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The February announcement[1] that South Korean Scientists had cloned 30 human embryos generated the media frenzy and overhyped predictions we have come to expect in this area of research. But the true facts were less impressive. The team at Seoul National University used 242 eggs from 16 women donors; from...
Lord Joffe's Patient (Assisted Dying) Bill,[1] which seeks to legalise Dutchstyle euthanasia in the UK, has returned, after running out of time last parliamentary session. Skilfully reworked and renamed the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill,[2] it passed its second reading in the House of Lords on 10 March...
The government has launched a new consultation on 'action to improve patients' health', which will feed into the production of a new White Paper this summer. Choosing health?[1]builds on government advisor Derek Wanless' new report Securing Good Health for the Whole Population[2] and seeks feedback from groups and individuals on...
Natallie Evans, 31, of Trowbridge, Wiltshire, who had her ovaries removed after being diagnosed with cancer, previously had six embryos created and frozen, before breaking up with her boyfriend Howard Johnston. Lorraine Hadley, 38, from Baswich, Staffordshire, who had a 17-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, had two embryos previously...
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised the government to ban fertility clinics from using sex selection for non-medical reasons.[1] More than 80% of respondents to the HFEA consultation document Sex Selection: choice and responsibility in human reproduction were opposed to using sex selection techniques for anything other...
Unity and truth In the garden of Gethsemane, before Jesus went to the cross,[2] his mind was not on the rejection and suffering he was about to face; but rather on how his disciples were going to survive after his departure. He wanted them to be 'in the world' (v13),...
When I was a general surgical registrar in Auckland, New Zealand the 'management era' was just beginning. Someone, who I expect had never worn greens and didn't know one end of a retractor from another, was examining the operating theatre budget in some office remote from the front line. About $15,000...
Euthanasia and 'gay marriage' could be legalised and abortion even further liberalised in the UK in 2004. Over the next six months the government will be considering new legislation that could have profound implications for the way people live and how medicine is practised. Lord Joffe's Patient (Assisted Dying) Bill,[1] seeks...
In spite of two decades of research and action against AIDS the global pandemic is accelerating. About 40 million people, including 2.5 million children, are now living worldwide with HIV, 95% in the developing world. Each year five million people are newly infected [1] and the annual death rate has...
The September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001 were a great tragedy - with just over 3,000 deaths in a single day. And the people killed were infinitely more important than the companies they worked for or the buildings they worked in. The grisly events were witnessed, and will rightfully be...
