Wesley J. Smith

The headline is hyperbole, for all you literalists out there—and you know who you are.  But I think Jacob Sullum is right that we seem to be in danger of medicating “boyhood.”  From the Reason article, “Pediatrician Group Seeks to Boost ADHD Diagnosis:” This . . . . Continue Reading »

There’s a great deal of push within the organ transplant community and bioethics to loosen the rules of organ donation.  This is profoundly unwise because it will, in my view, erode the trust people currently have in the organ transplant system.  ‘But that’s not what I . . . . Continue Reading »

This is appalling.  A posthumous biography of Steve Jobs is out and it reveals that he had a relatively slow growing pancreatic cancer—and rather than having immediate surgery and standardized treatment, he tried instead to cure himself with a vegan diet and other similar nonsense!  . . . . Continue Reading »

There is an old Jewish saying: “If you save a life, you’ve saved the world.”  If that is true, the Alliance Defense Fund has saved many worlds, preventing profoundly cognitively disabled people from being intentionally dehydrated to death by having tube-supplied sustenance . . . . Continue Reading »

An abortion/medical conscience controversy is riling the decidedly pro choice state of Washington, presaging what I think will become one of our own most contentious bioethical controversies.  The issue involves the existence and extent of “conscience rights” for . . . . Continue Reading »

Reason magazine’s science writer, Ron Bailey, has long been in the thrall of transhumanism.  (We debated once at CUNY).  He has swallowed the immortality project without even chewing and has baptized himself in the scientism neo-faith that The Singularity will usher in a new era of . . . . Continue Reading »

There NICE goes again.  The (misnamed) National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence—actually the UK’s health rationing agency—plans to turn down a breakthrough treatment for advanced stage melanoma. From the Oncology Report story:A drug considered a breakthrough . . . . Continue Reading »

I have a piece in the current Center for Bioethics newsletter about the so-called “duty to die.” I discuss two examples of notable bioethicists advocating a duty to die, with quotes.  I then note that enacting such a legal duty remains theoretical, but note that may be less . . . . Continue Reading »

Oh, that evil Big Pharma:  GlaxoSmithKlein has developed at great cost, over about two decades, a vaccination that can save many people—particularly children—from contracting malaria.  From the Guardian story:Millions of children’s lives could be saved by a new vaccine . . . . Continue Reading »

Good. As anticipated, the EU’s top court has banned patents on embryonic stem cells as EU law prohibits patenting products that came from destroying embryos.  From the France International News story:Europe’s top court on Tuesday banned researchers from patenting any process to . . . . Continue Reading »