
blogs


The government’s new ‘prevent duty guidance’ – imposing political correctness on university groups
The Government’s Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill, currently being considered by the House of…

Freedom of conscience in the new Nursing and Midwifery Council Code of Conduct
A new year seems a good time to launch a new set of guidelines, and the NMC have chosen this January…

Disaster response: Malawi faces floods
Many people here daily live life on the edge, so it doesn’t take much to push it over into…

Why abortion is not the best solution for pregnancy following rape or incest
This incredibly difficult and sensitive issue has come into public discussion again as the Northern…

Why have we become so scared of disability?
When I went to see the midwife at 36 weeks of pregnancy, I did not expect to find myself leaving in…

Buffer zones – a form of subverting freedom of speech and real choice
It would appear that once again, liberties are under threat of being curtailed by the proponents of…

Ebola: Christmas is cancelled
As many of us stop work and get ready to enjoy Christmas, let’s spare a thought for the people of…

Conscientious Objection and the worrying implications of the Glasgow midwives case
The right for health professionals to exercise their conscientious objection to participating…

Ebola: dispatches from the frontline
CMF member Sam Dunnet is working as Staff Health Manager for Save the Children in Sierra Leone. Here…

Court rules that unborn babies are ‘organisms’: a look behind the headlines
Seven years ago, a baby girl (who cannot be named for legal reasons) was born to a 19 year old mother…

Censuring debate and free speech at Oxford University
Not for the first time, a college at a top UK university has completely shut down an attempt to organise…
Do Not Adjust Your Set: Sex, Gender and Public Policy
Last month, David Morgan, a psychoanalyst, and Dr David Bell, a consultant psychiatrist, organised an online conference with around 500 attendees. Recently retired from the Tavistock Clinic, Bell was a staff governor and wrote a report on their Gender Identity Disorder Service (GIDS) in 2018 in which he raised many serious concerns about its provision. […]
‘DIY abortion’ consultations – some ideas for your submissions
The English and Welsh consultations into extending the provision for early medical abortion (EMA) to take place at home beyond the coronavirus crisis are both underway. They close on 26 February and 23 February respectively. These don’t differ significantly from the Scottish consultation, which closed on 5 January. If you need some ideas of how […]
Open letter to the BBC regarding inaccurate and unethical reporting on Bell vs. Tavistock
This letter originally signed by 15 doctors (including myself) and psychologists was sent to the Director General of the BBC just before Christmas. The letter has been made public although not all original signatories were able to make their names public for fear of reprisal. Since being made public many others have added their names […]
COVID-19 Vaccines: making ethical decisions that value human life
As the first COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out, many people are asking how Christians should think about the safety of vaccines developed and tested so quickly, the ethical issues surrounding their connection with tissue derived from an aborted fetus, and the questions around the equitable distribution of the vaccine both in the UK and to […]
Court rules that puberty blockers are ‘experimental treatment’
A judgement handed down from the High Court yesterday (1 December 2020) ruled that puberty blockers (PBs) and cross-sex hormones (CSH) are ‘innovative and experimental’ treatments and that it is unlikely that children and young people will be able to give informed consent to the use of such treatments. The case had been brought to […]
Irreversible Damage – the betrayal of our teenage girls…by the medical profession
In our current climate, it takes courage to write a book critiquing the transgender movement. But that is what Wall Street Journal journalist Abigail Shrier has done. I confess that I was sceptical when approaching the book given the title: ‘Irreversible Damage – The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters.’ Why? Because strong opinions in this […]
COVID-19 vaccines: the wider ethical questions for Christians
As the global COVID-19 pandemic continues with no apparent end in sight to the death toll and disruption to our lives, scientists are desperately seeking a means to end the crisis. Perhaps our biggest hope is a successful vaccine. The Pfizer BioNTech and the Moderna candidates have both shown a remarkable 94-95 per cent efficacy rates […]
The COVID vaccine: Christians in crisis or clear conscience?
The coronavirus pandemic has brought challenges and opportunities to all fields of healthcare, whether that be how GP surgeries operate, how hospital beds are allocated or how pioneering research for treatments is conducted. Alongside these changes, many ethical dilemmas have emerged over the past year. One notable case that has been hurled into the foreground […]
The headline figures don’t tell the whole story in the BMA assisted suicide poll
While there have been what seems like an unending succession of polls of British doctors about euthanasia and assisted suicide, that run by the British Medical Association (BMA) early in 2020 can lay claim to being one of the most thorough and significant. With over 29,000 respondents across all areas of medicine and at every […]
It’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle: a Christian challenge to the NHS ‘COVID pay rise’
I was rather challenged by Georgie Coster’s heartfelt blog in August on the lack of a pay rise for nurses and other NHS staff in the recent, ‘post COVID’ pay awards. I am one of those ‘hard-working’ Consultants who deserved (according to the BMA and several Royal Colleges at least) this pay rise from the […]
Reflecting God’s image or usurping his position?
For as long as humans have been keeping records, they have been recording their fight against the ultimate enemy – death. Up until a certain point in history, every new advance in technology was aimed at postponing the hour when the grim reaper would come calling. Clothes and shelter so we didn’t freeze to death, […]
The violence of abortion and the domestic abuse bill
It was 1998. I was a young medical intern working in a small hospital in an Indian village. I had looked forward to being posted there as it was meant to be a ‘rest period’ after many sleepless months of working in surgery and hospital medicine. One morning a young lady attended our clinic with […]