Printed from: https://www.cmf.org.uk/resources/publications/content/?context=issue&id=6034
Brian comes to see you in your Monday morning surgery. His wife Carol has colorectal cancer with hepatic metastases. All other treatments have failed, but her oncologist has recommended a monoclonal antibody therapy that costs over £10,000. Although the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is unable to...
The standard rhetoric that well designed studies have failed to show any adverse effects of abortion on women is being increasingly undermined by solid new evidence showing that there are indeed increased rates of mental health problems for women post-abortion, even where the pregnancy is unwanted and/or unplanned. The question...
Richard Hain comments on 'Choosing to Die' Terry Pratchett's physician assisted suicide documentary for the BBC. To my frustration, I missed the original broadcast of Terry Pratchett's well advertised documentary 'Choosing to die'. Terry Pratchett's books line my shelves in serried ranks, despite the fact that I find both the...
Alcohol misuse is a national public health priority. Alongside the significant health problems that can result from heavy drinking, alcohol misuse also results in a variety of other negative outcomes, including social disorder and crime. It is estimated that alcohol misuse costs the NHS £2.7 billion in 2006-07. Emergency services,...
In July 2010, my husband and I returned from four years working in Malawi. I had undertaken a Wellcome Trust Fellowship, and Peter worked in the government hospital and medical school. After extending our contracts three times, eventually it was time to return to the UK. Although we had made...
Standing on the edge of my dreams, about to enter medical school, what did I expect? I expected to become a successful doctor, perhaps a Paediatrician. I wondered about becoming a medical missionary. There was something noble, almost glamorous about that idea. What a great asset to God I could...
Billy Graham once said: 'A chequebook is a theology document – it shows us what we worship.' As doctors many of us are privileged to be financially secure but wealth comes with responsibility. Money holds extreme power; so what does the Bible have to say about how we should handle...
Over twenty years ago, the Indian writer Amartya Sen wrote about the 'missing millions' of girls in India, speculating that a deeply entrenched bias towards boys rather than girls would lead to neglect of girl children that would compound the gender imbalance. (1) Twenty years later, there are regions of...
This unusual book includes chapters on theology, genetic techniques and faith healing. The surprising link is the author's experience with the L'Arche community. He reviews the literature on the theology of disability and explains his personal theology of grace and concern for each individual known by name. An unnecessarily detailed...
Talk about Abortion and God in schools? Surely not! Yet it is possible and necessary amid the fallacies and fallout from this procedure. This excellent teaching package on Abortion, by Newcastle paediatrician Dr Chris Richards, provides a good quality pro-life resource for use in PSHE, RE and science lessons as...
Life in a fallen world can be profoundly challenging, driving us to seek relief wherever it can be found. In this book Dr Williams poses a basic dichotomy – do Christians need secular psychotherapies, or can they find all that they need in Christ and His word? He critiques the...
This book contains the proceedings of an international conference 'Fertility, Infertility and Gender' held in Maynooth, Ireland in 2010 by the Linacre Centre for Healthcare Ethics (now the Anscombe Bioethics Centre). Its thirteen chapters cover contributions which will be of interest to Christian doctors such as: Fertility, Celibacy and the...
Through My Eyes is a man's story of his wife's illness and death from cancer, written by a Pentecostal minister in Nottingham. Stephen's wife Lesley was diagnosed with a rare nasopharyngeal tumour in her early thirties and died four years later leaving him with a young daughter. The book is...
In 1998 expatriates Robin Hill and his doctor wife Joyce heard God's call to give up their comfortable Beijing life to care for abandoned Chinese infants, released to them from the official Children's Welfare Institutions (CWIs). Deemed hopeless, some had life-threatening but operable conditions. Sympathisers worldwide helped the Hills to...
This book is part autobiography and part an exploration of one of the great global issues of our time. The story outlines how Susie came to faith, and as a consequence gave up the promise of a career in dancing to become a nurse. That opened the doorway for her...
This is one of a small but growing number of books on the market telling the story of how people cope with the news that their unborn child has a potentially fatal diagnosis. 20 weeks into pregnancy, a short, 'impersonal' phone call, informed Lizzie Grayson that her daughter had Trisomy...
Marriage leads to better family relationships, less economic dependence, better physical health and longevity, improved mental health and emotional well-being and reduced crime and domestic violence. These are the (unsurprising) main conclusions of a new report (1) on the benefits of marriage from the Institute of American values. Based on...
The spiritual dimension A recent article in the Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association set out the benefits of taking a spiritual case history. The authors recognise this will not be relevant for all but in certain circumstances it can be of special relevance to patients including those who have serious...
It has been called the most influential translation of the most influential book in the world. Over the last 400 years the King James Version of the Bible has stirred social movements such as the abolition of slavery, the suffragettes, the building of hospitals and the end of child labour...
The issue of organ donation after death has sparked a number of media news stories recently. There is a real shortage of organs available for transplant which has led to several proposalsintended to increase the supply of organs. The Welsh Assembly plans to introduce 'presumed consent' to organ donation within...
On 28 September the Court of Protection ruled in favour of life in the case of M, a 53 year old woman who suffered severe brain damage as a result of viral encephalitis in 2003. M's sister and partner wanted artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) given via a gastrostomy tube to...
The General Medical Council in October launched a consultation (1) on the new draft of 'Good Medical Practice', its core guidance for doctors. The guidance, which was last published in November 2006, is reviewed every five years. Anyone can respond and questionnaires are available on line. The consultation closes on 10...
The last few months have seen a series of reports from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) (1) and the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (2) showing that care for the elderly in our hospitals, care homes and even in people's own homes is falling far short of even the most...
