WE ARE pleased to talk again with award winning author Wesley J. Smith, a Senior Fellow in Human Rights and Bioethics at the Discovery Institute. He is also a consultant to the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, and a special consultant for the Center for Bioethics and Culture.
His book Forced Exit: Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide and the New Duty to Die (1997, Times Books), is now in its third edition published by Encounter Books. Smith’s Culture of Death: The Assault on Medical Ethics in America, a warning about the dangers of the modern bioethics movement, was named one of the Ten Outstanding Books of the Year and Best Health Book of the Year for 2001 (Independent Publisher Book Awards).
Smith’s most recently published book is Consumer’s Guide to a Brave New World, in which he explores the morality, science, and business aspects of human cloning, stem cell research, and genetic engineering. His next book, a critical look at the animal rights/liberation movement, will be published in January, 2010 by Encounter Books. Wesley’s blog, Secondhand Smoke, is essential reading if you want to stay informed about the ongoing debate of bioethics in this strange new world of trans- and post-humanism.
We discussed the Obamacare proposals now winding through the U.S. Congress and the dangers posed by a system designed and controlled by bioethicists who deny that humans are unique among the species on planet Earth.
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I thought this was a really interesting interview but as I live in England it was difficult to understand some of the early points made saying that the people who would lose out under the healthcare reforms would be the most vulnerable. How are they catered for under the current system if they are not able to afford healthcare insurance? I don’t have a full understanding of the current healthcare system in America but I’d have thought that state funding for everyone would be a good thing. For all it’s faults the NHS in England does provide a good level of basic healthcare for everyone. The biggest problem here is the cost of new treatments and the fact that although healthcare provision is supposed to be universal it is still administered on a regional basis so someone living in one county may be provided with new cancer drug X but someone in the nextdoor county may not be because their health authority doesn’t consider it cost effective.
Interesting part at the end too about the letter to the Telegraph about patients being sedated to death. At the same time as this you have just as many people complaining that too many efforts are being made to by doctors treating patients and that often life can be extended but there’s no quality to that life. People do now also have the right to make a statement to doctors that if their condition deteriorates they are not to try and treat them and the doctors are then legally obliged to respect the patient’s wishes.