Human Exceptionalism

This article, published by WorldNetDaily, quotes Discovery Institute Senior Fellow Wesley J. Smith: In a recent blog, longtime bioethics critic, author and attorney Wesley J. Smith linked to a paper he said was about to be published in the Journal of Law and Medicine promoting a model futile-care hospital protocol that allows ethics committees to overrule patient advance directives and outlines Read More ›

When Jack Kevorkian advocated harvesting organs from assisted suicide victims in his 1991 book Prescription Medicide, people were appalled. What could be more dangerous than giving depressed people with severe disabilities the idea that their deaths would have greater societal value than their lives? Then, when he actually acted on his beliefs, stripping the kidneys of Joseph Tushkowski, a quadriplegic ex police officer Kevorkian assisted Read More ›

UK scientists announced that they will ask the rarely-says-no UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) for permission to implant an IVF embryo that is biologically related to three parents (two women and one man). The genetically modified embryo will be created by taking the mitochondrial DNA from a second (destroyed) embryo and replacing it for that of the first. The purpose is to Read More ›

I was irritated with myself the other day for something I didn’t do. I wrote a short post on my blog about a condemned murderer named Christian Longo, who wrote a column in Sunday’s New York Times asking to donate his organs after his execution. Longo didn’t mention the names of his dead wife and children in his piece, and I hadn’t either. My wife, syndicated Read More ›

Since when is keeping the desire to keep one’s mother nourished grounds for removing them from a say in her medical decision making? When an immigrant family wants their mother to receive a feeding tube and the hospital no longer wants to be on the financial hook for providing it. From the story: On Feb. 19, Ms. Nyirahabiyambere’s feeding tube was removed Read More ›

Senior Fellow Wesley J. Smith appeared on the Regina Brett Show, discussing “death with dignity.” A representative of the assisted suicide advocacy group Final Exit Network, along with two hospice professionals, also appeared on the program. Click here to listen to the interview.

The Obama administration will take a half step back from its drive to transform the U.S. from a constitutional republic into an entitlement state by amending the free-birth-control regulation to follow with the so-called Hawaii Rule, in other words, the objecting employer will not have to pay for the birth-control coverage but will be required to tell employees where and Read More ›

The phenomenon that is Jack Kevorkian continues to unfold in a truly appalling way. When he began his assisted campaign in 1991, he initially received bad press. However, once he successfully redefined his purposes as “preventing suffering,” the media and public’s attitudes shifted dramatically. Kevorkian’s poll ratings soared. It didn’t even matter to most people that he used carbon monoxide Read More ›

The Obama Administration Department of Interior has just been held in contempt for refusing to abide by a federal judge’s ruling. “Not content with that flouting of a court order, the Obama Administration is now ignoring an even more important ruling it doesn’t like,” says bioethicist Wesley J. Smith. “a federal judge throwing out the entire Patient Affordability Act as Read More ›

When Sarah Palin warned that Obamacare could lead to medical rationing and “death panels,” supporters were outraged. Alarmism! they roared. A lie! Right-wing propaganda! Alas for supporters of the Patient Protection  and Affordable Care Act, Palin’s provocative sound bite was at least partly grounded in reality—which is why the term entered the political lexicon. Now, however, some are seeking to Read More ›