Wesley J. Smith

The current Futile Care Theory fuss in Canada, in which a hospital wants to remove Samuel Golubchuk’s respirator and feeding tube because he is diagnosed as unconscious, seems to be playing out in the polls as favoring the family that wants their father’s life-sustaining treatment to . . . . Continue Reading »

Each year the Center for Bioethics and Culture asks me to predict what will happen in the next 12 months regarding the major bioethical and biotechnological controversies of the day. So, I put on my Carnac the Magnificent hat and predicted away. It is worth noting that my expectations were affected . . . . Continue Reading »

When I was in Toronto recently at the international anti-euthanasia conference, I focused my speech on the looming threat of Futile Care Theory as the next big bioethical controversy. And already, I am proved prescient. A Canadian hospital is trying to force an elderly man off of a respirator and . . . . Continue Reading »

A column in the KC Star grouses that the state is funding life sciences research into animal and plant experiments, but not human studies. From the column by Jason Gertzen:The Missouri General Assembly created the trust fund and the grant program a few years ago. It was one of the ways state leaders . . . . Continue Reading »

People like this deserve to be jailed and the key thrown away. The continuing rabid attacks against Huntingdon Life Sciences and any business that deals with the company, has now led these fanatics to threaten to poison the general population. This is an anonymous “communique” from a . . . . Continue Reading »

In the NRO, I credited President Bush’s ESCR funding restrictions for having played a part into the quest to find non-embryonic sources of pluripotent stem cells—cells “the scientists” insisted they needed to fulfill the total promise of regenerative medicine. My thinking is . . . . Continue Reading »

Saving the planet is all the rage these days. Now, an Australian bioethicist wants to charge people a carbon tax for having children. The money would be used to plant trees as an offset to the global warming that the new children would allegedly cause. From the story:Professor Walters, clinical . . . . Continue Reading »

The ALF has vandalized a researcher’s car in Oregon and boast about it. From the story:Animal-rights saboteurs have claimed responsibility for vandalizing the property of a second Portland-area scientist who uses monkeys in his research. In a message Friday, the Animal Liberation Front . . . . Continue Reading »

I had to think about this, but I think the parents’ decision to order their profoundly disabled daughter not to receive CPR at school if she has a cardiac arrest is very wrong. From the story:As the school bus rolled to a stop outside her Lake County home, Beth Jones adjusted the bright yellow . . . . Continue Reading »

This isn’t good: In the UK some organs have been transplanted from drug addicts and cases of drug overdose because, allegedly, cases were desperate. And the answer to this disturbing bit of news? “Presumed consent” to organ donation. From the story:Hundreds of below standard . . . . Continue Reading »