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…
A letter to Jeremy Hunt about BBC media portrayal of suicide
Last week I wrote on behalf of Care Not Killing (an alliance, of which CMF is one of over 40 organisational members) to Jeremy Hunt (pictured), the Secretary of State for Cuture, Olympics, Media and Sport. I asked him to carry out an investigation into the way assisted suicide is covered by the BBC and […]
New ‘withdrawal of treatment’ case poses major threat to disabled people
BBC Radio 4’s File on Four programme earlier this week, ‘A Living Death’, featured four case histories of people with serious brain damage. They included Ian Wilson, an Aberdeen man in his 50s, who suffered a severe head injury in a road accident 21 years ago and is now the longest surviving patient in the UK with […]
Reclaiming dignity in dying
BBC scriptwriters, viewers and listeners fought back over the weekend to recapture the word ‘dignity’ from the assisted suicide lobby. ‘Dignity in death is so important’ TV paramedic Kathleen “Dixie” Dixon told Saturday night’s peak time viewers on the TV drama Casualty. In this week’s storyline, Dixie, played by actress Jane Hazlegrove, took an elderly couple […]
Human rights of the elderly once again being neglected
Today saw the publication of yet another in a series of damning reports on the failures of our care system. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has reported interim findings in a major survey of how care is being delivered to vulnerable people, and has found that care of the elderly in their own homes […]
General Medical Council confirms the appropriateness of sensitive faith discussions with patients
Last Thursday I took part in a discussion on the BBC Radio 4 PM programme about whether or not faith discussions were ever appropriate in the context of a doctor-patient consultation. The journalist introducing the programme made reference to the case of Richard Scott, the subject of a complaint to the GMC for discussing his faith with […]
At a Given Moment – recognising worldview as part of a healthy diagnosis
CMF member Dr Graham McAll has worked as a general surgeon and inner city GP. In a timely new book, At A Given Moment, he uses personal anecdotes and reflections from around the world to show the value of understanding the patient’s worldview and spiritual background. Dr McAll wants doctors to feel free to address […]
A surprisingly upbeat end to the UN high level meeting on AIDS promises renewed global action
UN meetings and political declarations are often perceived as wordy and irrelevant. But every now and again these high level meetings do come up with statements that shape the actions of governments and aid agencies for years to come. The Millennium Summit of 2000 was one of these occasions, when the Millennium Development Goals were […]
Twenty facts we did not learn from Terry Pratchett’s BBC ‘documentary’ on assisted suicide in Europe
The Sunday Times, in line with its new editorial policy, ran a typically effusive article last weekend about Monday night’s ‘documentary’ in which we saw a British man, Peter Smedley, kill himself on screen by drinking poison at the Dignitas suicide facility near Zurich. Earlier this year I suggested that the BBC was acting in the role of […]
World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (15 June) – A reminder to treasure, honour and protect the older members of our community
You are unlikely to read about it in the British press, but today, 15 June, is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. While most people today are aware of child abuse, it was not always so. Indeed, the concept was only developed in the 1960s. But that development has proven enormously important, as it has allowed […]
NHS reforms expose the British idolatry of our healthcare system
Nigel Lawson once famously said that the NHS is the nearest thing that the British have to a national religion. It is certainly been the case that any politician who seeks to tamper with it has done so at his or her peril. After facing a barrage of criticism from nursing and medical professional bodies, […]
New BBC Radio Four programme – Are we in for more bludgeoning of disabled people?
I’ve just been alerted to the fact that BBC Radio 4 is running another forty-minute ‘documentary’ on an end-of-life theme next Tuesday 21 June at 2000. ‘A Living Death’, is a review into the care of patients in vegetative or low awareness states’, which has been launched by the Royal College of Physicians. The programme […]
The collapse of Southern Cross – is capitalism crushing care and compassion?
As the country’s biggest independent provider of care homes for the elderly sinks deeper into a financial collapse, the 31,000 residents of its homes, their families and carers face a hugely uncertain future. Southern Cross plans to sell off or hand back to landlord control of some 35 of its homes immediately, and another 85 […]