
blogs


Lucy Letby- a deep grief
This is such a deeply disturbing case. One of the most horrifying scandals to ever hit the NHS. A neonatal…

Doctors on strike – reflections of a conflicted consultant
On 1 August 1983, my life changed forever. I started work in the NHS. I lost all that I had known of…

Complete societal capture on abortion
The sentencing of a woman for two years imprisonment for performing a home abortion with pills obtained…

Mitochondrial manipulated births: a muted reception
For a prospect anticipated for almost 20 years, the announcement in a Guardian exclusive of the successful…

When is a ‘synthetic’ embryo a real embryo?
Embryonic stem cell-derived embryos (ESCDEs) have been around for a long time.
Last year, an ESCDE,…

You wouldn’t do it to a dog! Current fetal pain relief in NHS abortions
This blog should perhaps carry one of those BBC-style warnings, ‘some viewers may find the following…

Moral flip-flopping over doctors and the death penalty
I have long argued that ethicists who advocate euthanasia while at the same time being opposed to capital…

‘Because you’re worth it?’ The BMA and the junior doctors’ strikes
Easter 2023 is likely to be remembered for a long time in the NHS. Straight after a four-day bank holiday…

‘Of Mice and Men’
The Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing in 2018 really hit the headlines when Prof He…

When is a baby not a baby?
Last week Panorama ran an ‘investigation’ into pregnancy advice centres which they claimed give misleading…

Neuro-silicon interfaces: a new mode of being?
The idea of humankind being merely machines has a long history, stretching back to Julien Offrey De La…
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 […]