Wesley J. Smith

Several years ago, I wrote about the woeful decline in the taking of the Hippocratic Oath, and the pabulum replacements that really did not require new doctors to pledge anything very meaningful at all.  From my 2006 piece, “Harm Done,” in NRO:Unfortunately, we live in an age when . . . . Continue Reading »

I often hear that people are not exceptional, that we are just like animals and that any morality we develop is merely a result of natural selection forces.I don’t believe that.  I believe we have—to a degree, not absolutely—surmounted evolution, which is undirected, by . . . . Continue Reading »

Dr. Diane Meier was once a vocal proponent of assisted suicide.  She is one of the nation’s top palliative care experts—along with Dr. Kathleen Foley.  Here are her credentials: she was a winner of a McArthur (genius) Fellowship and Director of the Center to Advance Palliative . . . . Continue Reading »

The governor of Idaho has signed the legislation making assisted suicide a felony.  Excellent news.  That should take the likely planned lawsuit by C & C off the table.  Congratulations to all . . . . Continue Reading »

I warned and I warned, here at SHS, in speeches, on the radio: Obamacare would spawn 100,000 pages of regulations.  That’s because we no longer pass laws that govern, we pass laws that serve as skeletons for the bureaucrats to create the rules that actually exert the details of . . . . Continue Reading »

For years, PETA has attacked the Australian wool industry for engaging in mulesing, a procedure in which the skin of Merino lambs (Merino sheep have the best wool) is stripped near the anus so that when the wound heals, it does not have wool or wrinkles. This isn’t to be cruel, but to prevent . . . . Continue Reading »

Japanese scientists have used ES cells to grow a primordial retina. From the story:The team from the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research in Japan, first cultivated embryonic stem cells in a test tube and then added proteins to trigger them into developing. They hoped that they would form a . . . . Continue Reading »

I know I sound like a broken record: Single payer. Single payer. Centralized control. Centralized control.Obamacare begins the process of centralizing healthcare in America by giving multiple bureaucracies the power to create standards of care and insurance coverage. That’s just the opening . . . . Continue Reading »

There is an interesting book review in the WSJ of The Immortalization Commission, by John Gray, a history and analysis of science’s quest to defeat death.The idea of human corporeal immortality is (I believe) a desperate attempt by materialists to recreate the lost hope that religion offers . . . . Continue Reading »

Danger Will Robinson!  Danger! Centralized control and/or single payer lead to rationing—by invidious categories and by long waits for treatment most people in the USA receive expeditiously.  From the BBC story:Surgeons say patients in some parts of England have spent months waiting . . . . Continue Reading »