The Royal College of Psychiatrists consultation on abortion and mental health – let’s put this into perspective
Some people have expressed concern about an article published in the Daily Telegraph yesterday which…
Live blog: new mood of militancy among nurses
CMF's Head of Allied Professions, Steve Fouch (pictured below), is at the RCN Congress in Liverpool.…
Dorries and Field are not pro-life but their abortion amendments are a small step in the right direction
If you type ‘abortion’ into Google News these days you will find that most of the reports thrown…
Nan Maitland’s assisted suicide demonstrates the incremental extension that will follow any change in the law
According to the Sunday Times, an 84 year old British woman committed suicide at a Swiss facility last…
Missing midwives costs mothers’ lives
On 1 April 2011 Save the Children launched a campaign to find the missing midwives.
Save the Children’s…
Welsh teenagers to get morning-after pill over the counter – a plan that’ll backfire
I recently blogged on the fact, surprising to some, that morning-after pills don’t actually cut teen…
Pro-choice critics of the Dorries/Field amendments on abortion counselling are misrepresenting the medical facts
There has been considerable media interest in the fact that two MPs (Nadine Dorries and Frank Field)…
Putting the last first – medical mission on the front line
‘Every child should be able to access healthcare regardless of who they are and where they are born.’This…
Chinese baby girl cull backed by Britain – gender imbalance in China with British funding
Sex-selective abortions have led to severe gender imbalance in China, India and South Korea according…
‘23 week babies – the price of life’ on the BBC – a review
The recent BBC documentary ‘23 week babies – the price of life’ represented 6 months of filming…
New study shows that UK doctors consistently oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide
A new study suggests that doctors in the UK have opposed both euthanasia and assisted consistently over…
Spiritually confused care?
Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, recently spoke of the need to remember the spiritual needs of patients in NHS care – and was promptly accused of bringing back medieval exorcism! In the following week, the Royal College of Nursing published a new online training resource to equip nurses in spiritual care, after a survey […]
Adult stem cell research leaps forward whilst embryonic stem cell work slows
It has been an amazing week in the field of stem cell technology with five big stories hitting the news all at once. New doors of therapeutic promise are opening whilst at the same time other doors are slamming shut. I recently highlighted a New Scientist editorial, ‘In praise of stem-cell simplicity’, which gives a […]
Should ‘gay’ Christians be true to their feelings?
Last Wednesday’s Metro (a London newspaper) (p35) ran the story of ‘a burly rugby player’ who ‘suffered a stroke in training and woke up to find he was gay’ (See ‘Different strokes – 19st rugby player now gay hairdresser’) Mr Birch (pictured) was ‘straight’ and engaged to be married when he suffered a freak accident […]
Why legalising assisted suicide inevitably also legalises euthanasia
The Falconer Commission on ‘Assisted Dying’ is about to be put out of its misery when it reports later this month. Having been suggested by Dignity in Dying (formerly the Voluntary Euthanasia Society), paid for by one of its patrons and stacked full of euthanasia sympathisers by Lord Falconer’s own admission (and also for these reasonsdiscredited by the […]
New evidence that patients in ‘Permanent Vegetative State’ may be consciously aware
A method of communicating with brain damaged patients who appear to be in a permanent vegetative state has been discovered by scientists in the UK and Belgium and reported in the Lancet online today, 10 November. Out of sixteen patients diagnosed in the vegetative state, three could repeatedly and reliably respond to two distinct commands, […]
New review highlights positive benefits of marriage
The Family Education Trust has just highlighted a report from the Institute of American values which is of huge relevance here given that the government intends to undermine the distinctiveness of marriage by legalizing same-sex marriage. Based on a survey of over 250 peer-reviewed journal articles on marriage and family life from around the world, […]
Opt in or opt out for organ donation? Pressure grows for change
There have been growing demands this week for the introduction of a system of organ donation across the UK in which everyone is automatically placed on the organ donor register. This would mean that, unless people specifically opted out, hospitals would be allowed to use their organs for transplants on their death. Monday saw the […]
Euthanasia of woman with advanced dementia in Netherlands sounds loud warning to Britain
A 64-year-old woman suffering severe senile dementia has been euthanised in the Netherlands – even though she was no longer able to express her wish to die. The unnamed woman was a long-term supporter of euthanasia and had made a written statement when she was still well, saying how she wished to die. But the […]
Practising compassion and justice
Having just got back from a two day conference in the Netherlands on researching and teaching spiritual care for nursing students, I was once again confronted on my return to our island shores by more stories about the failures of even the most basic care in our country. Indeed, one of the features of all […]
Some good news from Europe
The economic crisis in the Eurozone is dominating headlines, but it has not all been bad news from Europe. Hidden in the media reporting from Europe at the end of last week was some encouraging news about an ECHR ruling that upholds a ban in Austria on using donor egg and sperm for IVF. Interestingly, […]
Another study showing a strong link between abortion and mental health problems
I’m grateful to AAPLOG for drawing my attention to yet another study showing a strong link between abortion and mental illness. The paper, titled ‘Associations Between Abortion, Mental Disorders, and Suicidal Behaviour in a Nationally Representative Sample’ was published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry in April 2010 and confirmed ‘a strong association between abortion […]
Pressure grows on David Cameron to support ‘Robin Hood Tax’ ahead of G20 summit
Last week I was one of 70 organisational leaders who signed a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron asking him to support a new international tax at the G20 summit. The letter, pasted below, was delivered last Monday. On 3-4 November the G20 convenes in Cannes as leaders from the world’s major economies gather to […]