
blogs


The government’s new ‘prevent duty guidance’ – imposing political correctness on university groups
The Government’s Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill, currently being considered by the House of…

Freedom of conscience in the new Nursing and Midwifery Council Code of Conduct
A new year seems a good time to launch a new set of guidelines, and the NMC have chosen this January…

Disaster response: Malawi faces floods
Many people here daily live life on the edge, so it doesn’t take much to push it over into…

Why abortion is not the best solution for pregnancy following rape or incest
This incredibly difficult and sensitive issue has come into public discussion again as the Northern…

Why have we become so scared of disability?
When I went to see the midwife at 36 weeks of pregnancy, I did not expect to find myself leaving in…

Buffer zones – a form of subverting freedom of speech and real choice
It would appear that once again, liberties are under threat of being curtailed by the proponents of…

Ebola: Christmas is cancelled
As many of us stop work and get ready to enjoy Christmas, let’s spare a thought for the people of…

Conscientious Objection and the worrying implications of the Glasgow midwives case
The right for health professionals to exercise their conscientious objection to participating…

Ebola: dispatches from the frontline
CMF member Sam Dunnet is working as Staff Health Manager for Save the Children in Sierra Leone. Here…

Court rules that unborn babies are ‘organisms’: a look behind the headlines
Seven years ago, a baby girl (who cannot be named for legal reasons) was born to a 19 year old mother…

Censuring debate and free speech at Oxford University
Not for the first time, a college at a top UK university has completely shut down an attempt to organise…
Cut and Paste: A new revolution in genetics
Great excitement has been developing over the past few months about new opportunities to eliminate diseases using cheaper, more efficient and more precise gene-editing techniques. But these same techniques are also bringing fresh urgency to the safety and ethics of genetic engineering and ‘designer babies’. Ever since the discovery of the DNA double helix, different […]
Britain’s law on assisted suicide is not ‘broken’ and does not need ‘fixing’
On Friday 11 September MPs will vote on the Assisted Dying (No 2) Bill tabled by Labour’s Rob Marris. In case you were wondering, it’s called ‘No 2’ because an almost identical Assisted Dying Bill has been tabled in the House of Lords by Labour Peer Lord Falconer. Marris wants to change the law to […]
The assisted suicide of Gill Pharaoh reminds us that there are actually limits to choice
You can listen to my interview on this case on BBC West Midlands here. Last week I was contacted by the Sunday Times who were planning to run a high profile story about a 75 year old retired nurse being helped to kill herself in Switzerland. The story of Gill Pharaoh’s death was later published last […]
The wisdom of Solomon is needed in today’s surrogacy cases
Disturbing stories on surrogacy are hitting the headlines on a regular basis at the moment. Last week we heard about a surrogate mother who changed her mind about handing over the child she carried, to the gay couple who had paid £9,000 ‘expenses’ for her to do so. The baby boy is not genetically […]
Off Target? Do we have faith in the Sustainable Development Goals?
I remember sitting in a small room at Trinity Western University, British Columbia on a hot day in July 2003, hearing about an exciting, new, joint initiative of the World Evangelical Alliance and the Micah Network for Integral Mission. Called ‘The Micah Challenge’, its aim was to wake the worldwide church up to the opportunity to […]
Disabled people assemble mass lobby to urge MPs to reject assisted suicide bill
Disabled people descended on Westminster today in droves to lobby MPs on Rob Marris’s Assisted Dying (no 2) Bill. Marris wants to give adults who are terminally ill and mentally competent the ‘right’ to have assistance to kill themselves using lethal drugs on the say-so of two doctors and one high court judge. The bill […]
Excluding the spiritual from patient care: what is the NMC up to?
In some ways, it speaks of the nature of our times that we have created a special category of care and labelled it ‘spiritual’. In truth, all nursing and medical care has recognised that spiritual needs exist and need to be paid attention to as part of the proper care of any patient. These spiritual needs are variously defined, […]
Experts in care of the elderly speak out strongly against assisted suicide
The leading organisation representing health professionals caring for the elderly in Britain has this last week spoken out strongly against the legalisation of assisted suicide. The British Geriatrics Society is the professional body of specialists in the health care of older people in the United Kingdom. It has over 2,750 members worldwide and draws together experts from all […]
Christians must speak out about the Marris Bill on assisted suicide
Labour MP Rob Marris wants to legalise assisted suicide in England and Wales. His Assisted Dying (No 2) Bill would allowmentally competent adults (>18) judged to have less than six months to live to receive help to kill themselves once given approval by two doctors and a High Court judge. Marris’s Bill is essentially […]
Putting faith in global healthcare
I have long argued on this blog that there needs to be a greater engagement with faith based organisations and faith communities in health care planning and delivery in the UK and around the world. It is always encouraging when the wider medical community says the same thing back to you! Yesterday, the Lancet […]
The BMA: A trade union with integrity?
Can the British Medical Association (BMA) be trusted to ‘maintain the honour and interests of the medical profession?’ Or is the BMA another big organisation without full accountability, making recommendations ostensibly on behalf of its members whilst failing to operate democratically? The BMA published its parliamentary brief on 24 February regarding mitochondrial replacement techniques, otherwise […]
Abortion and preterm births: what women need to know but are not told
Prematurity – a birth prior to 37 weeks gestational age – has recently been described as: ‘the biggest challenge in western obstetrics, with severe neonatal morbidity (and a need for intensive care treatment for infant respiratory distress syndrome, feeding problems, neonatal jaundice and cerebral palsy) and infant mortality.’ In the UK 7.8% of babies […]