Wesley J. Smith

Well, this is very refreshing. An article published two years ago in the journal Chest ( 2007; 132:1987–1993) suggests that coercive medical futility be replaced with a different—and from my perspective, far more positive—approach to handling intractable disputes between a medical . . . . Continue Reading »

Can you imagine the banner headlines if this were an embryonic stem cell success? From the story: [Adult]Stem cells transplanted into early-phase multiple sclerosis patients stabilised, and in some cases reversed, the debilitating neurological disorder, according to a study published Friday...In . . . . Continue Reading »

When the FDA approved Geron’s application to conduct human trials of their embryonic stem cell treatment for acute spinal cord injury, some noted that it might be political, coming as it did within days of the change of the presidential guard. I wasn’t among those, but perhaps I should . . . . Continue Reading »

About seven weeks ago I began tracking the locales from which Secondhand Smoke is accessed. In that time,we have been visited by people interested in bioethics and human exceptionalism from 139 countries. Our newest “flag” is Ethiopia. Thanks to . . . . Continue Reading »

Great news from the uncontroversial biotech file: “Bubble Boy” disease, named after David Vetter who became famous because he had to be isolated behind plastic shields to prevent infection from a genetic disease that causes severe defects in the immune system, has been effectively . . . . Continue Reading »

Wonder of wonders, Wyoming has stepped up to the plate to outlaw assisted suicide. From HB 120 (no link): (a) A person who has knowledge that another person intends to commit or attempt to commit suicide and who does either of the following with the intention of enabling or facilitating the suicide . . . . Continue Reading »

Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson has written an important column that shows how Left Wing politics has apparently interfered with the fight against AIDS in Africa.From the column:During Obama’s transition, Dr. Mark Dybul was initially asked to stay on as the coordinator of the . . . . Continue Reading »

You’ve read about it, now hear my analysis of the Montana court case creating a constitutional right to “die with dignity.” As I state, it is the first time of which I am aware in which an advocacy slogan (“death with dignity”) was elevated into a constitutional . . . . Continue Reading »

The attempt to increase the organ donation pool has led to an increased use in “heart death” procurement protocols, known as “non heart-beating cadaver donors.” Under what has been called the Pittsburgh Protocol, obtaining organs via this method involves, 1) Planned removal . . . . Continue Reading »

Two states have had assisted suicide bills introduced; Hawaii and New Hampshire. Hawaii’s law requires a suicide “monitor” to be present at the death—which in practice would often be an assisted suicide ideologue, such as the “counselors” who work with Compassion . . . . Continue Reading »