
blogs


Leading neonatologist challenges resuscitation policies for premature babies
An article in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph, ‘Premature baby survives after doctors advised abortion’,…

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…

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…

155 animal-human embryos created in the UK – we think
An apparently straightforward question to government last week (20 July) generated an apparently straightforward…

BMJ features CMF after playing a role in its inception over sixty years ago
I see that the British Medical Journal this week has featured the Christian Medical Fellowship in its…

CMF responds to the BMJ
Whilst we are grateful to the BMJ for its attention, the 650 word article about the Christian Medical…

BMA’s 180 degree turn to embrace what it once called ‘the greatest crime’
On 25 June in a blog titled ‘BMA still not listening to public or science on late abortion’ I reported…

Call for new regulatory body on human-animal hybrids ‘mere PR gambit’
I blogged yesterday about UK scientists calling on Parliament to create a regulatory body to approve…

Whither now for the Millennium Development Goals?
With just over three years left to run, and the body still breathing, the post-mortem on the Millennium…

Seven reasons to be wary of British scientists’ call for expert body to advise on animal-human hybrids
British scientists have said today that a new expert body should be formed to regulate experiments mixing…

Is seven billion people too many? More nonsense from the population control lobby
SPUC Director John Smeaton has drawn my attention to an article I missed in last weekend’s Observer…
General Medical Council confirms the appropriateness of sensitive faith discussions with patients
Last Thursday I took part in a discussion on the BBC Radio 4 PM programme about whether or not faith discussions were ever appropriate in the context of a doctor-patient consultation. The journalist introducing the programme made reference to the case of Richard Scott, the subject of a complaint to the GMC for discussing his faith with […]
At a Given Moment – recognising worldview as part of a healthy diagnosis
CMF member Dr Graham McAll has worked as a general surgeon and inner city GP. In a timely new book, At A Given Moment, he uses personal anecdotes and reflections from around the world to show the value of understanding the patient’s worldview and spiritual background. Dr McAll wants doctors to feel free to address […]
A surprisingly upbeat end to the UN high level meeting on AIDS promises renewed global action
UN meetings and political declarations are often perceived as wordy and irrelevant. But every now and again these high level meetings do come up with statements that shape the actions of governments and aid agencies for years to come. The Millennium Summit of 2000 was one of these occasions, when the Millennium Development Goals were […]
Twenty facts we did not learn from Terry Pratchett’s BBC ‘documentary’ on assisted suicide in Europe
The Sunday Times, in line with its new editorial policy, ran a typically effusive article last weekend about Monday night’s ‘documentary’ in which we saw a British man, Peter Smedley, kill himself on screen by drinking poison at the Dignitas suicide facility near Zurich. Earlier this year I suggested that the BBC was acting in the role of […]
World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (15 June) – A reminder to treasure, honour and protect the older members of our community
You are unlikely to read about it in the British press, but today, 15 June, is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. While most people today are aware of child abuse, it was not always so. Indeed, the concept was only developed in the 1960s. But that development has proven enormously important, as it has allowed […]
NHS reforms expose the British idolatry of our healthcare system
Nigel Lawson once famously said that the NHS is the nearest thing that the British have to a national religion. It is certainly been the case that any politician who seeks to tamper with it has done so at his or her peril. After facing a barrage of criticism from nursing and medical professional bodies, […]
New BBC Radio Four programme – Are we in for more bludgeoning of disabled people?
I’ve just been alerted to the fact that BBC Radio 4 is running another forty-minute ‘documentary’ on an end-of-life theme next Tuesday 21 June at 2000. ‘A Living Death’, is a review into the care of patients in vegetative or low awareness states’, which has been launched by the Royal College of Physicians. The programme […]
The collapse of Southern Cross – is capitalism crushing care and compassion?
As the country’s biggest independent provider of care homes for the elderly sinks deeper into a financial collapse, the 31,000 residents of its homes, their families and carers face a hugely uncertain future. Southern Cross plans to sell off or hand back to landlord control of some 35 of its homes immediately, and another 85 […]
Vaccines and politics – is it worth investing in global vaccination programmes?
Today in London the UK is hosting an international conference that aims to raise £2.3 billion ($3.7 billion) for vaccination programmes worldwide through the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI). David Cameron is co-chairing the event with Bill Gates, and has spoken passionately about Britain’s global and moral responsibility to address the millions of […]
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 month on 27 to 30 June 2011 at St David’s Hall, Cardiff. It brings together doctors from all parts of the profession to debate motions on various aspects of their working lives and professional practice.As expected the NHS reforms will feature […]
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 his role in helping people commit suicide. He died on Friday 3 June in Detroit, USA. Kevorkian killed 130 people through assisted suicide and was eventually jailed for giving a patient a lethal injection on television.Despite claims that his murders were […]
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 German poet of the same name. It retells the quasi-autobiographical love story ‘The Sorrows of Young Werther’ which made Goethe famous. Werther commits suicide after his lover marries another man. The book, when initially published in 1774, […]