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Presumed consent, abortion and Falconer Commission on menu at BMA annual meeting
The British Medical Association’s Annual Representative Meeting (ARM) takes place at the end of this…

Using organs from euthanasia victims now an established procedure in ‘brave new Belgium’
Recently I blogged about Jack Kevorkian, the American pathologist known by many as ‘Dr Death’ for…

Papageno and Werther effects – public policy lessons for the prevention of suicide
I recently blogged about the new German film ‘Goethe’, a study of the early life of the celebrated…

Kevorkian’s life and death is sober warning of the dangers of legalising assisted suicide
Jack Kevorkian, the American pathologist known by many as ‘Dr Death’ for his role in helping over…

Paying less for vaccines – marketing strategy or an answer to prayer?
The giant pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has announced it will be making its Rotarix…

BBC to show Dignitas death – further bias and will fuel more suicides
The BBC’s decision to screen a man's dying moments at the Dignitas suicide facility in a documentary…

Telegraph highlights our comments on End of Life Charter not addressing religious beliefs
On returning from a trip to Canada, for the Third International Symposium on preventing assisted suicide…

The Problem with Care – more questions raised by BBC Panorama
Another week, and another story about poor care standards – this time an exposé on the BBC’s…

Altering the Body: the rise and rise of cosmetic surgery
This week the 90 second daily 4thought.tv programme on ethical topics tackles cosmetic surgery, under…

New End of Life Patient Charter is a good start but does not go far enough
More than 8,000 GP surgeries in England will be asked to display a new patient charter on end of life…

Times newspaper unwisely joins campaign to legalise assisted suicide
The Times newspaper has today (Monday, 30 May) devoted two whole pages and an editorial to the pro-assisted…
This baby is still you, just the ‘best of you’ – the quest for better babies
In one of the early scenes of the sci-fi film Gattaca, a couple decide they want to ensure their second child has the ‘best’ start in life. So they visit an IVF clinic to select the genetic profile of their baby. When the couple express some disquiet about the selection process the doctor encourages them, […]
The number of women having several repeat abortions is shockingly high, and increasing
One young woman, who had a first abortion at the age of age 18 and then another three by age 22, was interviewed on Radio 4 on Monday morning about how she felt having several abortions: ‘The first one, you don’t know what’s going to happen…you’re scared. Like, you’re anxious…but then once you’ve done that…it […]
Is the RCOG breaking the law by preventing pro-life doctors from receiving its degrees?
Last week I highlighted the fact that a faculty of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) is barring doctors with pro-life views from receiving its degrees and diplomas. The story has been picked up by the Telegraph today. Doctors and nurses who have a moral objection to prescribing those ‘contraceptives’ which can act […]
RCOG faculty bars prolife doctors from receiving its degrees and diplomas
Doctors and nurses who have a moral objection to prescribing ‘contraceptives’ which act by killing human embryos are to be barred from receiving diplomas in sexual and reproductive health even if they undertake the necessary training according to new guidelines. Under new rules issued by the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health (FSRH) earlier this […]
Social care crisis deepens
Today’s report from the IPPR think tank paints a worrying picture for British society. In the next three years, the report estimates, the number of elderly people needing to be cared for at home will exceed the number of adult children or other relatives able to care for them. There are about 1.2 million people […]
UK Ministers try to silence two million critics of destructive embryo research
The UK Government, along with a number of organisations and research institutions involved in funding or carrying out destructive embryo research in the UK, have not just been taken by surprise but flat footed by the outcome of a new EU citizens’ initiative. The UK likes to see itself at the forefront of world biomedical […]
At least 67 doctors have clearly broken the abortion law but not one has been prosecuted
The General Medical Council has admitted in a Freedom of Information release that 67 doctors are known to have illegally pre-signed abortion forms and yet not one has been referred to a public hearing by a Fitness to Practise Panel, not one has been referred to the police and not one has been struck off […]
When secularists start running leper colonies we should take their attack on Cameron seriously
An assortment of ‘liberal’ journalists, scientists and celebrities have today accused David Cameron of risking causing ‘alienation’ in society by saying Britain is a ‘Christian country’. The 50 signatories to a letter to the Daily Telegraph say that Britain is largely a ‘non-religious society’ and warn about the ‘negative consequences for politics and society’ that […]
When ideology drives science
Intellectual dishonesty in the ‘abortion/breast cancer’ and ‘change therapy’ debates In July 1949, the New England Journal of Medicine printed an article by Dr Leo Alexander titled ‘Medical Science under Dictatorship’. In it, he explains what happens to science when it ‘becomes subordinated to the guiding philosophy’ of a political ideology. ‘Irrespective of other ideologic […]
David Cameron is right about loving one’s neighbour but has he missed the whole point of Easter?
Tony Blair’s spin doctor Alistair Campbell famously said that the Labour government didn’t ‘do God’ but the Prime Minister’s Easter address to church leaders has him trending on twitter as #CameronJesus. Today he has called for Christians to be ‘unashamedly evangelical’. David Cameron’s pronouncements have sparked controversy and criticism from both sides of the political […]
New Down’s syndrome research: saving lives vs saving money
A wonderful video has recently been released to honour those with, or caring for, people with Down’s syndrome. It is only a few minutes long but has a powerful message. 15 young people with Down’s syndrome speak to a mother who is expecting a baby with Down’s syndrome. They say that it will difficult for […]
Fertility rites and wrongs: New complications with new ‘families’
A case concerning twin girls has come before the Court of Appeal that almost defies imagination in its complexity of relationships. If it weren’t a disturbing harbinger of things to come, it could almost be dismissed as a comedy of errors. The story starts in the 1990s with two lesbians beginning an ‘intimate relationship’. […]