Wesley J. Smith

Yuval Levin, the former White House policy guy for biotechnology, and now with the Ethics and Public Policy Center (which former Senator Rick Santorum just joined), has a fine piece in today’s NRO that bursts the bubble, in an entirely empirical manner, of many of the most prominent arguments . . . . Continue Reading »

The disability rights movement is really up in arms about the non therapeutic surgeries imposed upon Ashley. Not Dead Yet has weighed in with its own press release (released on the 6th but only linkable now). Here are a few key points:“‘We are saddened but not surprised by the fact that . . . . Continue Reading »

I am often asked how and why I became an activist on behalf of human exceptionalism. I sure never planned it! Nor, when I began this work, was I aware of the depth and scope of the issues in which I would one day engage. My path to posting this blog entry began with the suicide of my friend, . . . . Continue Reading »

The never shy Steven Drake has blistered the doctors who performed the surgery on Ashley in an open letter. Here is what he wrote in full:“I am writing to you wearing several hats.My first hat is as a person with a disability related to injuries received at birth. The doctor who inflicted . . . . Continue Reading »

People rightly ridiculed then Senator John Edwards when he claimed that if people voted for Senator John Kerry, “people like [the paralyzed] Christopher Reeve are going to walk, get up out of that wheelchair and walk again.” This was rightly criticized as the “Amen Moment,” . . . . Continue Reading »

This story out of the UK is disturbing and a warning about where the “quality of life” ethic can take us. A 91-year old had a stroke. Rather than treat her, her family charges, doctors instead let her lie in bed and die of starvation. This, even though she begged for food!We have no . . . . Continue Reading »

Most of bioetechnology is ethical, efficacious, and has nothing to do with embryonic stem cell research or human cloning. Here is one such area of beneficial research: Scientists have genetically modified skin, which can be applied when the burns are dressed, to make skin grafts more resistant to . . . . Continue Reading »

I have spent the last few days doing a lot of media about Ashley, the disabled little girl subjected to invasive surgeries and hormone injections to keep her small and physically immature. I have been quite heartened that other than the occasional transhumanist, while accepting the parents’ . . . . Continue Reading »

This is very good news for dying patients and their families. A new study has been released demonstrating that pain control using opioids (narcotics) in end of life care “poses an extremely small risk of hastened death in this population [hospice patients].” The results of this study . . . . Continue Reading »

I am surprised and pleased: The story about the versatility of amniotic fluid stem cells was major front page news in today’s San Francisco Chronicle. The story, byline Carl Hall, also had one of the fairest presentations of the stem cell controversy I have seen in the MSM. Here are a few key . . . . Continue Reading »