Culture of Death: The Age of Do Harm Medicine

by Wesley J. Smith

When his teenage son Christopher, brain-damaged in an auto accident, developed a 105-degree fever following weeks of unconsciousness, John Campbell asked the attending physician for help. The doctor refused. Why bother? The boy's life was effectively over. Campbell refused to accept this verdict. He demanded treatment and threatened legal action. The doctor finally relented. With treatment, Christopher's temperature--which had eventually reached 107.6 degrees--subsided almost immediately. Soon afterward the boy regained consciousness and was learning to walk again.
This story is one of many Wesley J. Smith recounts in his award-winning classic critique of the modern bioethics movement, Culture of Death. In this newly updated edition, Smith chronicles how the threats to the equality of human life have accelerated in recent years, from the proliferation of euthanasia and the Brittany Maynard assisted suicide firestorm, to the potential for "death panels" posed by Obamacare and the explosive Terri Schiavo controversy.
Culture of Death reveals how more and more doctors have withdrawn from the Hippocratic Oath and how "bioethicists" influence policy by posing questions such as whether organs may be harvested from the terminally ill and disabled. This is a passionate yet coolly reasoned book about the current crisis in medical ethics by an author who has made "the new thanatology" his consuming interest.

Genres: Politics, Cultural, Nonfiction

359 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 17, 2016

Reviews

[Rochelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent examination of the current trends in medical ethics. I would recommend everyone to read this book and be challenged to do better for our ill, elderly and disabled.

[Kenneth Clayton · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is coming a day when a mother will call her son and say your grandmother’s death has been scheduled for next week we want you to come be there for it. With assisted suicide laws spreading across this nation Christians will need to think through how they will respond to a culture that believes in a duty to die of some of the most vulnerable and weak amongst us. This book is very helpful.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

mindless primitivism lead by cherry picking and emotion

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author says we don’t need to worry about being forced to accept medical treatment we don’t want. That everyone agrees that would be “profoundly unethical “

Obviously written before the medical system’s total mishandling and overreaching in the name of keeping us safe from SARS-Cov2

[Donna Sparks-Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for a class but very interesting!!!!