
blogs


Cloning Neanderthal babies: what we really need to be concerned about
Could it really be possible to create a cloned Neanderthal baby? A Harvard Professor of Genetics, who…

Self-help books for depression – brilliant new tools for doctors, pastors and patients
A top health story on the BBC this last week has highlighted a new study showing that prescribing self-help…

Catholic midwives appeal court ruling forcing them to supervise abortions
Two Roman Catholic midwives who lost a legal battle to avoid taking part in abortion procedures have…

HPV vaccine – mothers influence daughters choices but deep questions remain
A mother's attitude towards cervical cancer screening influences decisions to vaccinate daughters against…

Faith matters post-2015
With 2015 looming ever closer, the process to find a set of mutually agreed global goals for development is…

The Department of Health is grossly under-reporting the true number of abortions for Down’s syndrome
Some of the most common congenital abnormalities accounting for abortions in England and Wales are ‘trisomies’,…

Liverpool Care Pathway – nine points for the government to consider in its review
Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, yesterday hailed the controversial Liverpool Care Pathway…

Health professionals and organisations misusing LCP should be reported to regulators, says CQC
The Liverpool Care Pathway was developed at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital and the city's…

Amour – an award winning film with a sting in the tail
Amour (literally, ‘Love’) is a 2012 French-language film written and directed by Michael Haneke…

The global burden of disease – let’s not forget the spiritual dimension
Yesterday saw the publication of a landmark, multicentre collaborative study on the global burden of…

Ireland and abortion – an update on recent events and the current legislative predicament
The international spotlight is now on Ireland in the wake of the case of Savita Halappanavar who, it…
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 […]