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…
Junior Doctors – top tips on surviving your first week on the wards
As I write, Twitter is buzzing with doctors and other healthcare professionals imparting their knowledge and advice to the new Junior Doctors who will be arriving on the wards next week (#tipsfornewdocs). Some of their tweets are included below. I was asked to offer my own thoughts to Christian Junior Doctors on how to […]
Faith in family planning
Last week saw a major summit in London on the role of family planning in global development, hosted by the British Government’s Department for International Development (DFID), and instigated by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It was primarily a pledging conference, with the great and the good from many nations taking it in turns […]
Our inevitable eugenic (Gattaca) future
For those who think that eugenics is safely consigned to the history books, please read on. Or those who think that Gattaca was just a science fiction film, with the emphasis on fiction, read on now. Our concern at CMF with the growing eugenic mindset in the UK has been well covered by several CMF […]
Response to Daily Mail article reveals frightening attitudes to disability
There is an article in the Daily Mail today reporting on the incidence of abortion for Down’s syndrome in IVF pregnancies. Statistics show that in 2009, the most recent year for which figures are available, a total of 127 abortions were carried out on babies conceived through IVF-type assistance. The data held by the Human […]
Lancet Study proves significant growth in euthanasia deaths in the Netherlands
Alex Schadenberg, Chair of the International Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, has today published a full analysis of the Lancet review of euthanasia deaths in the Netherlands. I have reproduced this in full below. The long awaited 2010 nationwide examination of the euthanasia law in the Netherlands was published in the Lancet on 11 July, 2012. The study found that: […]
Facts suggest abortion doctors in 14 NHS trusts should be prosecuted for perjury
Fourteen NHS abortion clinics have broken the law by allowing doctors to pre-sign forms authorising a termination according to the health service regulator in England. This is in breach of the Abortion Act, and allows the second doctor to take a solo decision to allow a termination. The breaches were uncovered in an investigation ordered […]
BMJ: People with severe dementia should be starved and dehydrated to death to save money
There is an editorial in the British Medical Journal this week by a retired professor of philosophy titled ‘Sanctity of life law has gone too far’. Raanan Gillon reviews the case of M, a woman in minimally conscious state, who was the subject of a court of protection ruling last year. I have written about […]
Dutch doctors turn to ‘continuous deep sedation’ to keep official euthanasia figures low
The Lancet has just published an article purporting to show that euthanasia rates have not increased in the Netherlands since legalisation in 2002. This news will probably be seized upon by enthusiasts for decriminalisation in the UK and elsewhere but the figures are not at all what they seem at first sight and the press […]
Dialogue and Development
I have commented before on this blog about the need for secular aid agencies and donors to develop great faith literacy, just as the faith sector needs to be open to learning from and working with our secular counterparts in international health. A couple of weeks ago, we saw one of those little steps in […]
Developing Health Course – final reflections
The Developing Health Course is over, and I am back at my desk. What a privilege it has been to spend time with so many people – participants and speakers – who are passionate about serving God by serving the poor. The second half of last week was given to women’s health and we […]
A new IVF milestone
Thirty-four years after the first test tube baby, Louise Brown, was born in 1978 it is estimated that around five million babies have now been born, worldwide, using IVF. The five million figure is based on official figures up to 2008, plus three years of estimates. Whether or not this is completely accurate, it does […]
BMA corrects Lord Falconer’ s misrepresentation of its position on ‘assisted dying’
Yesterday I drew attention to Lord Falconer’s false claim in the Times that the British Medical Association had adopted a neutral position on ‘assisted dying’ (a euphemism for assisted suicide and euthanasia). In fact the BMA, like the RCGP, RCP and Association for Palliative Medicine, are all opposed to any change in the law. The […]