
blogs


Christian GP’s appeal challenges the very heart of government
I note that Dr Hans-Christian Raabe, the Christian GP dismissed as a Government drugs adviser for his…

A Christian GP is reprimanded as the GMC overreacts
A Christian GP has been reprimanded by the General Medical Council for talking about his faith to a patient.
Dr…

Emmerdale distorts facts about assisted suicide in apparent attempt to boost ratings
The problem with television dramas is that they make rare events appear common and so distort public…

‘Suicide tourism’ gets public backing in Switzerland – but what for British laws?
Voters in Zurich, Switzerland, have rejected proposed bans on assisted suicide and ‘suicide tourism’.
A…

HIV & AIDS treatment as the new prevention Tool: new findings should be treated with caution
News broke in the morning of Friday 13th May 2011 of the results of a ten year study by the United…

Gerald’s final breath – a review of the BBC’s ‘Inside the Human Body’
Watching Inside the Human Body tonight was certainly a fascinating experience, looking at how the human…

HPV vaccine Goes global
A year or so ago my twelve year old daughter was told that all her class were to be given the vaccination…

Disabled people fear change in assisted suicide law
Changing the law on assisted suicide would put pressure on disabled people to commit suicide, according…

Highlighting disparities in maternal care on International Midwives Day
Today is International Midwives Day, and many organisations are using this to highlight the awful disparities…

How could anyone object to teaching schoolgirls to say ‘no to sex’?
MPs have voted 67-61 in favour of a bill introduced by Conservative MP Nadine Dorries, which wants schools…

Stillbirths: tragedy and controversy
New figures from The Lancet reveal the tragedy of the scale of stillbirths, estimated at around 3 million…
HPV vaccine – mothers influence daughters choices but deep questions remain
A mother’s attitude towards cervical cancer screening influences decisions to vaccinate daughters against the cancer claims this – not entirely surprising – headline in a BBC news report on Monday, which is based on new research in the European Journal of Cancer. The research found that uptake of HPV vaccination among girls aged 12-13 years […]
Faith matters post-2015
With 2015 looming ever closer, the process to find a set of mutually agreed global goals for development is well underway. British Prime Minister David Cameron is one of three heads of government charged to lead a high level process to agree the goals at the UN General Assembly level. Civil society around the world will feed […]
The Department of Health is grossly under-reporting the true number of abortions for Down’s syndrome
Some of the most common congenital abnormalities accounting for abortions in England and Wales are ‘trisomies’, in which there are three copies of one particular chromosome rather than two. The most common trisomies are Down’s syndrome (trisomy 21), Edwards’ syndrome (18) and Patau syndrome (13). But how many of each are aborted? Well it depends […]
Liverpool Care Pathway – nine points for the government to consider in its review
Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, yesterday hailed the controversial Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) for patients who are dying as ‘a fantastic step forward’ in the way hospitals support the terminally ill. I agree that the LCP is a useful clinical tool that has helped many thousands of people experience better care in the […]
Health professionals and organisations misusing LCP should be reported to regulators, says CQC
The Liverpool Care Pathway was developed at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital and the city’s Marie Curie hospice to relieve suffering in dying patients, setting out principles for their treatment in their final days and hours. But it has been dogged by controversy with claims that patients who were not imminently dying have been placed […]
Amour – an award winning film with a sting in the tail
Amour (literally, ‘Love’) is a 2012 French-language film written and directed by Michael Haneke which won the Palme d’Or (top prize) at the 2012 Cannes Flim Festival. It is now screening in Britain. The narrative focuses on an elderly couple, Anne and Georges, retired music teachers with a daughter living abroad. Anne suffers a turn, from which she recovers […]
The global burden of disease – let’s not forget the spiritual dimension
Yesterday saw the publication of a landmark, multicentre collaborative study on the global burden of disease. It suggests that while average life expectancies around the world have gone up – they have gone up more in the West than in the developing world, and worldwide they come with more years of poor health and disability. Richard […]
Ireland and abortion – an update on recent events and the current legislative predicament
The international spotlight is now on Ireland in the wake of the case of Savita Halappanavar who, it is alleged, died after being denied an abortion (the facts of the case are still subject to an investigation and are hotly disputed). Abortion remains illegal in Ireland under statute law but two court cases have established […]
Pro-euthanasia lobby gathers group of religious leaders to support its campaign
I see that Dignity in Dying (the former Voluntary Euthanasia Society), which campaigns for the legalisation of assisted suicide for mentally competent people with less than a year to live, has set up a new group with the innovative title ‘Interfaith Leaders for Dignity in Dying’. The arrival of the group was announced earlier this […]
‘Lies, damned lies and statistics’ from the Alan Guttmacher Institute
One of the principal techniques used by the pro-abortion lobby to advance their agenda of legalising abortion in developing world countries is to argue that ‘safe, legal abortion’ will decrease overall maternal mortality whilst not appreciably increasing the overall number of abortions. In order to make this case they obviously have to establish first that […]
The role of faith-based organisations in global health
‘Faith makes such an important contribution to development.’ So begins ‘Faith Partnership Principles’ a recent paper from DFID – our government’s Department for International Development. It is a wonderfully encouraging document, recognising the enormous contribution that faith groups make to healthcare in low income countries. The paper goes on to say; ‘Most people in developing […]
The Savita case in Ireland: media reporting was muddled and misleading
At the same time that the Leveson Inquiry has reported it is beginning to emerge that the media reporting on the death of Savita Halappanavar was both misleading and muddled, strongly suggesting a journalistic agenda more focused on undermining Irish abortion laws than on reporting accurately on a tragic death. It can hardly have escaped […]