Wesley J. Smith

I have a very good friend and relative going through harrowing health times. He sent me this poem, written by a teenager dying of cancer, and asked me to pass it on. Her dying wish is to have it read by as many people as possible.  Here it is:SLOW DANCEHave you ever watched kids On a . . . . Continue Reading »

Bioethics founding father, Daniel Callahan, has long called for a reevaluation of our open-ended approach to medical innovation—a field that he worries has developed a “research imperative”—as a way to prevent a total blowout of health care costs.  The idea in a very . . . . Continue Reading »

Moving forward on the adult stem cell front, a new study shows that human heart patients were helped significantly with an injection of adult stem cells in cases where no other treatment proved efficacious.  From the Cyprus Times story:An injection of stem cells into the heartcould offer hope . . . . Continue Reading »

A picture is worth a thousand words...but probably not in the way Piraro . . . . Continue Reading »

What a tremendous thing: Doctors have replaced a cancer patient’s diseased trachea with one made in part using his own adult stem cells.  From the Wall Street Journal story:Doctors have replaced the cancer-stricken windpipe of a patient with an organ made in a lab, a landmark achievement . . . . Continue Reading »

During the debate over passage of Obamacare, I was appalled at the mendacity and willingness of some supporters to say anything to get the big mess through. In fact, in my 40+ years of paying close attention to politics, I don’t think I have ever seen a more dishonest sales job for major . . . . Continue Reading »

Frankly, I don’t understand why this was ever an issue.  President Obama has changed policies and will now send condolence letters to families of military service members who commit suicide while in a war zone.  From the NYT story: As the number of military suicides has surged since . . . . Continue Reading »

Awful. I have advocated—to some criticism—that the organ transplant community should make it very clear that organs that become available due to suicide will not be procured.  See my reasoning here.Now, in India, a 12-year-old girl killed herself for that very purpose. From the . . . . Continue Reading »

I don’t know of any organization that has done more to focus on the problems associated with reproductive technologies than the The Center for Bioethics and Culture (for which I am a paid consultant). The CBC is now following up the successes of its two previous documentaries (most recently, . . . . Continue Reading »

In case it isn’t clear: I support wholeheartedly the right of people to refuse life-sustaining treatment for themselves or for their dying children.  (Food and fluids present a different issue and I don’t want to go there in this post.)  My opposition to what I call Futile Care . . . . Continue Reading »