blogs

Putting faith in global healthcare
I have long argued on this blog that there needs to be a greater engagement with faith based…

The BMA: A trade union with integrity?
Can the British Medical Association (BMA) be trusted to ‘maintain the honour and interests of the medical…

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…

Candour in the NHS: Speaking the truth in love?
We would all want a good degree of honesty from anyone caring for us or treating us for a medical condition. …

Nurses caught up in immigration battle
The annual congress of the Royal College of Nursing opened on Sunday, and it began with a warning. …

Morning-after pill is now available to all girls UNDER the age of consent
News that the morning-after pill, ellaOne (which can be effective up to five days after sex), is now…

Elisabeth Elliot enters ‘the gates of splendor’
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” ― Jim…

How safe is the school cancer vaccination for young girls?
New reports (including on the front page of the Independent) are adding to the evolving story…

The new ethical frontier: DIY eugenics
The single most controversial development in biology in 2015 is a relatively cheap, easily manipulated…

Scottish Assisted Suicide Bill gets short shrift from MSPs
Patrick Harvie’s Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill has been defeated today in a free vote by 82 votes…

Thirteen ‘solutions’ to mitochondrial disease assessed
Mitochondrial disorders are passed on through a mother’s mitochondrial DNA. They are progressive…
‘Life is but a breath’ – medical mission in Ecuador
As physicians in the UK we see tragedies and heartbreak; the stillborn baby, the young father who dies of cancer, a child who is run over. Working as a physician in Ecuador I have witnessed many, many more tragedies; young mothers with terrible, neglected, fungating breast tumours, whole families travelling on a motorbike together who […]
Speaking out for truth and justice – a Christian responsibility
Speaking out for truth and justice is just one of many responsibilities we have as Christians. But I suspect it is the one that we most willingly shirk, simply because it can be so costly. Being a Christian is costly in many ways. It is costly to live a life of obedience and service, costly […]
Woman refuses $10,000 to abort surrogate baby with special needs
This is a bizarre story from the US state of Connecticut which appeared on CNN today but deserves far wider distribution. The original account titled ‘Surrogate offered $10,000 to abort baby’ runs to 3,500 words so I have cut it to 1,400 (see here). The story has now gone viral (see here). I run the […]
Fresh warning sounded to UK as euthanasia deaths increase by 25% in Belgium in just one year
Things are moving at a frightening pace in Belgium. Further to my recent ten year review in December and report on the twins’ euthanasia case that made international headlines in January Alex Schadenberg has just published the following review on Belgium’s 2012 figures just out. I’ve reproduced it here from his blog. Recent studies concerning the Belgian euthanasia law found that: 32% […]
The duties of a physician – a Puritan’s prescription
Richard Baxter (1615-1691), author of The Saint’s Everlasting Rest and The Reformed Pastor, was known as ‘an eminent curer of souls’. This advice for Christian Physicians (taken from his 1673 Christian Directory) gives interesting insights into the doctor-patient relationship in the 17th century and good guidance for us today. Baxter did not want to ‘intermeddle […]
‘Amour’ is a dangerously seductive piece of pro-euthanasia propaganda
Margaret Morganroth Gullette is Resident Scholar of the Women’s Studies Research Center, Brandeis University and author of ‘Agewise: Fighting the New Ageism in America’. She has just written a brilliant review of the award winning film ‘Amour’ for the Guardian Film blog which is well worth reading. Amour (literally, ‘Love’) is a 2012 French-language film written and directed by Michael […]
Landmark Irish ‘right to die’ case is based on flawed assumption
Marie Fleming (pictured) is a 59 year old former Irish lecturer who has multiple sclerosis and wants her partner to be able to help kill herself without risk of prosecution (See Irish Times and BBC Europe reports). Her landmark case in Ireland is very similar to that of Debbie Purdy in Britain, who won a […]
Another unworkable proposal from NHS ‘experts’ on morning-after pill
An influential group of NHS experts is urging the Scottish Government to allow the morning-after pill to be handed out in schools (See reports by BBC, Scotsman and Scottish Herald) But the push has faced criticism from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland for being irresponsible. The parliamentary officer John Dieghan said it ‘pours more […]
Inquiry into Abortion on the Grounds of Disability – please contribute!
A new Parliamentary group[1] has been set up to review the law on abortion for disability, with a particular focus on whether it is discriminatory or not. We encourage members to contribute to this Inquiry as the experience and expertise of health professionals will be particularly valuable. This short briefing is based on a longer […]
Women who keep their disabled babies face coercion, discrimination and disdain
I recently attended the second oral evidence session of the Parliamentary ‘Inquiry into Abortion on the Grounds of Disability’ (more background here) The current law permits an abortion to take place up to birth (40 weeks) if prenatal tests indicate that the child may be disabled when born. There is a legal limit of 24 […]
The RCGP Council should reject Clare Gerada’s attempt to push it neutral on assisted suicide and euthanasia
Next Friday, 22 February, the Council of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) willconsider its Chairman’s suggestionto go neutral on assisted suicide and euthanasia. The RCGP is the largest membership organisation in the UK solely for GPs and currently has over 42,000 members. The papers for the meeting have not been made public but […]
Panorama highlights liberal interpretation of abortion law by British doctors
Last Monday I took part in the BBC Panorama programme ‘The Great Abortion Divide’ (watch it on I-Player). It was presented by Victoria Derbyshire (pictured) and produced by Elizabeth Byrne. Although extremely controversial it has had very little coverage in the media with only the BBC, Guardian and Times (£) so far reporting on it. The programme was billed as follows: ‘Abortion is more […]