Wesley J. Smith

In what can only be described as a tantrum thrown because the Senate did not approve the ESCR funding bill by a veto proof margin, the chief supporters of federal funding of ESCR have thrown a procedural monkey wrench into the “alternative sources” bill. This makes no sense if they care . . . . Continue Reading »

I thought this would turn out to be an urban legend, but one doctor and two nurses have now been arrested for second degree murder, apparently arising out of their alleged intentional overdosing of patients in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. I am not ready to draw any larger lessons from this episode . . . . Continue Reading »

This story from the Daily Mail in the UK is a sobering reminder of the increasing tendency to use poor people as commodities, that is, as so many harvestable crops. The Mail’s story concerns the health costs too many poor women pay for selling their eggs so that prosperous infertile women can . . . . Continue Reading »

I have heard from people requesting that I post my thoughts about the upcoming Senate votes on funding embryonic stem cell research, funding “alternative sources” for deriving pluripotent stem cells, and the ban on “fetal farming.” So, here goes:The vote to increase funding . . . . Continue Reading »

I mentioned in my initial post about the Albany bioethics conference that Glenn McGee told me a representative from NDY had been invited to present in Albany. Stephen Drake begs to disagree. Here is his comment:“I have absolutely no idea what McGee is talking about when he said I was invited . . . . Continue Reading »

The story published in The Scientist about one of the presentations I missed in Albany, shows the utter disingenuousness of Big Biotech’s propaganda campaign in favor of ESCR and human cloning. In Maryland, for example, legislators replaced the accurate term “embryo” with the junk . . . . Continue Reading »

I have been reflecting some more on the Albany bioethics conference. I think that R. Alta Charo’s Friday lunch keynote address, in which she worried about “the endarkenment” of bioethics (allegedly due to “neoconservative” influence), is worth mentioning. I didn’t . . . . Continue Reading »

Sightings of my Starbuck’s coffee cup have been coming in from as far away as South Africa. Jennifer Lahl of the Center for Bioethics and Culture weighs in with her take on my statement, . . . . Continue Reading »

Apparently while I was on vacation, a new futile care dispute has erupted in Texas. Here is the Houston Chronicle’s story. From the story’s tenor, I sense that the Texas futility law might be in some jeopardy. I certainly hope . . . . Continue Reading »

I have to hand it to Glenn McGee: He organized an excellent bioethics conference. The deck was definitely not stacked and people with sharp and deeply felt differences were able to meet and debate without undue rancor or nastiness. I missed the first day but apparently Not Dead Yet sprang a surprise . . . . Continue Reading »