
blogs


Gene Drives: the ethics of destroying a species to save human lives
If one had the power to save millions of human lives by exterminating a whole species, could we and should…

Eugenics – could NIPT for Down’s Syndrome bring us full-circle?
Is it wrong to kill disabled people if caring for them costs more than identifying and destroying them?
The…

How to make a story out of a non-story: hype, hubris and motherless embryos
I did not plan to write a blog on the ‘motherless babies’ story. I assumed that mainstream journalists…

Is Professor Basky Thilaganathan deliberately misleading parliament over the results of NIPT for Down’s syndrome?
Here's a new story involving disabled people, taxpayers' money, apparent scientific deception, a biotechnology…

A Perfect Storm? An analysis of the NHS staffing crisis
The warnings have been around for years. After five years of turbulence in the National Health…

God may not take you out of the flames, but he’ll walk in them with you
"Doctor, can this patient please have some laxatives?" It was a simple question that filled me with dread…

High Court rules in favour of NHS providing ‘HIV prevention drug’ but big questions remain
The High Court has today ruled that the NHS in England can fund a drug that can reduce the chance of…

New parliamentary report on conscientious objection to abortion calls for widespread changes
A new parliamentary report has found that there is ‘widespread and increasing pressure’ on healthcare…

The same sex parent debate is not about parenting but about missing parents
‘Talk to any child with gay parents, especially those old enough to reflect on their experiences.…

Young women are unknowingly putting their health at risk for £500
Journalists and commentators covering the ‘three parent’ embryos news consistently fail to consider,…

NHS staffing, funding and culture after ‘Brexit’ – Christian reflections
A week is a long time in politics, it is said. But few weeks could have been quite as momentous or eventful…
Is Professor Basky Thilaganathan deliberately misleading parliament over the results of NIPT for Down’s syndrome?
Here’s a new story involving disabled people, taxpayers’ money, apparent scientific deception, a biotechnology company looking for profits and the NHS. The NHS is close to introducing a new test for pregnant women that will make it much easier to detect and search out any babies with Down’s Syndrome (DS) (see previous CMF blog posts […]
A Perfect Storm? An analysis of the NHS staffing crisis
The warnings have been around for years. After five years of turbulence in the National Health Service following the Health and Social Care Act (2012), and with increasing demands from an ageing population, plus the need to increase safe staffing levels following the recommendations of the Francis Report (2013), it has become more than […]
God may not take you out of the flames, but he’ll walk in them with you
“Doctor, can this patient please have some laxatives?” It was a simple question that filled me with dread as the drug chart was thrust into my hands. It was my first day as an FY1 on a surgical ward and I was terrified. What do I prescribe? Do I need to assess the patient? What […]
High Court rules in favour of NHS providing ‘HIV prevention drug’ but big questions remain
The High Court has today ruled that the NHS in England can fund a drug that can reduce the chance of people catching HIV whilst engaging in high-risk sexual activities. NHS England had previously argued that local councils should provide PrEP (‘pre-exposure prophylaxis’) as ‘health prevention’ is their responsibility. But Mr Justice Green said that NHS England […]
New parliamentary report on conscientious objection to abortion calls for widespread changes
A new parliamentary report has found that there is ‘widespread and increasing pressure’ on healthcare professionals to participate in abortions which is ‘in large part due to inadequate observance of the current legislation’. ‘Freedom of Conscience in Abortion Provision’, which was published on 21 July, is the culmination of a four-week consultation and makes nine key […]
The same sex parent debate is not about parenting but about missing parents
‘Talk to any child with gay parents, especially those old enough to reflect on their experiences. If you ask a child raised by a lesbian couple if they love their two moms, you’ll probably get a resounding “yes!” Ask about their father, and you are in for either painful silence, a confession of gut-wrenching […]
Young women are unknowingly putting their health at risk for £500
Journalists and commentators covering the ‘three parent’ embryos news consistently fail to consider, let alone ask the scientists about, an important ethical and safety question of direct relevance to women. There are plenty of questions asked about whether the new research will be safe for the embryos created – and ultimately the children born. I’ve […]
NHS staffing, funding and culture after ‘Brexit’ – Christian reflections
A week is a long time in politics, it is said. But few weeks could have been quite as momentous or eventful for the citizens of the United Kingdom as this last one. Whether you awoke to the news on 24 June with joy or dismay (or indifference), it is hard to deny that a […]
When the foundations are being destroyed – reflections at a time of national crisis
‘When the foundations are being destroyed what can the righteous do?’ (Psalm 11:3) We live in times when the very foundations of our civilisation are being destroyed: the NHS with its burgeoning needs and shrinking budgets, mounting national debt, political and economic uncertainty following ‘Brexit’, the threat of Islamic fundamentalism, creeping atheism and secular […]
Mother permitted to give birth to her dead daughter’s child
Following a Court of Appeal battle a 60-year-old woman has been granted permission to take her dead daughter’s frozen eggs to a US fertility treatment clinic, to fertilise them with donor sperm and then (assuming success) to carry the embryos and (she hopes) give birth to her own grandchild. Or should I say her own […]
Weathering the Ebola storm
As of 10 June, for the first time in two and a half years, all three West African nations have been declared Ebola free and have remained that way for longer than 24 hours. As the two-year anniversary of my initial time in Liberia approaches, I have been reflecting on a blog post I wrote in […]
New parliamentary inquiry launched to review freedom of conscience in abortion
A new parliamentary inquiry into freedom of conscience over abortion has just been launched. Commissioned by Fiona Bruce MP, it seeks to examine whether the Conscience Clause in the 1967 Abortion Act provides adequate protection for doctors and other healthcare professionals who do not wish to be involved, directly or indirectly, in termination of pregnancy. […]