Wesley J. Smith

If you want to see a health care system in the thrall of mainstream bioethics thinking, look no further than the UK where bioethicists have essentially taken over the medical ethics of care provided by the government. Now,in a form of futile care theory, the National Health Service is planning to . . . . Continue Reading »

A gang of animal liberationist thugs, wielding baseball bats, attacked peaceable fly fishers in the UK, roughing people up and breaking rods and reels. Mark my words: These people are becoming wild, based on their zealous embrace of misanthropic animal rights ideology. Unless their less zealous . . . . Continue Reading »

Thanks to all who have commented about my FT blog entry on the importance of equality in the cultural arguments we face. That thread has continued over at First Things, including a good exchange between Villanova Law School professor Robert T. Miller and me. This is how I characterized the issue of . . . . Continue Reading »

Attempts by a hospital to force a woman off of kidney dialysis has resulted in a well-deserved lawsuit and constitutional challenge against the Texas futile care law. Secret bioethics committee Star Chamber-like determinations, made without formal record or right to appeal, must not be permitted to . . . . Continue Reading »

My First Things blog post asserting that the widespread belief in universal human equality could be a potentially saving grace in the cultural controversies of our time has generated a lot of comment, for which I thank my correspondents. Based on what people are telling me, I think there has been . . . . Continue Reading »

This column from the London Times by columnist Mary Kenny is both wise and humble. In responding to the brittle assertion by a BBC host that she (the host) supports assisted suicide, in part because she doesn’t wish to be burdened by her aging parents (which I blogged about here), Kenny has a . . . . Continue Reading »

I am having an interesting on-line “round table,” sponsored by The Center for the Future of Medicine, which in turn, is sponsored by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). The topic is stem cell research. Unfortunately, the exchange is not publicly accesible at . . . . Continue Reading »

At the First Things blog, I expound on how the equality of life ethic animates the arguments of both sides of our most intense cultural controversies. Here is my summary paragraph: “In summary: Unlike earlier societal arguments, such as over slavery and race, almost all sides in today’s . . . . Continue Reading »

In 1982, “Baby Jane Doe” was born with Down’s syndrome and an intestinal blockage. Routine surgery to clear the blockage could have saved the baby’s life. But the mother’s ob/gyn told her parents that they could refuse surgery. Jane’s parents decided she—and . . . . Continue Reading »

Regarding Michael Novak’s post about Heather Mac Donald’s discomfort with talk of God: I too have grappled intellectually with how to analyze crucial concepts of right and wrong, good and evil, in a society that seems so pluralistic morally that it frequently appears not to be a true . . . . Continue Reading »