Wesley J. Smith

The UK’s rationing board NICE has urged hospitals, nursing homes, and hospices around the  UK to implement the “Liverpool Care Pathway,” under which patients supposedly near death are sedated into unconsciousness and denied food and water.  There are now indications that . . . . Continue Reading »

I have a piece in today’s NRO about the Liverpool Care Pathway, which we have discussed here previously at SHS. From my column:The United Kingdom continues to provide vivid warnings about the dangers of centralized health-care planning — a real possibility under Obamacare. Within the last . . . . Continue Reading »

President Obama swore an oath to “faithfully execute the office of President of the United States.” The POTUS is also known as the chief magistrate, whose job it is to enforce federal law.  But now, Obama’s Justice Department has told federal prosecutors that they should not . . . . Continue Reading »

The doctor who implanted six embryos in the Octomom, leading to eight births (two of the embryos twinned), has been kicked out of a voluntary medical society. From the story:Dr Michael Kamrava, the doctor who gave fertility treatment to “Octomom” Nadya Suleman has been expelled from the . . . . Continue Reading »

Obamacare, Senator Baucus style, weighs in at over 1500 pages!  From the story:Senate Finance Committee members have been notified that the committee’s health reform bill was filed today. S. 1796 weighs in at 1,502 pages... Read the entire 1,502 page Finance bill...It’s important to . . . . Continue Reading »

Drudge has a story up about a proposed—but not yet implimented—Florida plan to prioritize care in the event of a terrible flu outbreak and resulting severe resource shortage.  I just heard Rush Limbaugh call it a death panel.  I don’t agree—mostly—and . . . . Continue Reading »

I think the point of Obamacare is to destroy the private health insurance system.  But Obama/Pelosi/Reid aren’t sufficiently candid to openly propose the idea because that would allow a real and legitimate democratic debate about how we should manage the medical future. (Similarly, the . . . . Continue Reading »

In the past few months, I have come to think that Obamacare and the obsession with cost containment is driving us crazy. Now, after reading Slate writer Daniel Engber’s call for a war on shortness to be fought alongside the war on obesity, I know it is.  Writing in the New York Times . . . . Continue Reading »

Adult stem cells have restored feeling in the bodies of people paralyzed with spinal cord injury—indeed, even permitting some to walk with assistance. From the story : The injuries in the study patients were 18 months to 15 years old. The patients, ages 19 to 37, had no use of their legs . . . . Continue Reading »

Two notable stories about ethical stem cell research. First, another announcement of how olfactory adult stem cells have aided paralyzed patients with spinal cord injury regain feeling—and even walk.  From the story:The injuries in the study patients were 18 months to 15 years old. The . . . . Continue Reading »