To begin with, the changes were subtle. Unexplained anxiety and tearfulness, episodes of uncharacteristic blankness, and irritation and anger with medics and their pointless tests. As the dementing process continued, my mother tragically changed and aged before our eyes. Her confusion increased; she was frequently distressed by terrifying visual hallucinations....
As a child growing up in the 1960s, I was an avid reader of science-based predictions of the future. By the year 2000 we would all be travelling in hover-cars, there would be colonies on the moon, nuclear fusion would provide free power, robots would do all the work and...
As a child growing up in the 1960s I was an avid reader of science-based predictions of the future. By the year 2000 hover-cars, colonies on the moon, free power through nuclear fusion and robot workers were all forecast. The problem for humankind would be how to fill the endless...
John Wyatt on the growing pressures ahead for Christian health professionals. We don't know what the future holds for Christian healthcare professionals, but challenges and dangers seem to abound. The pressures on the NHS seem to increase year on year from a toxic mix of economic, demographic, organisational and political...
John Wyatt relates his experience of caring for a relative with dementia. To begin with the changes were subtle. Unexplained anxiety and tearfulness, episodes of uncharacteristic blankness, irritation and anger with medics and their pointless tests. As the dementing process continued, my mother tragically changed and aged before our eyes....
The recent BBC documentary 23 week babies - the price of life represented six months of filming on the neonatal intensive care unit at Birmingham Women's Hospital. Brilliantly filmed and produced, the programme powerfully illustrated the conflicting emotions of parents confronted with a baby struggling for life at 23 weeks....
By John Wyatt Worldviews are the understandings each one of us has about the way the universe is. All our thoughts, beliefs and actions are based on these fundamental presuppositions abou treality, and they are therefore critical in medical ethics. Different worldviews will sometimes lead to radically different decisions.But worldviews are...
The pioneer missionaries of the Christian church were motivated by a vision: a dream of a worldwide church in which people from every nation and tongue would gather together in unity. They sacrificed their lives in the hope that this vision would become a reality, yet their eyes never saw...
In the last twelve months we have seen wonderful answers to prayer in the battle to prevent euthanasia and physician assisted suicide being legalised in the UK. When we consider that last summer we were staring down the barrel of Lord Joffe's third bill in the House of Lords in...
The last year has seen major challenges, but also some significant encouragements in the field of medical ethics. In particular the successful opposition to the Joffe Bill and the creation of the Care Not Killing Alliance, in which CMF has played such a central role, may have laid a foundation...