
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…
Nurses to be trained to give compassionate care
Falling care standards have prompted a rallying call from the new Chief Nursing Officer. In an increasingly heated debate, she’s calling for nursing to recover its core values – particularly care, compassion, courage, commitment and communication. Today Jane Cumming takes things a step further – initiating a new three-year ‘Compassion in Practice’ strategy based on […]
Investigation into the Liverpool Care Pathway – an update
On Monday 26 November, Care Minister Norman Lamb MP (pictured) convened roundtable talks with parliamentarians, doctors and patients’ representatives to discuss the controversial Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP). During the meeting, which I attended, the Minister announced a far-reaching review to consider the various issues raised, with an independent chair. The review will consider the findings […]
Why opinion polls supporting euthanasia are a waste of space
The Daily Mail is today running a story titled ‘Majority of Brits want assisted suicide legalised as new poll reveals strong support for change in the law across Europe’. The headline is based on the findings of a new survey, carried out on behalf of the Swiss Medical Lawyers Association (SMLA), which apparently found that […]
RCGP Chairman Clare Gerada moves to gag doctors on ‘assisted dying’
I’ve had a flurry of correspondence recently from GPs expressing deep concern at RCGP Council Chair Clare Gerada’s recent move to shift the College to a neutral position on ‘assisted dying’. Dr Gerada’s latest newsletter devotes four paragraphs to the issue which she has placed on the agenda for the February 2013 meeting of the […]
Changing Ireland’s abortion law will not save any mothers and could lead to 11,000 more abortions annually
Savita Halappanavar was an Indian woman who tragically died on 28 October in Galway University Hospital, Ireland from overwhelming infection after allegedly being denied an abortion. Her death, on 28 October, is now the subject of two investigations by Ireland’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and by University Hospital Galway. The death has led to […]
Savita’s death is a tragedy but is not a reason to change Ireland’s law on abortion
Savita Halappanavar (pictured) was an Indian woman who tragically died in Ireland from overwhelming infection after allegedly being denied an abortion. The ‘facts’ (yet to be confirmed) have been reported as follows: ‘On October 21, Savita Halappanavar visited Galway University Hospital, Ireland. The 31-year-old dentist was 17 weeks pregnant and suffering terrible back pain. Savita […]
BBC Panorama findings will heighten calls for review of Tony Bland judgement
Tuesday night’s BBC Panorama told the story of a Canadian man who was believed to have been in a vegetative state for more than a decade, being able to tell scientists that he was not in any pain. According to BBC health correspondent Fergus Walsh (pictured), it’s the first time an uncommunicative, severely brain-injured patient […]
Japanese Robots proposed as solution for declining birthrate and workforce and increasing elderly care needs
I have previously highlighted Japan’s huge demographic time bomb and the fact that virtually all Western countries now suffer from this same problem to a greater or lesser degree. In 1950 Japan’s population of elderly citizens (65 years and over) accounted for just 4.9% of the total population. This had risen to 21.5% by 2007 […]
Obama re-elected what will it mean for beginning of life policy?
The man whom pro-life leaders have called ‘the most pro-abortion president in US history’ has been re-elected. Obama snagged the race after taking key swing states, including Virginia, Ohio, and New Hampshire. Obama’s support for liberal abortion has already been well documented (see here, here and full list of all his actions here). But what […]
Same sex parenting vs heterosexual parenting: research revisited
A controversial study on gay parenting published this summer generated such an outcry of protest on its findings and ad hominen attacks on the author, that it led, among other things, to an official investigation into the ethics of the study and possible scientific misconduct (he was cleared). The research, by Prof Regnerus, suggested that […]
Social myths about abortion after rape
The Elliott Institute has just published a powerful article titled ‘My Rape Pregnancy and My Furor Over Social Myths’ by Deana Schroeder, a member of the Ad Hoc Committee of Women Pregnant By Sexual Assault (WPSA). She recounts the story of being drugged and raped at 17 and then, after becoming pregnant, being persuaded to […]
BMA issues disingenuous statement on pregnancy counselling
Last week there was some media coverage, and plenty of twitter action, on a Parliamentary debate about reducing the upper time limit for legal abortions from 24 weeks to 20 weeks. This resulted in the BMA issuing a disputable press statement ‘clarifying’ its official position on abortion counselling. The association later gave a similar statement […]