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Presumed consent, abortion and Falconer Commission on menu at BMA annual meeting
The British Medical Association’s Annual Representative Meeting (ARM) takes place at the end of this…

Using organs from euthanasia victims now an established procedure in ‘brave new Belgium’
Recently I blogged about Jack Kevorkian, the American pathologist known by many as ‘Dr Death’ for…

Papageno and Werther effects – public policy lessons for the prevention of suicide
I recently blogged about the new German film ‘Goethe’, a study of the early life of the celebrated…

Kevorkian’s life and death is sober warning of the dangers of legalising assisted suicide
Jack Kevorkian, the American pathologist known by many as ‘Dr Death’ for his role in helping over…

Paying less for vaccines – marketing strategy or an answer to prayer?
The giant pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has announced it will be making its Rotarix…

BBC to show Dignitas death – further bias and will fuel more suicides
The BBC’s decision to screen a man's dying moments at the Dignitas suicide facility in a documentary…

Telegraph highlights our comments on End of Life Charter not addressing religious beliefs
On returning from a trip to Canada, for the Third International Symposium on preventing assisted suicide…

The Problem with Care – more questions raised by BBC Panorama
Another week, and another story about poor care standards – this time an exposé on the BBC’s…

Altering the Body: the rise and rise of cosmetic surgery
This week the 90 second daily 4thought.tv programme on ethical topics tackles cosmetic surgery, under…

New End of Life Patient Charter is a good start but does not go far enough
More than 8,000 GP surgeries in England will be asked to display a new patient charter on end of life…

Times newspaper unwisely joins campaign to legalise assisted suicide
The Times newspaper has today (Monday, 30 May) devoted two whole pages and an editorial to the pro-assisted…
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 […]