Wesley J. Smith

A very sad case in Canada is testing the ethics of organ donation at a Canadian hospital. A terminally ill baby was going to be allowed to die naturally and then after cardiac arrest, be an organ donor under the “Non Heart Beating Cadaver Donor Protocol.” But the baby didn’t die as . . . . Continue Reading »

I hate it when celebrity disease victims are used for political purposes—as was the case, I fear, with Big Biotech and Parkinson’s patient Michael J. Fox, who has spent years telling the country falsely that the Bush ESCR funding policy was keeping people like him from being cured, . . . . Continue Reading »

I will say it until I am blue in the face, and then I will keep saying it: Euthanasia guidelines are not really there to be followed and actually protect the vulnerable; they are there to give the illusion of control. Consider: In Belgium, which has Dutch-style euthanasia, an elderly woman wanted . . . . Continue Reading »

I will say it until I am blue in the face, and then I will keep saying it: Euthanasia guidelines are not really there to be followed and actually protect the vulnerable. They are there to give the illusion of control.Consider: In Belgium, which has Dutch-style euthanasia, an elderly woman wanted . . . . Continue Reading »

In my role as a Senior Fellow in Human Rights and Bioethics at the Discovery Institute, I sent a formal comment to the Department of Health and Human Services opposing its intent to revoke the Bush Conscience clause. Instead of revoking it, I urge that it be revised to prevent it from being relied . . . . Continue Reading »

Where is the institutional memory of the media? A truly good news story has come out about how last year we had fewer automobile accident deaths since the 1960s. There are many reasons for this, with the story focusing on high gas prices last year for reducing the miles driven. Increased seat belt . . . . Continue Reading »

Compassion and Choices (formerly Hemlock Society) has been mighty peeved lately that so many ethical doctors are refusing to supply assisted suicide prescriptions to their patients. As I noted yesterday, Montana’s doctors are apparently refusing to cooperate with the suicide agenda, and so C . . . . Continue Reading »

The prolific British author Terry Pratchett has a moving and frank article about what it is like to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. There is much to digest, including how the medical system in the UK seems inadequate to address serious conditions such as this requiring specialized care. But I . . . . Continue Reading »

When I have time, I intend to list the hospitals and institutions that have said no to assisted suicide in Washington. Now, apparently the same spirit of non cooperation with being complicit in assisted suicide that sprang to life in that state in the wake of the passage of I-1000 has spread to . . . . Continue Reading »

The more I observe PETA, the more bizarre it seems to me. It claims to love animals, and yet it euthanizes more than 90% of the animals it takes in. Why does PETA have to do this? Animal shelters are able to euthanize animals too sick, injured, or aggressive to be found good homes. Moreover, it does . . . . Continue Reading »