
blogs


Embryonic stem cells from cloned human embryos – six reasons for caution
The newspapers are full today of the news that scientists in the US state of Oregon have produced embryonic…

Joy, sorrow and satisfaction – medical mission in Ecuador
My own personal journey to becoming a medical missionary began when I finished secondary school and went…

It’s exam time! Can smart drugs make you smarter at this testing time?
While a cup of strong coffee is probably the choice of drink for most people studying for exams, perhaps…

The ‘Groningen protocol’ for euthanasia of disabled babies in the Netherlands
In an interview this morning on BBC Five Live (at 0705) on the Paul Lamb case (listen here) I was asked…

Don’t be fooled by Lord Falconer’s ‘modest’ assisted suicide proposals
Lord Falconer has finally announced that his long awaited assisted suicide bill will be tabled in the…

Doctors should not be forced to provide emergency contraception
The Independent has run the story of a ‘Christian-run NHS GP surgery’ which has apparently ‘attracted…

Several leading bioethicists defend the practice of infanticide this week in leading medical journal
In February 2012 two bioethicists provoked international outrage with an article advocating infanticide.
Writing…

Marie Fleming loses Supreme Court appeal challenging ban on assisted suicide
A 59-year-old Irish woman today lost her Supreme Court challenge to the ban on assisted suicide.
Marie…

What the UK needs to learn from the worldwide Church
Last week there was a meeting between David Cameron and leaders of major UK NGOs on the process to find…

GMC and RCM must now move urgently to review their abortion guidance in light of Glasgow midwives court ruling
Two Roman Catholic midwives have today won a landmark legal battle to avoid taking any part in abortion…

Losing trust – why immunisation programmes fail
What do South Wales, North Nigeria and Northwest Pakistan have in common? They all have outbreaks of…
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 100 people commit suicide, died early last Friday morning in Detroit. Kevorkian’s lawyer, Mayer Morganroth, told the Detroit Free Press that the infamous euthanasiast appears to have suffered a pulmonary thrombosis after a blood clot in his leg broke […]
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 rotavirus vaccine available at a discount to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations (GAVI). Rotarix is vital in protecting against diarrhoeal diseases that kill more than half a million children a year. GSK is offering a 67 percent discount to […]
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 fronted by Terry Pratchett has already come under heavy criticism. A five-minute sequence in the BBC2 programme, due to be shown on 13 June, shows celebrity author Pratchett witnessing Peter, a British man in his early 70s who […]
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 and euthanasia, I see that the Daily Telegraph has picked up on my earlier criticism that the End of Life Charter doesn’t address religious beliefs’ In an article titled ‘Dying charter “doesn’t address religious beliefs”’the Telegraph reports:Dr Peter Saunders, chief executive […]
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 Panorama of appalling patient abuse by nursing and care staff in Winterbourne View, a specialist private hospital for adults with learning disabilities. And rightly, bodies including the Nursing & Midwifery Council, Royal College of Nursing and Care Quality Commission have denounced the ill […]
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 the headline ‘is it right to alter the body?’ It seems that many are answering ‘yes’ to this. In 2006 nearly £500 million was spent in Britain on nips, tucks and botox, four times more than in 2001. That figure […]
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 care launched today. The document contains seven ‘pledges’to make the last few weeks and days of a person’s life as comfortable as possible.It also includes calls for healthcare teams to do all they can to preserve patients’ […]
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 suicide cause just as Dignity in Dying (formerly the Voluntary Euthanasia Society) is launching its latest propaganda barrage on parliament with the mailing of a new booklet to all MPs and Peers. The Times initially adopted a campaigning stance in […]
Abortion statistics raise profound questions about our priorities and attitudes as a society
The Department of Health published the 2010 abortion figures for England and Wales yesterday. There were 189,574 terminations in England and Wales during 2010. This was 0.3 per cent more than the previous year but 8 per cent more than the 175,542 recorded in 2000. In 1969, the first full year after legalisation, there were 4,990. […]
Christian GP’s appeal challenges the very heart of government
I note that Dr Hans-Christian Raabe, the Christian GP dismissed as a Government drugs adviser for his views on homosexuality, has launched a legal bid to win his job back. As reported in the Daily Maillast week, Dr Raabe was removed from the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) in February following attacks on […]
A Christian GP is reprimanded as the GMC overreacts
A Christian GP has been reprimanded by the General Medical Council for talking about his faith to a patient. Dr Richard Scott (pictured) was accused of ‘harassment’ and told by the medical regulator that he risked bringing the profession into disrepute by discussing his religious beliefs. He has refused to accept a formal warning on […]
Emmerdale distorts facts about assisted suicide in apparent attempt to boost ratings
The problem with television dramas is that they make rare events appear common and so distort public opinion on key issues. Take for example the chance of surviving a cardiac arrest. A 1996 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (‘Cardiopulmonary resuscitation on television. Miracles and misinformation’), for example, showed that survival rates […]