
blogs


Developing Health Course – final reflections
The Developing Health Course is over, and I am back at my desk. What a privilege it has been…

A new IVF milestone
Thirty-four years after the first test tube baby, Louise Brown, was born in 1978 it is estimated that…

BMA corrects Lord Falconer’ s misrepresentation of its position on ‘assisted dying’
Yesterday I drew attention to Lord Falconer’s false claim in the Times that the British Medical Association…

Why legalising assisted suicide for anyone at all will inevitably lead to incremental extension
Pro-euthanasia activists always make a great play of how their proposals to help people kill themselves…

Pigs and plasters
I always enjoy week two of the Developing Health Course. By now we have got to know one another,…

Former Lord Chancellor misrepresents BMA position
The Times today carries an article (£) promoting Lord Falconer’s new assisted suicide bill which…

The legalisation of assisted suicide – what’s money got to do with it?
Today, according to the Sunday Times, Lord Falconer (pictured) will publish his new bill on…

Minding the gap – Developing Health Course 2012
We are half way through the Developing Health Course, after a fantastic first week. We have learned…

Abortion counselling gets BMA backing
This week has seen some important voting on abortion and assisted dying when the British Medical Association…

BMA Ethics Debate – great results on both abortion and euthanasia
This morning the British Medical Association Annual Representative Meeting debated two motions on abortion…

Why the BMA should not go neutral on assisted suicide and euthanasia
This Wednesday, 27 June, the British Medical Association Annual Representative Meeting (ARM) will vote…
A Christian framework for medical ethical decision-making
How should Christians make ethical decisions? Should we use secular decision-making systems that are deontological (rule-based) or consequentialist (outcome based)? Or can we derive an ethical framework from the Bible? Christians are called to imitate God (Ephesians 5:2), imitate Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1) and to walk as Christ walked (1 John 2:6). We are to […]
Reshuffling health and social care – finding models that work
Monday’s cabinet reshuffle has opened up some interesting possibilities. With Jeremy Hunt not only staying on as Secretary of State for Health, he has now widened his official remit / title to Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with the current Department of Health being accordingly renamed the Department of Health and Social Care […]
Supreme Court to rule on whether doctors can remove food and fluids from brain-damaged patients without going to court
Should doctors be able to withdraw food and fluids from severely brain-damaged patients who are not imminently dying? And if so, in what circumstances? The answer to these questions has changed dramatically as a result of recent decisions by the Court of Protection which are due to be appealed in the Supreme Court on 29 […]
Abortion pills: a safer, easier and more convenient option? The evidence says ‘no’
The President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) Professor Lesley Regan, has joined in calls for women to be able to take abortion pills ‘in the comfort of their own homes’, rather than an abortion clinic or hospital under medical supervision. Scotland has already revealed plans to change the law and Regan […]
An integrated view of mission?
Many of us with a ‘good evangelical’ upbringing firmly believe that to be a Christian at all brings us into a relationship with God but also instils into us a responsibility to obey the great commission to ‘go into all the world and preach the gospel’ Matthew 28:19. In our evangelical heritage there has often […]
The Reformation and Medicine
This is the text of the talk I gave at the Guildhall, Guildford on Wednesday 1 November 2017 as part of an eight-lecture series to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The main sources are listed at the end. Christian doctors motivated by Christ’s teaching and example have been profoundly influential in shaping healthcare’s […]
Commemoration or Celebration? 50 years of Abortion in numbers and pictures
The Abortion Act reaches its 50th Anniversary on Friday 27 October 2017. In these last fifty years nearly 9 million unborn babies have been aborted in England, Scotland and Wales. That figure has, of course, also impacted the lives of 9 million women, some of whom are celebrating this anniversary of the Act but many […]
Why should families have a say in organ retrieval?
It may come as a bit of a surprise to some people that even if a member of your immediate family carries an organ donor card, or is registered to donate his/her organs on death, you and your family could still refuse to let any organs be removed for donation if he/she were to suddenly […]
Presumed Consent for Organ Transplantation – What does the Bible say?
Geoffrey Robinson MP wants to bring in an opt-out system for organ donation in England. His Organ Donation (Deemed Consent) Bill is due its second reading (debate stage) on 23 February 2018. It seems he has a lot of support. Yet evidence for the claim that an opt-out system will increase transplants is still lacking […]
Marie Stopes International: carrying out unsafe abortions in the UK and across the globe, using taxpayer millions
For the past five years, the charity Marie Stopes International (MSI) has been given £163 million in UK taxpayer money to spend on abortions in developing countries. This money also went on helping to liberalise laws on abortion. No other country gives as much money to MSI than our own Department for International Development (DFID). […]
Seeing the Person behind the disability
Late in June, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) abolished the role of Disability Commissioner. This happened 36 hours before Lord Shinkwin, newly appointed to the role, was due to hold his first board meeting. Shinkwin explains that EHRC’s chair, David Isaac, had declared the role to be ‘redundant’. The rights of disabled people […]
Why the rush to change blood donation deferral policies for commercial sex workers & men who have sex with men?
Commercial sex workers and men who have sex with men (MSM) in Britain and Scotland are to be allowed to donate blood three months after they last had sex (see also here, hereand here). The rule changes will come into force at blood donation centres in Scotland in November and in England in early 2018. The Government accepted the recommendations […]