
blogs


The Inglis judgment should send a strong signal that it is not acceptable to take another person’s life, even in desperation.
A woman from East London who was found guilty of murder after giving her brain-damaged son a lethal heroin…

New advances in embryo testing may result in higher success rates for IVF but at what cost?
Two new embryo screening tests have been recently developed that researchers believe will increase success…

New report claims that junior doctors’ training ‘puts patients at risk’ but will the government be prepared to pay for the real solution required?
A new report, Foundation for Excellence, this week has claimed that patients are being put at ‘unnecessary…

NICE and GP consortia. What criteria should we use in deciding how to distribute scarce medical resources? Some help from St Paul.
The government’s drug rationing body, NICE, is to lose its power to turn down new medicines for use…

UK retailers are not being honest about the mode of action of new morning-after-pill ellaOne (ulipristal acetate)
Earlier this week the news broke that a new ‘morning-after pill’ was being sold online in Britain…

Powerful arguments advanced in UK parliament for a change in the law to ensure properly informed consent for abortion
Last night Nadine Dorries, Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire, spoke in an adjournment debate on the…

David Nutt’s report on the harmful effects of alcohol should prompt the government to adopt evidence-based protection strategies
Alcohol is more harmful than heroin or crack, according to a study published in medical journal the Lancet.
The…

Are British Christians too fat? Almost certainly! But what should we be doing about it?
New research this week has shown that two-thirds of Britons are overweight or obese – making us the…

The real answer to reducing maternal mortality is not ‘safe’ abortion but better education, obstetric and midwifery care, CMF tells DFID
The Christian Medical Fellowship has now published its submission to the Department for International…

New survey reveals widespread ignorance about the level of abortion in Britain
Today, on the 43rd anniversary of the passing of the Abortion Act, Christian Concern has launched a new…

Jesus’ Nazareth Manifesto as a basis for healthcare mission
Jesus Christ’s dynamic entry into first century Palestine was marked by miraculous healing of many…
Dilnot lays some tentative foundations
Monday saw the publication of the Dilnot Report – the latest in a long line of reports and studies commissioned by government into how we, as a society, are going to care for our growing, and increasingly long lived elderly population. This is more than an academic exercise. A century ago, few people lived long […]
Major British study links premature births to previous abortions
The Times has just reported on new research which shows that women who have had an abortion are more likely to give birth to a premature baby and to suffer several other pregnancy complications when they next conceive. This is hugely significant just as parliament is about to debate an amendment to the Health and […]
Adoption czar: women with unwanted pregnancies should give up babies for adoption
It’s not every day that you hear someone official say something profoundly politically incorrect but true and have it reported by the Times. The Times front page today carried photographs of a whole host of well known celebrities and personalities who were adopted and ran an in depth feature on the issue highlighting a report […]
MPs attack the ‘ingrained bias’ of staff at the BBC on euthanasia
I recently blogged about the BMA vote to undermine the Falconer Commission on assisted suicide and about why I had told the Daily Mail that the BBC was acting as a cheerleader for assisted suicide. I see today that a group of MPs has attacked the ‘ingrained bias’ of staff at the BBC towards a […]
The tip of the iceberg: latest from Developing Health 2011
JachinDanielraj is an inspiring lady. She is an Indian doctor now based at the famous Christian Medical College in Vellore. But she hasn’t always been in this big centre. She spent 13 years in a rural mission hospital, working hard to serve the poor. She told us the story of a child who made her […]
Newly revealed abortion statistics evidence of eugenic mindset and failed teenage sexual health strategy
Today, as a result of losing a six year long court battle to the ProLife Alliance (see my earlier blog), the Department of Health was finally forced to disclose the abortion statistics that it has been hiding since 2002. The Department had been refusing to reveal the abortion numbers in any category where there were […]
A movement has an emotional heart
Is the NHS a philosophy, a movement or just an organisation? It has a philosophy – healthcare based on need rather than ability to pay, and certainly it has organisations, but does it have an emotional heart, the characteristic of a movement according to Seth Godin? Seth, author of the bestselling marketing books of the […]
Vicky Lavy blogs from Developing Health 2011
We’re at the beginning of week two of the Developing Health Course. Week one was packed with 33 hours of excellent teaching – exhausting but very inspiring. We’ve heard about trematodes and trypanosomes, scalp veins and scabies, red eyes and refugees. We’ve learnt about diseases affecting millions of people such as malaria, TB, malnutrition, and […]
Video debate from the BMA on the Falconer Commission
The video below includes coverage of the full day’s business on Thursday’s Annual Representative Meeting of the British Medical Association. Dr Mark Pickering (Yorkshire Regional Councuil) speaks for ARM Motion 305 (from the time mark 1:56) and Wendy Savage speaks against (from time mark 2:01). The full debate and vote then follows Loading…Webcast Available Here […]
British Medical Association undermines credibility of Falconer Commission on Assisted Dying
The British Medical Association, representing 140,000 British doctors, has this morning questioned the stated impartiality and independence of Lord Falconer’s Commission on Assisted Dying, supported the BMA leadership’s stance in not giving evidence to it and called on the British Medical Journal Editorial team to present a balanced and unbiased coverage of the Commission. Delegates […]
This week’s hot topic is not PC
This week’s hot topic is not one many people have thought much about. But organ donation, and particularly ‘presumed consent’ (PC), is one we will all have to start thinking much more about in the next five years. It was one of three debates on Tuesday (28 June) at the BMA, it has been covered […]
BMA still not listening on late abortion
On Tuesday 28 June the British Medical Association annual representative meeting voted against a motion which sought to provide legal protection for babies at the threshold of viability by a two to one majority. The motion, proposed by John O’Driscoll of the Worcestershire division, read as follows:’ That this Meeting believes that the legal limit for […]