
blogs


New Study of Medical Students Reveals a Strong Support for Freedom of Conscience
A study in the Journal of Medical Ethics published yesterday showed that nearly 50% of medical students…

General Medical Council and Medical Defence Union endorse ‘tactful’ offers of prayer by GPs
The GP magazine Pulse reports in an exclusive this week on new guidance from the Medical Defence Union…

A life precious to God – how to cope when you find your unborn baby has special needs
There is a deeply heart-warming story in the Daily Mail today (July 18 2011) titled, ‘Doctors told…

Greater than Google – final reflections on the Developing Health Course
I'm back in the office after the Developing Health Course, analysing feedback forms, tying up loose ends…

Martin Pistorius: a story about faith, hope and love through ‘locked in syndrome’
The Sunday Times today tells the story of Martin Pistorius, a South African man who ended up paralysed…

Britain promotes media advertising for abortion whilst Russia attempts to curb it
The Daily Telegraph carried the story earlier this month that private clinics which carry out abortions…

Italy joins Bulgaria and France in blocking euthanasia legislation
Earlier this year I reported that France, Australia, Scotland, Israel and Canada had recently blocked…

Abortion and mental health: is there a link?
This is a question that has been the subject of many a debate in academia, in politics, in the public…

Is Treatment Becoming the New Prevention Fad for HIV & AIDS?
Two new studies (one in Kenya and Uganda, the other in Botswana) were published this week suggesting…

Emmerdale injects some reality into its depiction of the sequelae of assisted suicide
I am not an Emmerdale fan but I was interested to see the way the Soap is developing the story following…

Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis is too high a price for a perfect baby
Last week the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) held its annual meeting…
Lord Falconer has suffered enough – it’s time to put him out of his misery
Lord Falconer’s ‘Assisted Dying Bill’, which reaches its Committee Stage in the House of Lords on Friday 7 November, seeks to legalise assisted suicide (but not euthanasia) for mentally competent adults (>18) with less than six months to live subject to ‘safeguards’ under a two doctors’ signature model similar to the Abortion Act 1967. The […]
Should the NHS continue to fund IVF treatment?
Recently, the mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) voted to stop offering IVF treatment on the NHS. Now, in that CCG, only patients who can prove that their circumstances are exceptional, for example, if they are undergoing cancer treatment that will make them infertile, may be able to access IVF, but this will be decided […]
Should the NHS continue to fund IVF treatment?
Recently, the mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) voted to stop offering IVF treatment on the NHS. Now, in that CCG, only patients who can prove that their circumstances are exceptional, for example, if they are undergoing cancer treatment that will make them infertile, may be able to access IVF, but this will be decided […]
Ebola – How to help
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa a Public Health Emergency of International Concern – only the third time in its history it has made such a declaration. Despite this, the international effort to stem the Ebola outbreak has been ‘dangerously inadequate.’ (MSF August 2014). Exponential growth On 25 […]
A Chilling Prospect
‘Smart Women Freeze.’ So states the advert for an ‘egg freezing event’ in New York last week, run by EggBanxx . Over champagne, women anxious to beat their biological clocks by preserving their younger, healthier eggs until such a time when they are ready to start a family could meet one-to-one with a fertility expert. […]
Responding to the Ebola epidemic – What would Jesus do?
We are in the midst of the biggest outbreak of viral haemorrhagic fever caused by the Ebola virus that the world has ever known. Initially affecting Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, isolated imported cases have been reported in the UK, the United States, Spain, Germany, Norway and France. Nigeria responded rapidly to detection of […]
Elderly pro-euthanasia campaigner starves herself to death in high-profile attempt to advance her cause
A long-term pro-euthanasia campaigner has starved herself to death over five weeks because she could not have her life ended legally. Jean Davies, 86, did not suffer from a terminal illness but said her life had become ‘intolerable’ after a series of fainting spells. She died at home in Oxford on 1 October after […]
RCP surveys its membership’s views on ‘assisted dying’
The Royal College of Physicians today launched a survey to assess its members’ views on assisted suicide. The survey consists of four multi-choice questions with the option to write a more detailed response. It closes on 17 November. The questions are: 1. Do you support a change in the law to permit assisted suicide by […]
The DPP needs to explain to Parliament why she has effectively decriminalised physician assisted suicide
In an astounding about face for the Crown Prosecution Service, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Alison Saunders (pictured), has today rewritten her prosecution policy so that doctors can now be involved in assisting suicide without fear of prosecution, provided they don’t have a professional relationship with those they ‘help’ (See Daily Mail here and here, Daily Telegraph, […]
Survey into your experience of being a Christian in your workplace – please contribute!
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is conducting a major research exercise into how well freedom of religion and belief is protected in the UK. The Government is reviewing current legislation and wants to hear about your experiences, both positive and negative. It has tasked EHRC with the job of collecting evidence from a […]
Sierra Leone is where British boots on the ground are really needed
As the British government convened a pledging conference for Ebola in London Thursday, a group of 34 NGOs called for the deployment of ‘military capacity’ to contain the disease in West Africa. There is a letter in today’s Lancet along the same lines. Here is the Joint statement from 34 NGOs issued yesterday by the International Conference on Effective International Response to […]
Taking nothing for granted – reflections from a missionary in Ecuador
It was a situation I never, in all honesty, expected to find myself in. A fellow missionary had phoned asking me to see a short-term volunteer who was, “suffering from a bit of asthma.” Two hours later I was in the back of our pick-up truck, performing resuscitation when the bumps allowed, while my husband […]