
blogs


Do Christians divorce at lower or higher rates than others?
It is widely assumed that Christians divorce at roughly the same rate as non-Christians. This ‘fact’…

Trickle of British suicide cases to Dignitas continues as Swiss vote for status quo
Switzerland's parliament voted against a bid to toughen controls on assisted suicide this week, rejecting…

Why does God allow suffering?
What causes suffering? Is just fate? Retribution? All in the mind? Random molecules?
These are some…

Patients with dementia and psychiatric illnesses included as Dutch euthanasia cases rise steeply
According to Dutch media reports today, euthanasia deaths in the Netherlands in 2011 increased by 18%…

What do Ludwig van Beethoven, Justin Bieber and Tim Tebow have in common?
A professor in a college ethics class presented his students with a problem. He said, ‘A man has…

Warning to UK – Oregon Health Plan steers patients towards suicide
Members of the pro-euthanasia movement frequently point to the US state of Oregon, which legalised assisted…

BBC article on ‘gay therapies’ is simplistic, misleading and ignores much of the available evidence
Should people with unwanted feelings of same-sex attraction seek professional help? And if so what kind…

Major split in LibCon Coalition over assisted suicide
The Liberal Democrat conference voted yesterday to back the legalisation of ‘medically assisted dying’,…

Liberal Democrats back Dutch style legislation which would lead to 13,000 British euthanasia deaths annually
On Sunday 23 September the Liberal Democrat conference debated and passed a motion on ‘medically assisted…

Abortion after rape – the issues and emotions involved are not as straightforward as most people presume
I was interested to see published this week a statement from the ‘Ad Hoc Committee of Women Pregnant…

Current law supports eugenic abortion for disabled people – our letter in today’s Daily Telegraph
I am one of nine joint signatories to a letter in the Daily Telegraph today arguing that the success…
Elderly care: do we care?
A report by Age UK on Monday suggests that despite claims by Government that they are increasing funding for elderly care, the level of demand has outstripped funding as more and more people are living longer but with increasing levels of dependency. The report suggests that in the last half decade the actual funding has […]
Diane Abbott MP resigns from abortion counselling consultation group
A shadow health minister has resigned from a cross-party group of MPs which had been set up to lay the framework for a public consultation on how counselling should be provided for pregnant women. Labour MP Diane Abbott has claimed that the government wants to make provision for groups other than abortion providers to offer counselling […]
Christian GP in appeal against home office for unjust sacking
The Daily Mail this weekend has run a long feature on Dr Hans-Christian Raabe, which is well worth reading. Dr Raabe, a Christian GP from Manchester, was sacked by the Home Office from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) last February for failing to declare that he had co-authored a paper in […]
Holocaust Memorial Day – 27 January 2012
Most when remembering the holocaust will think of six million Jews but apparently this was only the final chapter in the story. What ended in the 1940s in the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Belsen and Treblinka had much more humble beginnings in the 1930s in nursing homes, geriatric hospitals and psychiatric institutions all over Germany. […]
The case of ‘Martin’ – grandstanding by lawyers and the BBC
Lawyers for a stroke victim who wants help to end his ‘intolerable’ life can continue to act on his behalf without fear of prosecution or disciplinary action after a High Court ruling today. They successfully urged two judges in London to grant them a declaration which will protect them and third parties, including doctors, during […]
Update on assisted suicide and euthanasia from Care Not Killing
Falconer Commission Lord Falconer’s Commission on Assisted Dying reported on 5 January 2012 predictably recommending a change in the law to recommend assisted suicide (and not euthanasia) for mentally competent adults with less than twelve months to live. CNK played a prominent role in discrediting the Commission with 40 media interviews. CNK has also created […]
Margo Macdonald dishes up the same confused euthanasia proposals again
Margo Macdonald today announced that she is going to try again to legalise assisted suicide and/or euthanasia (it’s not clear which) in Scotland, just over a year after her last spectacular failure. Ms MacDonald, Scotland’s only independent MSP, said in unveiling a new consultation on the issue, that she has ‘learned lessons’ from her previous […]
Eurozone crisis setting back global health advances
Today is the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Global Fund for HIV, TB and Malaria. This was an initiative promoted by then UN General Secretary Kofi Annan to put significant funding into fighting the three biggest communicable diseases afflicting the developing world. Sadly, it is a tenth anniversary with quite a shadow cast […]
Tony Nicklinson – there are limits to choice in a free society
As reported in the Guardian, Telegraph and Huffington Post, Tony Nicklinson, a 57 year old man paralysed from the neck down after suffering a stroke that left him with locked-in syndrome, today begins a high court battle to allow doctors to end his life. Today’s hearing is a ‘pre-trial review’. I have blogged on […]
Significance of Dignitas assisted suicide deaths greatly overhyped
An article in the Daily Telegraph this morning attempts to make news of the fact that figures from Dignitas, the Swiss assisted suicide organisation, show a slight rise in the number of Britons registered. 893 members from this country had registered with the controversial facility by the end of last year,up 14 per cent on […]
Ministers reconsider independent abortion counselling
When an amendment aimed at giving women with unplanned pregnancies access to independent counselling was lost by 118 votes to 368 last year, things looked grim. But, as reported in the Daily Telegraph today, the Government is now pressing ahead with changes which could see women considering abortion given this right. The original amendment, by […]
My 2012 New Year letter to Christian doctors and medical students
The British films ‘Iron Lady’ this year and ‘The King’s Speech’ last year have been widely acclaimed and have sparked much discussion and reflection on Britain’s history. But I wonder if like me you were encouraged particularly by the two Christmas speeches over the holiday period – the Prime Minister’s speech and the Queen’s speech. […]