
blogs


Abortion: ‘A caring service’
A BBC 5 radio programme has broadcast live from an abortion clinic, describing what happens to women…

Of course, nursing needs ‘compassion’
New nurses should be judged on their compassion not just their skills, according to Sir Keith Pearson,…

Assisted suicide deaths increase by 40% in one year in Washington State
The number of Washington state residents who died of physician-assisted suicide rose to 70 in 2011,…

Mum beats lung tumour after refusing to sacrifice her baby to save her own life
There is an inspiring story in the Daily Mail this morning about a 21 year old mother who beat cancer…

‘Beauty is more than what you look like’: mother’s inspiring video about her blind baby boy
A YouTube video that a young mother has created about her blind baby boy and his rare cleft palate…

BMA strike ballot – how should Christian doctors respond?
Today the BMA has begun to ballot members on whether to take industrial action over government pension…

New warnings on risks of popular infertility treatments
Hot on the heels of warnings last week about one in ten babies suffering birth defects after ICSI (intracytoplasmic…

Educating women is the key to lowering maternal mortality
The fifth Millennium Development Goal (MDG) put forward by the United Nations (MDG-5) proposes to reduce…

Phyllis Bowman, campaigner who led struggle against abortion and euthanasia, dies aged 85
The veteran British pro-life campaigner Phyllis Bowman has died aged 85.
Bowman, who was described…

New GMC & Stonewall leaflet on getting ‘discriminatory’ doctors struck off
The General Medical Council, the official regulatory body for doctors, has published a leaflet in conjunction…

A week with two good prayers and one bad one
I’ve just returned from a fantastic CMF National Conference at Swanwick on the theme 'heroes of faith'.…
Why legalising assisted suicide for anyone at all will inevitably lead to incremental extension
Pro-euthanasia activists always make a great play of how their proposals to help people kill themselves are extremely modest and are bound by ‘robust safeguards’. Dignity in Dying, the former Voluntary Euthanasia Society, is a world leader in this art and their new draft bill, championed by Lord Falconer, is a classic example. It’s only […]
Pigs and plasters
I always enjoy week two of the Developing Health Course. By now we have got to know one another, shared some laughs and got used to the strange coffee. We are all ages and stages, from a fourth year medical student from Leeds, to a nurse who’s spent 26 years in Ghana. Participants are, or […]
Former Lord Chancellor misrepresents BMA position
The Times today carries an article (£) promoting Lord Falconer’s new assisted suicide bill which profoundly misrepresents the British Medical Association’s position on assisted suicide. The Times initially adopted a campaigning stance in support of legalising assisted suicide with an editorial titled ‘Life and Death’(£) at the time of Falconer’s unsuccessful amendment to the […]
The legalisation of assisted suicide – what’s money got to do with it?
Today, according to the Sunday Times, Lord Falconer (pictured) will publish his new bill on assisted suicide (details here). In line with the recommendations of his sham ‘Commission on Assisted Dying’ he will push for doctors being given the power to help mentally competent adults with less than one year to live to kill […]
Minding the gap – Developing Health Course 2012
We are half way through the Developing Health Course, after a fantastic first week. We have learned about community health, mental health, tropical medicine, HIV, paediatrics, ophthalmology, palliative care… and much, much more. This is the fourth time I’ve run the course and it’s great to meet a new crowd of participants each time. Some […]
Abortion counselling gets BMA backing
This week has seen some important voting on abortion and assisted dying when the British Medical Association held its Annual Representative Meeting in Bournemouth. The ARM provides the primary opportunity for BMA policy and professional practice to be debated and voted on by its members. Motions are put down several weeks in advance, a few […]
BMA Ethics Debate – great results on both abortion and euthanasia
This morning the British Medical Association Annual Representative Meeting debated two motions on abortion and one on euthanasia. Motion 328 called for the meeting to support the universal availability of non-directive counselling for women considering abortion. It said that the counselling should be in accordance with NHS standards and independent of the abortion provider if […]
Why the BMA should not go neutral on assisted suicide and euthanasia
This Wednesday, 27 June, the British Medical Association Annual Representative Meeting (ARM) will vote on a motion to go neutral on assisted suicide and euthanasia. The BMA, the trade union for doctors, has been opposed to a change in the law for all but one year of its 180 year history. But those proposing the […]
Is the NHS really killing 130,000 patients a year with the Liverpool Care Pathway?
The Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph this week have run a story claiming that the NHS ‘kills off a 130,000 elderly patients every year’ through use of a ‘death pathway’. The story has been picked up relatively uncritically by many news outlets around the world, and particularly pro-life sites (see here and here). The claims […]
Open letter to Sir Graeme Catto, Chairman of Dignity in Dying
I have just made a formal complaint about a polling question which I believe may breach several Rules of the Market Research Society Code Guidelines. The question was posed by two campaigning organisations, Dignity in Dying (DID) (aka the Voluntary Euthanasia Society) and its offspring Healthcare Professionals for Assisted Dying (HPAD), with the aim of […]
Reprimanded by the GMC for sharing faith with a patient – Dr Richard Scott
On 14 June the General Medical Council’s Investigation Committee reprimanded a Christian doctor who shared his faith with a patient at the end of a private consultation. They ruled that his actions ‘did not meet the standards required of a doctor’. Dr Richard Scott (pictured) has now been issued with a warning which will remain […]
Same-sex parenting: controversies with the latest research
A major new study on same sex parenting has generated a great deal of online debate, particularly in the US where it was carried out, but it has also spilled over to the UK. Some of the headlines suggest that this new research ‘proves’ that gay parents are bad parents and that homosexual parenting is […]