, and genetic enhancement of our progeny. We discuss transhumanism as religion, its obsession with control, and its threat to human exceptionalism. I quote James Hughes’ assertion from Citizen . . . . Continue Reading »
The BBC has a very disturbing report that newborn infants may be being killed in the Ukraine to harvest their stem cells. This follows hard on the heels of another story that women in the Ukraine are paid $200 to get pregnant for purposes of aborting at 8 weeks gestation to harvest stem . . . . Continue Reading »
What were the operators of Hope Hospice of Southwest Florida thinking? A few weeks ago, they applied for a license to operate a funeral home. This was wrong on so many levels. But, at least for now, the attempt to combine end-of-life care with post life funeral arrangements is off.Special kudos to . . . . Continue Reading »
Does it matter morally that a “being” is human? And what does it mean exactly, to be human? The jihad aside, these may be the most important questions facing us in the 21st Century. Which is why we spend so much time here at Secondhand Smoke discussing the question of human . . . . Continue Reading »
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