Wesley J. Smith

This story out of the UK is disturbing and a warning about where the “quality of life” ethic can take us. A 91-year old had a stroke. Rather than treat her, her family charges, doctors instead let her lie in bed and die of starvation. This, even though she begged for food!We have no . . . . Continue Reading »

Most of bioetechnology is ethical, efficacious, and has nothing to do with embryonic stem cell research or human cloning. Here is one such area of beneficial research: Scientists have genetically modified skin, which can be applied when the burns are dressed, to make skin grafts more resistant to . . . . Continue Reading »

I have spent the last few days doing a lot of media about Ashley, the disabled little girl subjected to invasive surgeries and hormone injections to keep her small and physically immature. I have been quite heartened that other than the occasional transhumanist, while accepting the parents’ . . . . Continue Reading »

This is very good news for dying patients and their families. A new study has been released demonstrating that pain control using opioids (narcotics) in end of life care “poses an extremely small risk of hastened death in this population [hospice patients].” The results of this study . . . . Continue Reading »

I am surprised and pleased: The story about the versatility of amniotic fluid stem cells was major front page news in today’s San Francisco Chronicle. The story, byline Carl Hall, also had one of the fairest presentations of the stem cell controversy I have seen in the MSM. Here are a few key . . . . Continue Reading »

A piece in the Sunday Times, claims that Geron Corporation will be starting human trials using ES cells to treat spinal cord injury in 2008: “The Geron Corporation, based in America, is seeking approval for the first clinical trial using embryonic stem cells to repair human spinal cords, which . . . . Continue Reading »

Amniotic fluid continues to show great potential for stem cell research. So do every other by product of live births—placenta, umbilical cord blood, amniotic membrane, even cord tissue. As my good friend Richard Doerflinger put it, “Each new birth not only means a new stage in life for . . . . Continue Reading »

A reader sends this story along: Johns Hopkins has completed a 5-way kidney swap, in which five people gave their organs to unrelated people. But it wasn’t pure altruism. It was a barter deal. In return for giving a kidney to an unrelated person, another donor gave a kidney to the first . . . . Continue Reading »

Nikki Bacharach, the daughter of Burt Bacharach and Angie Dickenson, has committed suicide. She had a form of autism, that apparently had left her very depressed. The statement from the family was that she “peacefully committed suicide to escape the ravages” of the disease.The method . . . . Continue Reading »

The Telegraph has the story of a single mother of a 14-year-old with cerebral palsy who wants her daughter to have a hysterectomy. She is fully supportive of Ashley’s parents, who appear to have set off the debate that they wanted.We are in danger of emotionalism overtaking sound medical . . . . Continue Reading »