Wesley J. Smith

As we have discussed here before, preventive screening has, in some cases, become controversial.  Example: PSA blood tests for signs of prostate cancer.  Some believe that false positives can lead to unnecessary further testing or treatment—adding to the strain on health care . . . . Continue Reading »

After Obamacare was shoved down our generally unwilling throats, people’s opposition helped lead to the retirement of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House.  But by then, Obamacare had been set in concrete with money set aside ahead of time to prevent opponents from defunding.  . . . . Continue Reading »

This is so funny. The National Center for Science Education—which spends a lot of time and money castigating my Discovery Institute pals about wanting to teach intelligent design as supposed “religious advocacy” in public schools (they don’t)—apparently has no problem . . . . Continue Reading »

Stories like this drive me crazy.  A for-profit hospice is being sued for allowing one of its patients to have maggots in a wound without treatment.  The excuse given is utterly unacceptable.  From the Bloomberg column, “Preparing Americans for Death Allows Hospices to Neglect . . . . Continue Reading »

The New York Times has an interesting report today that male contraceptives in human trials appear to work, generally by reducing sperm output to the point of infertility.  From the story:Male contraceptives are attracting growing interest from scientists, who believe they hold promise for . . . . Continue Reading »

I am a strong believer in medical conscience rights—properly defined and narrowly construed.  Apparently, a poll of medical students in the UK found strong support for their right as doctors to refuse to treat certain patients.   I worry that is too broad an . . . . Continue Reading »

UK scientists are advocating that Parliament create a regulatory body to approve experiments with animals using human DNA.  From the story:British scientists say a new expert body should be formed to regulate experiments mixing animal and human DNA to make sure no medical or ethical boundaries . . . . Continue Reading »

A study is out worrying that it is more difficult to get a “do not resuscitate” order on a patient’s chart if the decision maker is a surrogate.  From the Health Day story:A new study finds that it takes longer to create do-not-resuscitate orders when someone other than the . . . . Continue Reading »

The Canadian (conservative) bioethicist Margaret Somerville has a good piece on the problems with transhumanism, the futurist movement that presumes to “seize control” of human evolution to create a “post human species.”  She hits some points I have repeatedly . . . . Continue Reading »

Oh good grief.  Rather than understand that violent animal rights criminals are motivated by adamant ideology, EU law enforcement wish to pretend that “dialogue” is the answer to a wave of animal rights violence in Europe.  From Public Service Europe:The European Union should . . . . Continue Reading »