Wesley J. Smith

It is remarkable how often judges shrug at the killing of sick and disabled people. In the UK, a man plead guilty to manslaughter of his terminally ill wife, and walked out of court a free man. From the London Evening Standard story:Stuart Mungall, 71, smothered former actress Joan, 69, at their . . . . Continue Reading »

It is oft said that a society is judged by how it treats its weakest members. (Humans only. Animals are not members of the moral community. Their proper care is an important ethical issue, but irrelevant to this post.)  And there are no weaker among us than those who experience profound . . . . Continue Reading »

A treaty to protect the ozone is requiring the removal of an effective asthma inhaler.  From the CNN Health story:The Food and Drug Administration is reminding doctors and patients that Primatene Mist, the only nonprescription asthma inhaler in the United States, can no longer be sold or . . . . Continue Reading »

I knew there was a catch. Peter Singer opined that broadening health care coverage is an important public good.  (I agree, but it is not a “right.”  Nor, is Obamacare the correct approach.  But those are not the subjects of this post.)Being a utilitarian who advocates . . . . Continue Reading »

Environmentalism ain’t what it used to be.  Rather than being beneficently about maintaining a clean environment and promoting conservation, the radical edge has been pushing increasingly toward the dark side—turning anti human exceptionalism and anti progress. And alas, these days . . . . Continue Reading »

Good grief.  Here we go again.The SF Chronicle has a front page story about the fourth human subject to receive an embryonic stem cell-derived injection of cells.  From the story:A Bay Area patient who recently suffered a serious spinal cord injury and is now paralyzed from the waist down . . . . Continue Reading »

This should be a huge story, but isn’t.  Belgian doctors have coupled euthanasia and organ harvesting—and write about it in respected medical journals. Moreover, the eligible for the euthanasia harvest are people with disabilities—such as MS—and even the mentally . . . . Continue Reading »

In my first article against euthanasia/assisted suicide—published in Newsweek in 1993—that legalization would inevitably lead to organ harvesting “as a plum to society.” As I have reported here and elsewhere, the harvest is now being reaped in Belgium—and doctors there . . . . Continue Reading »

Are they out of their minds?I have written in support of the non heart beating cadaver donor method for procuring organs—sometimes called heart death to differentiate it from the “brain death” (really, declared dead by neurological criteria). This approach involves declaring death . . . . Continue Reading »

PETA is a subversive group, almost (?) a cult, that is so obsessed about animals there are almost no levels to which it will not stoop in the cause of erasing the moral distinction between us and animals.  Remember the vile “Holocaust On Your Plate” campaign that literally compared . . . . Continue Reading »