Wesley J. Smith

We have discussed here repeatedly various religious/secular controversies that require the balancing of interests.  We have also repeatedly discussed why I believe—and many commenters don’t—that infant circumcision should be protected as a religious right. And . . . . Continue Reading »

Last year, I wrote here about how “Suicide Prevention Day” was pretty much invisible. Well, can any of you guess which date was National Suicide Prevention Day for 2012?  (Cue the Jeopardy music.) Time’s up: September 10: Come and gone without making a ripple, with mostly blog . . . . Continue Reading »

The NHS crisis keeps getting worse. Now, because doctors don’t want to work “anti social hours” and due to work regulations, some hospitals are in danger of imploding during weekends.  From the Telegraph story:Patients’ lives are at risk in NHS hospital wards that are . . . . Continue Reading »

For years we were pounded with the importance of routine screening to catch cancer and other serious diseases early when they are most treatable. Now, we are often being told not to screen because of the risk of false positives.  Latest example has the experts recommending against routine . . . . Continue Reading »

The World Health Organization has published guidelines to help prevent suicide.  From the WHO:Effective interventions Strategies involving restriction of access to common methods of suicide, such as firearms or toxic substances like pesticides, have proved to be effective in reducing suicide . . . . Continue Reading »

Some time ago, doctors discovered that Ambien could bring apparently unconscious patients back to awareness, although the effect would sometimes fade as the drug wore off.  A case in South Africa has repeated the phenomenon.  From the News 24 story:After reading a report in City Press last . . . . Continue Reading »

I incurred the wrath of Game of Thrones fans when I complained about the pretty graphic (soft core) incest depicted between adult brother and sister in the early episodes, complete with grunts and sighs. And I warned that using incest to titillate in a fantasy was just the beginning.  From my . . . . Continue Reading »

Australia’s Philip Nitschke’s “life’s work” is to make it easier for anyone who wants death to off themselves, and for any reason.  He travels the world giving “how to” seminars and has even trained people to buy suicide drugs in Mexico and sneak . . . . Continue Reading »

I keep warning that this “nature rights” movement is beginning to bite, and people keep rolling their eyes.  But New Zealand just granted rights to a river.  From the New Zealand Herald story:Meet the Whanganui. You might call it a river, but in the eyes of the law, it  . . . . Continue Reading »

The New England Journal of Medicine has become a leftwing journal on issues of public policy. Demonstrating its progressive bona fides, it just published an article—based on a symposium sponsored by the hard left think tank, Center for American Progress—proposing ways to . . . . Continue Reading »