Wesley J. Smith

Where is the institutional memory of the media? A truly good news story has come out about how last year we had fewer automobile accident deaths since the 1960s. There are many reasons for this, with the story focusing on high gas prices last year for reducing the miles driven. Increased seat belt . . . . Continue Reading »

Compassion and Choices (formerly Hemlock Society) has been mighty peeved lately that so many ethical doctors are refusing to supply assisted suicide prescriptions to their patients. As I noted yesterday, Montana’s doctors are apparently refusing to cooperate with the suicide agenda, and so C . . . . Continue Reading »

The prolific British author Terry Pratchett has a moving and frank article about what it is like to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. There is much to digest, including how the medical system in the UK seems inadequate to address serious conditions such as this requiring specialized care. But I . . . . Continue Reading »

When I have time, I intend to list the hospitals and institutions that have said no to assisted suicide in Washington. Now, apparently the same spirit of non cooperation with being complicit in assisted suicide that sprang to life in that state in the wake of the passage of I-1000 has spread to . . . . Continue Reading »

The more I observe PETA, the more bizarre it seems to me. It claims to love animals, and yet it euthanizes more than 90% of the animals it takes in. Why does PETA have to do this? Animal shelters are able to euthanize animals too sick, injured, or aggressive to be found good homes. Moreover, it does . . . . Continue Reading »

This makes me gnash my teeth: Would any respectable magazine ask the racist David Duke to be part of a benign feature story, say, “What are Your Five Favorite Animals?” Of course not. But Forbes —a money magazine—decided to give Peter Singer the forum to answer that very . . . . Continue Reading »

This makes me gnash my teeth: Would any respectable magazine ask the racist David Duke to be part of a benign feature story, say, “What are Your Five Favorite Animals?”Of course not. But Forbes—a money magazine—decided to to give Peter Singer that very forum. Peter Singer . . . . Continue Reading »

Assisted suicide advocacy rests on two fundamental ideological premises. First, that we own our bodies and hence, it is the “ultimate civil liberty” to decide on the time, manner, and place of our own demise. Second, that killing is an acceptable answer to the problem of human . . . . Continue Reading »

Following up on my SHS post from earlier today that disagreed with Sally Satel’s push to legalize a market in live kidney donation to ease the organ shortage, I did a little digging on the risks. Although the surgery is generally considered quite safe, and donors appear to live as long as non . . . . Continue Reading »

Psychiatrist Sally Satel, of the American Enterprise Institute, has written about being diagnosed with eventual renal failure and her efforts to jump ahead of the organ waiting list (before going on dialysis) by finding someone to give her a kidney. (Her efforts failed until the author Virgina . . . . Continue Reading »