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New ‘withdrawal of treatment’ case poses major threat to disabled people
BBC Radio 4’s File on Four programme earlier this week, ‘A Living Death’, featured four case…

Reclaiming dignity in dying
BBC scriptwriters, viewers and listeners fought back over the weekend to recapture the word ‘dignity’…

Human rights of the elderly once again being neglected
Today saw the publication of yet another in a series of damning reports on the failures of our care system.
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General Medical Council confirms the appropriateness of sensitive faith discussions with patients
Last Thursday I took part in a discussion on the BBC Radio 4 PM programme about whether or not faith…

At a Given Moment – recognising worldview as part of a healthy diagnosis
CMF member Dr Graham McAll has worked as a general surgeon and inner city GP. In a timely new book,…

A surprisingly upbeat end to the UN high level meeting on AIDS promises renewed global action
UN meetings and political declarations are often perceived as wordy and irrelevant. But every now and…

Twenty facts we did not learn from Terry Pratchett’s BBC ‘documentary’ on assisted suicide in Europe
The Sunday Times, in line with its new editorial policy, ran a typically effusive article last weekend…

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (15 June) – A reminder to treasure, honour and protect the older members of our community
You are unlikely to read about it in the British press, but today, 15 June, is World Elder Abuse Awareness…

NHS reforms expose the British idolatry of our healthcare system
Nigel Lawson once famously said that the NHS is the nearest thing that the British have to a national…

New BBC Radio Four programme – Are we in for more bludgeoning of disabled people?
I've just been alerted to the fact that BBC Radio 4 is running another forty-minute 'documentary' on…

The collapse of Southern Cross – is capitalism crushing care and compassion?
As the country’s biggest independent provider of care homes for the elderly sinks deeper into a financial…
Rally for better palliative care & against assisted suicide & euthanasia – 3 July
Dignity in Dying, the former Voluntary Euthanasia Society, are planning a mass lobby of parliament on Wednesday 4 July as part of their plan to soften up MPs prior to a new attempt to change the law. So Care Not Killing have planned a lobby the day before aimed at promoting better palliative care and […]
Why does it now take stories like this to prick our consciences on abortion?
Few people in Britain now raise an eyebrow over the issue of abortion and I was struck by two casual references to it this week in relation to euthanasia. BMJ Editor, Fiona Godlee, in her controversial article calling for the BMA and other medical bodies to go neutral on ‘assisted dying’ said that doctors were […]
Presumed consent could become law in Wales by 2015
Controversial plans to introduce new legislation on organ donation in Wales have taken a big step forward. This week the Welsh Assembly published a draft bill setting out a legal framework to adopt a system of ‘presumed consent’ for organ donation on death. If approved, Wales plans to bring this new law into effect in […]
Most people with locked-in syndrome do not wish to die
Tony Nicklinson is 58 and paralysed from the neck down after suffering a stroke in 2005. He is seeking legal permission for a doctor actively to end his life. A Channel 4 Dispatches programme tonight,’Let our dad die’, put Tony’s case with powerful emotion but it did not tell us that most people with locked-in […]
Locked-in syndrome case seeks to establish dangerous precedent
A case of ‘locked-in syndrome’ that is appearing before the courts goes even beyond assisted suicide and seeks to introduce euthanasia through the back door. Tony Nicklinson is 58 and paralysed from the neck down after suffering a stroke in 2005. He is seeking legal permission for a doctor actively to end his life. The […]
How many women really died from abortions prior to the Abortion Act?
A common argument from the pro-choice lobby is that legalising abortion in 1968 saved thousands of women who would have otherwise died from back-street abortions. Before 1968, it is contended, women with unwanted pregnancies who did not want to have their babies had no choice but to seek the help of amateur ‘back-street’ abortionists who […]
Why is the BMJ editor making a case for the BMA neutrality on ‘assisted dying’?
The British Medical Journal this week published three articles aimed at neutralising medical opposition to euthanasia. There was nothing surprising about this. The BMJ’s record of editorial bias on euthanasia and assisted suicide has been noted before and the deputy editor Tony Delamothe, who has previously written passionately on the subject is a named supporter […]
Wise and courageous call in continuing treatment of anorexia patient
A High Court judge ruled yesterday that it is in the best interests of a woman who suffers from ‘extremely severe’ anorexia to be fed against her wishes. Mr Justice Peter Jackson found that the 32-year-old former medical student, who has other chronic health conditions, ‘lacked capacity’ to make a decision about life-sustaining treatment (full […]
World Elder Abuse Awareness Day – 15 June
Older people are today being warned not to fall prey to bogus retail and investment schemes, after 78 rogue companies raking in more than £28 million from people were shut down in the last three years alone. The companies scammed almost 2,000 investors between them and the oldest victim was aged 92, according to the […]
British Medical Journal adopts campaigning stance on euthanasia
The British Medical Journal this week contains three articles aimed at neutralising medical opposition to euthanasia. The BMJ, which remains editorially independent from the British Medical Association, but is sent to all members, has a long track record of backing liberal causes, amongst them the legalisation of assisted suicide and euthanasia. A comment piece from Ray […]
Three parent embryos for mitochondrial disease – more media hype than real hope
The BBC reports this morning that a controversial fertility treatment which creates embryos from two women and one man to prevent life-threatening disorders is ethical. Children born through ‘three-person IVF’ would contain some genetic material from three people. The UK’s Nuffield Council on Bioethics has said the technique could free children from ‘very severe and […]
GMC plans to hold secret proceedings against Christian doctor for sharing his beliefs
According to a new report from Christian Concern, the General Medical Council (GMC) has today decided to continue disciplinary proceedings against a Christian GP, despite the fact that the patient who made the complaint has refused for two years to give evidence face to face. The BBC has also reported on the case. Dr Richard […]