Wesley J. Smith

As we move into health care reform, the issue of health care rationing is coming to the fore. Instituting Futile Care Theory—the putative right of a doctor to refuse wanted life-sustaining treatment based on his or her values as to the quality of the patient’s life—is the opening . . . . Continue Reading »

The Journal of Critical Care Medicine, has long supported Futile Care Theory—the putative right of doctors to refuse wanted life-sustaining treatment based on their values as to the quality of the patient’s life. This imposition is justified as being beneficial to the patient—even . . . . Continue Reading »

We knew it would come to . . . . Continue Reading »

The media push suicide as an acceptable answer to human difficulty. The latest example is a column by St. Louis Post Dispatch columnist Bill McClellan, who extols the suicide of an elderly man as a “gift” because of the discussion about mortality it inspired.  Think of the message . . . . Continue Reading »

The media are suicide promoters—in the way some journalists report stories about assisted suicide, and especially among the punditry, so many of whom extol suicide in their columns.Case in point, St. Louis Post Dispatch columnist Bill McClellan, who extols an elderly man’s suicide . . . . Continue Reading »

For the latest PETA antic, check out the most recent entry at A Rat Is A Pig Is A Dog Is A Boy, my blog on animal . . . . Continue Reading »

Investor’s Business Daily has a powerful editorial deconstruction of health care rationing, using the dysfunctional Oregon Medicaid system as its archetype.  From the editorial:Advocates of a nationalized single-payer arrangement, typically found on the political left, don’t . . . . Continue Reading »

The current national health care plans being written in the Congress would require every one of us to purchase private health insurance. From the USA Today editorial supporting the idea:In a nation where 46 million people are uninsured, it is one of the most direct routes toward universal, or near . . . . Continue Reading »

I have been hearing from SHS subscribers that they are not receiving the posts.  Sorry about that.  The best remedy is to resubscribe.  Just hit the “blog rss” link directly to the right of this text, and then hit the subscribe link where indicated. And, of course, new . . . . Continue Reading »

The Center for Bioethics and Culture is distributing the documentary Lines That Divide: The Great Embryonic Stem Cell Debate, about embryonic stem cell research.  From the film’s summary:First, the viewer is introduced to the basic science of stem cells and how they are gathered for . . . . Continue Reading »