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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…
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 […]