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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…
David Fergusson wades in to defend Coleman over abortion mental health link
Priscilla Coleman’s recent meta-analysis showing a link between abortion and mental health problems not surprisingly has created a storm, coming as it did in the middle of the recent parliamentary debate over independent abortion counseling. Whilst the left wing press and the BBC chose to ignore it, other academics in the field have attempted to […]
VIDEO: Is ‘care’ the missing component in the NHS?
Today another damning report on nursing care standards has come out of the newly re-invigorated Care Quality Commission (CQC). In unannounced spot checks on care standards for the elderly at 100 NHS hospitals (focussing primarily on whether elderly patients were treated with respect and whether they were getting adequate and appropriate food and drink), they […]
A converted abortionist speaks from beyond the grave about guilt, faith and tactics
Bernard Nathanson, who died last February, was an American medical doctor from New York who helped to found the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, but later became a pro-life activist. His book ‘the Hand of God’ is the subject of a review in this week’s British Medical Journal, by Trevor Stammers, programme […]
Keeping faith with HIV
Religious, secular, governmental and international bodies came together at Lambeth Palace this week to discuss the impact and relevance of faith based responses to HIV and AIDS. In the face of an ongoing financial meltdown in the West, and collapsing economies in many developing nations, the sustained global effort to tackle the HIV pandemic has […]
General Medical Council considers changes to its guidance that could further restrict faith discussions
Pulse magazine reported last week that the General Medical Council is planning to ‘harden’ its guidance on religion in practice. The document Good Medical Practice (2006) is the core guidance to doctors and describes what is expected of all doctors registered with the GMC. Although the guidance is addressed to doctors, it is also intended […]
Tweeting the whole person – social networking for doctors
Pictured lying on resuscitation trolleys, ward floors and a helipad, seven A&E staff were suspended in 2009 from the Great Western Hospital in Swindon. It was alleged they were playing the ‘lying down game’ during a nightshift. How did they get caught? By posting photos of the stunt on Facebook. Alas for some, this blog […]
The San Jose Articles: saying ‘no’ to abortion as an International Human Right
Almost three-quarters of the world’s countries do not permit abortion for any reason. The Daily Telegraph this week claims that Britain is one of only 56 countries that do. However many of these countries are now finding themselves under increased pressure to liberalise their abortion laws, on the basis that there is an international right […]
New developments with the HPV jab for teenagers
Over the weekend The Guardian newspaper reported that pressure is being put on the Department of Health (DoH) to replace the current vaccine offered to all teenage girls to protect them from cervical cancer, with one that will also protect them against genital warts. The DoH decision, to be made in the next few weeks, […]
Time to change the channel – a submission to the government’s suicide prevention consultation
The Department of Health’s Consultation on its draft suicide prevention strategy for England closed yesterday (11 October). Over the past 10 years, there has been progress in reducing the already relatively low suicide rate in England. However, there were still nearly 4,400 suicides in England in 2009, the latest year for which national data is available. […]
Healthcare Sunday 2011 – praying for those working in health and medicine
Healthcare Sunday was set up over a decade ago as a way to help churches re-engage with health and medicine. For one Sunday every year we pray for, encourage and support those in the church who work in healthcare, and remember all those working in local health institutions. But the association of the Christian faith […]
More irresponsible suicide reporting by the media – there is a better way of dealing with this issue
The former chief inspector of schools, Chris Woodhead, has told how he has considered ending his life at Dignitas, the Swiss suicide facility, after being confined to a wheelchair by motor neurone disease. The hugely controversial head of Ofsted in the 90s claims to have been influenced in this decision by the recent BBC ‘documentary’ […]
Donors’ desires trump patient safety
A paper and accompanying editorial in this week’s BMJ seem to mark a new low in the erosion of patient safety in favour of political correctness. Since the 2009 BMJ head to head debate on whether the lifetime ban on blood donation for men who have had sex with men (MSM) should be lifted, the […]