Printed from: https://archive.cmf.org.uk/resources/publications/content/?context=issue&id=147
The Nuffield Council on Bioethics [1] published its long awaited report Critical care decisions in fetal and neonatal medicine: ethical issues on 16 November 2006.[2,3,4] In the weeks leading up to its release there was considerable media speculation about its contents with major newspapers highlighting what individual bodies had said...
Most of our teachers were respected, and many were admired, but only a few were loved. I came to love Alan, because he gave me the greatest gift; integrating my medical practice into a framework of Christian morality. He taught me the expected surgical skills, but he was inspiring in...
Research has long been regarded as an aid to advancement in medicine. Indeed, in some disciplines it is almost a necessity. It is therefore not surprising that individuals have been tempted to falsify the reports of their research, given the increasingly competitive nature of medical careers. There have been well-reported...
Cannabis is a controversial subject. According to a UK Government advisory body,'cannabis does not pose a serious problem for previously healthy people'.[1] Yet the head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime believes that 'cannabis [is] as bad as heroin'. [2] Acting on a 2002 recommendation of the...
Eleven million children died last year, mostly in the developing world from perinatal causes and infections such as pneumonia, malaria, diarrhoea and HIV. Malnutrition was an underlying factor in more than half these deaths. Many millions more had disability or impaired child development and an unrecognised number of children suffered...
'That injection killed him!' 'He was the kindest man who ever lived.' 'The hospital never told me he was going to die!' 'We did everything together…'These are just some of the things that have been said to me as a GP after a patient's death. Comfort and compassion At a...
It's a real privilege to be on the receiving end of the many newsletters our members working abroad send to us. Some leave you in tears, others fill you with laughter. I've extracted details from one of them, changing some of the details slightly for security reasons. It gives a...
From the position of a Harvard Business School professor, Deborah Spar tackles the thorny issue of infertility and the markets that it has created. Her thesis is much broader than one might expect. She covers the ethical dilemmas thoroughly and describes beginning of life issues in a clear and engaging...
The debate about hydration in the dying has been intense and very important. Gillian Craig, a retired geriatrician, brings an excellent breath of fresh air to this debate, providing data, published research and a wide range of opinion. The style of the book is interesting, a collage of papers and...
The rate of increase of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is alarming. This clear, well-referenced book includes factual information on teenage pregnancy, contraception and STIs, alongside thoughtprovoking chapters on important issues for debate. It is useful for clinical practice, service commissioners, youth workers and church ministers, and parents. The opening chapters...
Some years ago, when he moved from Philadelphia to Hungary to work with International Health Services, emergency physician Bob Snyder began to write a journal of the spiritual lessons that God was teaching him through everyday experiences. In this book, Bob has brought together 50 of these vignettes and asked...
If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the Word of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Him. Where the battle rages there...
War on women The UN has received a stark warning about the growing global incidence of sex selected abortions and prenatal sex selection. Speaking about the growing popularity of 'son preference', demographics expert Dr Eberstadt from the American Enterprise Institute termed the trend a 'Global War Against Baby Girls'. China's...
However I reached this place, there is no possible evil, without or within, that our Good Shepherd is powerless to keep at bay or to slay. He is a match for them all. I can either react to the difficulties in ways that only add to the pain, or I...
HPV vaccine Chris Richards, Newcastle paediatrician and Director of Lovewise, argues that immunising against cervical cancer is aiding and abetting sin. I disagree with Trevor Stammers (Triple Helix 2006; Winter:7) that Christians should welcome the development and use of the HPV vaccine. There are two biblical reasons against mass HPV...
Another World AIDS Day passed on 1 December: but amidst the usual flurry of news stories and updates on the epidemic, and the predictable tables of statistics showing the mounting scale of the problem, there was a glimmer of hope. At Saddleback Church in California, Rick Warren, author of The...
The last few months have yielded much good news on the adult stem cell front. Several ground-breaking research projects have announced successful results. There is hopeful news for diabetics. In New Orleans, human bone marrow stem cells have been shown to repair defective insulin-producing pancreatic cells in diabetic mice. [1]...
Since 1967, more than six million abortions have been performed in Britain, over 95 percent on the grounds that abortion safeguards the mental health of women with unplanned pregnancies. In a letter to the Times, [1] coinciding with the 39th anniversary of the Abortion Act on 27 October 2006, fifteen...
'I do want to' said our blessed Lord when asked by a leper if he wanted to cure him. [1] As doctors, it is our huge privilege to participate in healing. The challenge of medicine has been to do well what works and to avoid ineffective treatments. The National Institute...
Betty Cowan OBE (q Glasgow 1951; d 10 September 2006) Family circumstances prevented Betty embarking on a career in medicine until she was in her early thirties. During her first year at Glasgow University she came to personal faith in Christ, and this mapped out her medical missionary career. In...
