
blogs


Scientists make nerve cells directly from human skin bypassing stem cells altogether
Researchers have come up with a recipe for making functional neurons directly from human skin cells,…

Another poll from the Voluntary Euthanasia Society (aka DID) to grab headlines
The Voluntary Euthanasia Society, which renamed itself ‘Dignity in Dying’ in 2006 to disguise its…

Nitschke announces his latest scheme to help more Australians kill themselves
I previously commented on a You Tube video of the assisted suicide of a British couple in their 80s who…

Surrogacy raises complex ethical issues
A recent BBC News report, ‘Womb for rent: A tale of two mothers’, highlights the fact that the high…

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…

£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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

What is the true cost of IVF?
For most people thinking about having IVF, the answer will be thousands of pounds. Some may also…
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 […]