Twenty-five years ago, Newsweek published my first essay. In the wake of my friend’s suicide under the influence of the Hemlock Society, I worried that some suicides would be “promoted as a virtue” if assisted suicide, or euthanasia, was ever accepted. (Assisted suicide involves a … » Go
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) makes no moral distinctions between humans and animals, believing, as its alpha wolf Ingrid Newkirk put it once, “A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy.” The organization opposes any instrumental use of animals—no matter how beneficial to human … » Go
Until recently, healthcare was not culturally controversial. Medicine was seen as primarily concerned with extending lives, curing diseases, healing injuries, palliating symptoms, birthing babies, and promoting wellness—and hence, as a sphere in which people of all political and social beliefs … » Go
The United States assisted suicide movement claims that it wants only a limited “reform” of law and medical ethics, restricting what it euphemistically calls “aid in dying” to competent adults with terminal illnesses for whom nothing else can be done to alleviate their suffering. But this … » Go
Man, who is born of woman, is short-lived and full of turmoil. Like a flower he comes forth and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not remain. — Job 14:2 The human immortality movement is all the rage among the hyper-rich and supposedly visionary futurists in Silicon … » Go
Man, who is born of woman, is short-lived and full of turmoil. Like a flower he comes forth and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not remain. — Job 14:2 The human immortality movement is all the rage among the hyper-rich and supposedly visionary futurists in Silicon Valley. Their … » Go
A court in Ontario, Canada, has ruled that a patient’s desire to be euthanized trumps a doctor’s conscientious objection. Doctors there now face the cruel choice between complicity in what they consider a grievous wrong—killing a sick or disabled patient—and the very real prospect of legal … » Go
Each year, Gerber, the baby food manufacturer, holds a “cute baby” photo contest, the winner of which receives a $50,000 cash prize and may appear as a “spokesbaby” to advertise the company’s products. Media coverage of the contest is usually limited to sweet human-interest pieces. Not … » Go
I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but never with a view to injury and wrong-doing. Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a course. Similarly, I will not give to a woman a pessary to cause abortion. —The … » Go
“Animal rights” activists are determined to “break the species barrier” and create legal standing for animals to sue in court. Of course, the animals would be oblivious to these actions. “Animal standing,” as the issue is known, is really a Trojan horse to allow animal rights … » Go
I have been covering the bioethics movement since the late 1990s, writing several books (one award-winning) on the subject. When bioethics began, there was a great internal intellectual struggle for dominance between Paul Ramsey’s traditional Christian-focused sanctity-of-life thought and … » Go
A new suicide clinic is advertising its dark services in Switzerland — with “native English speaking” staff to ensure that suicide tourists attend. I will not name the clinic, but it does not take health into account when determining “eligibility.” From its web page: believes … » Go
When my mother was dying of Alzheimer’s disease and the sharp bodily decline that hits those in their late 90s, my wife and I brought her home for care. We consulted closely with her doctors, who referred her to a palliative-care center, where she was prescribed a continually changing regimen … » Go
Radical environmentalists are mounting a two-pronged attack on free markets and human enterprise. The first is “nature rights,” which would allow anyone to sue to stop any significant use of the land or extraction of resources as violating “nature’s” supposed “right” to “exist, … » Go
Once a society accepts killing as a response to suffering, the nature of the “suffering” that qualifies for termination keeps expanding. That process is well underway in Canada, where the law requires that death be “reasonably foreseeable” before a doctor can legally commit the … » Go
I wrote here yesterday about the intention within bioethics to destroy Catholic healthcare. Now, a court ruling from California proves my point. A Catholic hospital chain known as Dignity Health refused to perform a hysterectomy on a transgendered male, as against Catholic moral teaching. … » Go
I have been following — and criticizing — the bioethics movement for more than twenty years. As I see it, the mainstream view seeks to impose a utilitarian philosophy on both the ethics of medicine and the public policies of health care, including where “common morality” — as the … » Go
A few years ago, the Supreme Court of Canada conjured a positive right in the Canadian Charter (constitution) to euthanasia. The justices did not merely make it legal, but essentially ruled that anyone with a diagnosed medical condition that causes “irremediable suffering” — as defined … » Go
Colorado doctor Barbara Morris wants to assist her patient’s suicide. She works at Centura Health, a Catholic/Seventh Day Adventist-owned hospital that prohibits its employees from participating in assisted suicide, legal in Colorado. Morris sued to be allowed to participate in her … » Go
