Printed from: https://archive.cmf.org.uk/resources/publications/content/?context=issue&id=91
Unlike Mickie, many of his fellow inmates have been involved with drugs prior to prison. In a survey of 1,751 sentenced male prisoners, 43% had misused drugs in the six month period before entering prison[1]. Maybe this is not too surprising. It is estimated that as much as 70% of...
'I feel pulled in so many directions. Today I needed to be in several places at once. It's so hard working out who and what should come first.' My wife was reflecting on another fairly typical day in her work as an NHS speech therapist. Listening to her responses to...
Yesterday I had a four-year-old visitor who clearly knew her own mind. She was able very decidedly to express her views, especially when her parents had different ideas. The word 'No' featured prominently and had probably done so since before her first birthday. The ability to say this powerful little...
Why is it that consideration of collisions on the roads is outside the field of medical ethics? Is this strange omission because they are seen as 'accidental', when by contrast euthanasia, suicide, infanticide and abortion are seen as 'intentional' and therefore worthy of investigation? Admittedly, few drivers set out to...
Articles in this edition On a journey Editorial comment Highs and Lows in Nepal and Benin Andrew Potter, an ophthalmologist based in Benin, recounts feelings prompted by a visit to Nepal Modern medicine and mission: do they mix? David Clegg looks back to Jesus to set a standard for contemporary Christian healthcare...
Tony Blair's recent meeting with Microsoft magnate Bill Gates and then extolling the virtues of a 'National Grid for Learning' is just one development that makes the Internet topical at the moment. The Internet is a network of computers which was originally designed by the United States military to withstand...
While most of us yearn for a glimpse into heaven, a book about dying children is not what we would readily choose as a gift for ourselves or a friend. However, to pass by this short paperback without a second look would be to miss a little gem. The subtitle...
This booklet is a re-examination of the concept of medical vocation in the light of the radical changes which are taking place in the organisation and practice of healthcare. The authors, one of whom is medical and the other a theologian, paint a portrait of 'Generation X' - the generation...
This book is a welcome addition to the literature, covering as it does an area of practice which is fundamental to all clinical specialties, yet is rarely discussed and less still written about. Perhaps in this modern age of technology the importance of the medical consultation tends to be sidelined...
Michael Behe is an Associate Professor of Biochemistry at Lehigh University in the USA who believes that biological diversity derives from common descent but who is sceptical that the Darwinian processes of natural selection are sufficient to generate such complexity. Behe, a Catholic, does not hold to young earth creationism,...
Craig Donellan is an editor well-known to students of A-level Religious Studies who are following any ethics course. This volume is a collection of material from other sources, attractively presented and illustrated, with a number of eye-catching articles. Closer inspection reveals some very interesting and often undebated aspects of the...
This short text is based on a lecture given to the Institute of Health Policy Studies at Southampton University in 1996 with the addition of an introduction and afterword. Overall I found the book very disappointing since I expected a much deeper and less biased examination of the ethical issues...
Coming to terms with one child with cerebral palsy, let alone two, is an achievement in itself. Being able to share the pain, the frustrations, the joy and the love in such a highly readable way is remarkable. Sarah Bowen's book vividly describes the all-too-short lives of Claire and her...
Our image of God, the pursuit of perfection, and holiness are examined and reinterpreted in the light of psychology in this latest book by Anne Townsend, a doctor and former missionary in Thailand who is now a psychotherapist and an Anglican priest. The author sees people undergoing psychoanalysis as searching...
Several recent high profile euthanasia-related cases have again highlighted the ethical concept of intention. Drs Irwin and Moor announced last July that they had assisted in the deaths of 50 and 150 patients respectively, and gave as reason for these admissions desire to draw attention to what they see as...
Prayer can be bad for your knees. 1,500 year-old skeletons stored beneath the crypt of St Stephen's Monastery in Jerusalem have revealed that almost all the monks had arthritis of the knees. It is concluded they spent much time kneeling in daily worship. Any evidence of this association nowadays? (Source: The...
