
blogs


Protecting Freedom of Conscience
As Christians we are called to respect the governing authorities as they are instituted by God himself…

Ideology or evidence? The battle over abortion pills
The debate about the use of abortion pills at home is one of a number of controversial issues where I…

Conway assisted suicide case – autonomy is not absolute and this appeal should be dismissed
Watch my previous Sky News interview on the Conway case here.
A 67-year-old Shropshire man with motor…

A Christian framework for medical ethical decision-making
How should Christians make ethical decisions? Should we use secular decision-making systems that are…

Reshuffling health and social care – finding models that work
Monday’s cabinet reshuffle has opened up some interesting possibilities. With Jeremy Hunt not only…

Supreme Court to rule on whether doctors can remove food and fluids from brain-damaged patients without going to court
Should doctors be able to withdraw food and fluids from severely brain-damaged patients who are not imminently…

Abortion pills: a safer, easier and more convenient option? The evidence says ‘no’
The President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) Professor Lesley Regan,…

An integrated view of mission?
Many of us with a ‘good evangelical’ upbringing firmly believe that to be a Christian at all brings…

The Reformation and Medicine
This is the text of the talk I gave at the Guildhall, Guildford on Wednesday 1 November 2017 as part…

Commemoration or Celebration? 50 years of Abortion in numbers and pictures
The Abortion Act reaches its 50th Anniversary on Friday 27 October 2017. In these last fifty years nearly…

Why should families have a say in organ retrieval?
It may come as a bit of a surprise to some people that even if a member of your immediate family carries…
Surrogacy raises complex ethical issues
A recent BBC News report, ‘Womb for rent: A tale of two mothers’, highlights the fact that the high cost of surrogacy in Europe and the US means that many Western women are outsourcing pregnancy abroad. The BBC World Service follows two women, Carolina and Sonal, as they come to terms with the emotional costs […]
Medical Defence Union finally publishes full version of new guidance on praying for patients
I recently blogged about new guidance from the Medical Defence Union which endorses tactful prayer with patients. The full version of this new guidance is now available on the MDU website. It makes it clear that the guidance has been released as a result of the recent case of a GP, Richard Scott, who refused a formal […]
£200k of lottery money spent on Reiki like therapy in West Midlands Hospital a waste of time and money
Back in February I reported on a BBC story claiming that ‘a third of NHS trusts still offer homeopathy despite there being no scientific evidence for its effectiveness’. I laid out a checklist for Christians for assessing complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies. Today, Archbishop Cranmer (aka ‘His Grace’), has drawn my attention to a […]
Three exciting news stories about ethical stem cell treatments this month
Three exciting news stories about stem cell therapies – none of which involves the destruction of human embryos – have been announced this month. Stem cells have great promise in providing treatments for degenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, diabetes and various forms of cancer. However, the British press, and especially the BBC, have an obsession with […]
Two women in their 50s with serious brain damage whose relatives want them dead. One judge has said ‘yes’ but the other is still thinking. Why?
Two cases of women in their 50s with serious brain damage went before the courts this week. Neither patient is dying, but both require 24 hour nursing care and are fed via by a tube. In both cases applications have been made to have hydration and nutrition withdrawn in order than they might die from […]
Animal-human hybrid embryos – now the government doesn’t even know how many there are
A fascinating article by Philippa Taylor on the official CMF Blog highlights an apparently straightforward question to government last week (20 July) which has exposed ‘a murky mix of confusion and secrecy from which the true facts and figures are difficult to extract’. Lord Alton asked how many ‘cybrid’ embryos (cytoplasmic animal-human hybrid) have been […]
One baby adoption in the UK for every 2,235 abortions – seven times worse than the US
Bill Reichart is a pastor and area director with CMDA, CMF’s US sister organization. He writes a blog called Provocative Church which today carries a brief article on adoption and abortion figures. He writes: ‘Planned Parenthood (ie. the equivalent of BPAS and MSI in the UK) may want to spin their purpose as merely providing […]
What is the true cost of IVF?
For most people thinking about having IVF, the answer will be thousands of pounds. Some may also consider the cost to their physical health, the stress put on relationships caused by taking heavy doses of powerful hormonal drugs or the emotional roller-coaster of rising hope and dashed expectation with each unsuccessful treatment cycle. I […]
Stories of triumph over adversity should get more column inches and air time
Today Nikki Kenward, who was left disabled after a partial recovery from paralysis caused by Gullain Barre syndrome, will stage a protest outside parliament about the dangers that a changing the law to allow assisted suicide or euthanasia would pose to those with serious disability. Her own inspiring personal story is told in the Daily […]
Leading neonatologist challenges resuscitation policies for premature babies
An article in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph, ‘Premature baby survives after doctors advised abortion’, tells the story of Jacob McMahon, who became Britain’s most premature surviving twin after he was born on February 22, just 23 weeks into pregnancy, at a weight of 1lb 4oz. Doctors had advised Miss Fisher to abort Jacob after his twin […]
Hospitalised patients more satisfied when given chance to discuss faith and religion
Hospitalised patients who are able to talk about their religious and spiritual concerns are more satisfied with their care, but one-fifth are not given the chance to have these discussions, researchers in Chicago have found. The authors of the new study, published online on 1 July in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, compiled information […]
Alistair Banks: courage in the face of motor neurone disease
Recently I blogged about Martin Pistorius – an inspiring story of faith, hope and love in the face of locked-in syndrome. It was equally refreshing to read today in the Daily Telegraph the story of a man with motor neurone disease, ‘Alistair Banks: the incurable optimist’. This is just the kind of inspiring testimony of […]