Wesley J. Smith

I don’t know why the media is surprised when animal rights group are never satisfied. Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine—which is a creature of PETA with only about 4% of its members being doctors—wants to stop medical schools from using animals in their teaching. From . . . . Continue Reading »

More of this please. California regulators have hit Pacificare with a huge fine. From the story:After an unprecedented eight-month joint state probe triggered by hundreds of complaints, state health insurance regulators Tuesday slapped the PacifiCare unit of UnitedHealthcare with a record $3.5 . . . . Continue Reading »

Newsman Mike Wallace is recovering from a triple bypass surgery. Why is this a matter of interest to SHS other than to wish him well? Because under age-dictated health care rationing of the kind practiced in the UK and urged upon us by some very notable bioethicists here in America, Wallace would . . . . Continue Reading »

In the Netherlands, doctors sometimes euthanize babies born with spina bifida. There (and here), doctors sometimes refuse to treat them so that they will die. But now, a new journal article calls expose these lethal actions and non actions as the bigotry (my term) that they are. Writing in Childs . . . . Continue Reading »

India is searching for a monster who convinced the destitute to sell their kidneys at bargain basement prices and sold them for a huge profit. But the real empowerers of this atrocity are the foreigners who wanted new kidneys and didn’t care who got hurt in the process. From the story: India . . . . Continue Reading »

I have written several posts about the need to develop uniform standards of declaring death by neurological criteria—popularly known as “brain death.” Now, there’s some more information out about that problem. From the story:Guidelines for determining brain death differ . . . . Continue Reading »

The most robust opponents of assisted suicide—and the most effective in my view—are disability rights advocates. They understand well that legalizing assisted suicide is a gun aimed at their hearts. An opinion column by one Ian Mulgrew of the Vancouver Sun underscores the threat. He . . . . Continue Reading »

In a stunning development, doctors responding to a questionnaire have urged that promiscuous people be denied certain treatments based on their unhealthy lifestyles. From the story: Doctors are calling for NHS treatment to be withheld from patients who lead irresponsible and unhealthy sexual lives. . . . . Continue Reading »

Focus on the Family’s on-line magazine did an interview with me for a feature on “pro life heroes.” I am certainly no hero. All I do is write and speak, emitting hot air and particulate matter as I go, hence the name of this blog. And as for being pro life, my thesis is human . . . . Continue Reading »

This could be great news aways down the road for diabetics. From the story: An international team of researchers has finally managed to locate stem cells in the pancreas—in mice, at least.If the findings are confirmed in humans, they could pave the way for dramatic new therapies for diabetes, . . . . Continue Reading »