Wesley J. Smith

The latest twist in the Andrea Clarke futile care case is the hospital’s pressure. From my article today on NRO: “Illustrating the level of hardball some hospitals play against patients and families, the Clarke family’s lawyer Jerri Ward told me that St. Luke’s agreed to pay . . . . Continue Reading »

I have opined on the proposed chain of suicide clinics in Switzerland. This column demonstrates that the idea of death on demand is not restricted to the more radical members of the euthanasia movement but finds resonance among some bioethicists and self-described “free thinking” . . . . Continue Reading »

Deutsche Presse-Agentur is reporting that the Spanish ruling party is considering “a parliamentary initiative to grant rights to great apes on the basis of their resemblance to humans...The socialists want to prohibit the ‘enslaving’ of gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, and . . . . Continue Reading »

For listeners to Ron Thulin, (KAHL, San Antonio, Texas) and anyone else interested in the law permitting Andrea Clarke to be removed forcibly from wanted life-sustaining treatment: The statute permitting Texas hospital ethics committees to impose Futile Care Theory is available at this link . Scroll . . . . Continue Reading »

Organ purchasing is on the rise around the world, either from the destitute who sell their kidneys to, say, pay for a child’s surgery, or from China, which reportedly executes prisoners and sells their organs to the highest bidders. Organ buying is an odious practice that continues the ongoing . . . . Continue Reading »

For years I have been warning that bioethicists are getting their ducks in a row to permit them to refuse wanted life sustaining treatment that is removed because it keeps the patient alive, not because it doesn’t provide medical benefit. These are value judgments, not medical determinations. . . . . Continue Reading »

Are we human beings or “eco-beings?” Not sure exactly what the latter term means, but as used by Albert J. Bergesen, professor of sociology at the University of Arizona in the San Francisco Chronicle, it appears to mean that we are equal with—meaning no better than—rocks, . . . . Continue Reading »

This case looks like a Futile Care Theory case. The headline, as usual, calls it a “right to die” matter. But it appears to really be a right to live. (I never cease to be amazed at the pack mentality of the MSM.) The hospital wanted to cut off an elderly patient’s feeding tube and . . . . Continue Reading »

Lord Joffe has authored an assisted suicide bill in the UK House of Lords that, he promises, will restrict assisted suicide to the terminally ill. Only, that is not his goal. As he told the Sunday Times (London), “I can assure you that I would prefer that the [new] law did apply to patients . . . . Continue Reading »

Morris Dees is something of a hero of mine for his indomitable struggle against white supremacist organizations such as the Aryan Nation. We have met a few times and he strikes me as a humble, earnest man of high integrity and conviction.Dees’ Southern Poverty Law Center is one of the . . . . Continue Reading »