
blogs


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…

Seeing the Person behind the disability
Late in June, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) abolished the role of Disability Commissioner.…

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…

College climbs down over ban on Christian doctors and nurses training in sexual and reproductive health
Doctors and nurses wishing to practise in sexual and reproductive health have been granted more liberty…

DNA editing – a significant advance but many questions remained unanswered
You can see my Sky News interview on this story here.
Scientists have, for the first time shown that…

Ideology or Evidence (part two)? The battle over abortion statistics
Having blogged about the triumph of ideology over evidence in relation to the campaign in England, Scotland…

Ideology or evidence? The battle over presumed consent to organ donation
The debate about changing the law on organ donation is one of a number of controversial issues…

Charlie Gard: Emotion has trumped trust in today’s society, but parents and professionals can work together
The tragic case of Charlie Gard, and the desperate efforts of his parents Connie Yates and Chris…

Why Boots chemist should not have capitulated to pressure from BPAS over emergency contraception
Over the weekend I waded into the debate on whether Boots should reduce the price of the so-called ‘morning-after…

Family planning – ‘summit of a mess’
Last week’s London Family Planning Summit was, on the surface, a ‘successful’ follow up to the…

The Conway Case – a change in the law to allow assisted suicide is dangerous and unnecessary
A 67-year-old Shropshire man with motor neurone disease (MND) is seeking to overturn the law banning…
Stunning 4,620% increase in Belgian euthanasia cases in ten years since legalisation
I have previously highlighted the rapid escalation of euthanasia and assisted suicide cases in the Netherlands, Oregon and Switzerland in recent years but Belgium is eclipsing all of these countries in the race to become the ‘world leader’. In 2012, the number of euthanasia cases in Belgium increased by 25%, from 2011 reaching a record level of 1,432 since the practice was […]
Engineering our way to a Eugenic Future
You may consider the following headline from a leading US newspaper blog last week to be rather extreme: ‘The British Embryo Authority and the Chamber of Eugenics’ But when it is followed a week later by a news report in a British newspaper saying: ‘Lord Robert Winston warning over child ‘eugenics’’ should we then take more notice? The spur […]
The NHS, culture change, and Christ
Jeremy Hunt does not have an enviable job. Not only is he charged with putting into practice the radical NHS reforms that his predecessor steered tempestuously through Parliament (with scant support from the health professions), but now he has to respond to the fourth report into the horrific collapse of care at Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust […]
The GMC’s new guidance on ‘Personal Beliefs and Medical Practice’ – how effectively does it address our concerns?
The General Medical Council published its new guidance on‘Personal Beliefs and Medical Practice’ (PBMP) earlier this week. This was one of ten supplementary documents accompanying its core Guidance ‘Good Medical Practice’ – all of which were released on the same day. Last year I outlined a number of issues of concern in the PBMP consultation […]
New GMC Guidance on ‘Personal Beliefs and Medical Practice’ still gives scope for sensitive faith discussions within the consultation
Are doctors allowed to discuss their personal beliefs with patients or enquire about their patients’ beliefs? If so, in what circumstances? The General Medical Council’s long-awaited revised guidance on‘Personal Beliefs and Medical Practice’, published yesterday, attempts to answer these questions. It shows there is still scope for doctors to share their personal beliefs within the […]
Doctors should identify themselves online and respect colleagues and professional boundaries, says GMC
The General Medical Council (GMC), the regulatory body for doctors, has today published advice on doctors’ use of social media for the very first time. The news comes as the Medical Defence Union, which provides legal advice and protection for doctorsreveals that more doctors than ever have been asking for advice on use of social media. The GMC’s […]
World TB Day
One hundred and thirty one years ago today, Robert Koch announced the discovery of the bacillus that causes tuberculosis. As a result, for the last thirty one years, 24 March has been observed as World TB Day, highlighting that nearly a century and a half on from Koch’s discovery, we are still facing a global […]
Do you have just one minute spare to help defend the human embryo?
Thanks to a European Citizens Initiative (ECI) there is a new campaign across Europe which seeks to defend the right to life of the human embryo. Called ‘One of Us’, the campaign aims to gather one million signatures from citizens from at least 7 out of the 27 member states in the European Union (with minimum […]
Psychiatrist supplies report to man with dementia so he can kill himself at Dignitas
The Sunday Times (£) reports this morning that an 83 year old British man with dementia is to travel to Switzerland for an assisted suicide. If he does so he will become the first known Briton suffering from the condition to die at Dignitas, the Swiss suicide organisation. The professional man, whose dementia is at […]
Britain’s growing elderly population – a massive challenge
The UK is ‘woefully under-prepared for the social and economic challenges presented by an ageing society, a House of Lords committee has warned this week. The committee predicts ‘a series of crises’ in public service provision and says that big changes in pensions, health care and employment practices are needed to help people ‘sustain a […]
Belgium becomes world leader in organ removal
According to a recent report Belgium is now the ‘world leader’ in organ removal after euthanasia. The practice of transplanting organs from voluntary euthanasia patients in this small European country has become increasingly common since it was first reported that it had become an established procedure in June 2011. The recent report mentions at least […]
Christians: inherently generous?
New research shows that Christians are more generous than the general population when it comes to donation, but not just of money and time. Christians, especially evangelicals, are also more generous when it comes to donation of their blood and organs. Previous research has shown that religious people donate more money to charity then those […]