Addiction Fellowship cmf.org.uk - What's New Latest content from Christian Medical Fellowship Doctors' faith, ethnicity, and ethically controversial decisions A paper published in the Journal of Medical Ethics on 25 August by the respected researcher Clive Seale attracted much media comment. Under the title The role of doctors' religious faith and ethnicity in taking ethically controversial decisions during end of life care he described a postal survey of 3,733 UK medical practitioners, 2,923 of whom further reported on the care of their last patient who died. We know a number of CMF members were among those quizzed. From the abstract, his Findings... Submission from Christian Medical Fellowship (and in particular members in Scotland) to the public consultation on: Palliative Care (Scotland) Bill - August 2010 Introduction - The Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF) is an interdenominational organisation in the UK with over 4,000 doctor members and around 1,000 medical student members. Of these, more than 400 doctors and 80 students are members in Scotland. All are Christians who desire their professional and personal lives to be governed by the Christian faith as revealed in the Bible. Members practise in all branches of the profession, and through the International Christian Medical and Dental... BMA update on ARM homosexuality debate Three weeks after the BMA ARM, BMA News (Saturday July 24 2010, p8) carried a letter about the homosexuality debate on Motion 460. There was an interesting response from the BMA ethics department: No role for gay cures in NHS The fact that so many doctors at the BMA annual representative meeting did not back a call for the Royal College of Psychiatrists and other mental health standard-setting bodies to repudiate 'gay cure' treatments indicates the urgent need for education in this field among... CMF submission to Nuffield Council on Bioethics consultation: Give and take? Human bodies in medicine & research Direct link to Nuffield Council on Bioethics consultation 1. Nature of human bodily material and first-in-human trials - Human bodily material - 1. Are there any additional types of human bodily material that could raise ethical concerns? No type has been omitted, but we note no mention is made here of the genetic significance of material - there are potential implications for others should genetic testing be performed. 2. Should any particular type(s) of human bodily material be singled out... Steve Fouch blogs on way back from ICMDA World Congress After three full days of meetings, we are now on the final, fourth day of the Congress and preparing to fly home. Over 700 doctors, medical students and nurses from over fifty nations have been gathered together in the resort city of Punta del Este in Uruguay, and it has been a time of great blessings and encouragement. And this followed on from three days of a well received preconference programme for students, PRIME and International Saline tutors and Psychiatrists. The Bible expositions by... Vicky Lavy blogs from Developing Health course Developing Health Course 2010 - For more information on the Developing Health course please click here . 8 July: Back home Back in the office at Johnson House and life is returning to normal after a busy, sunny, exhausting, happy fortnight at Oak Hill. Laura and I are surrounded by about 800 feedback forms from all the different sessions! The participants were very positive about the course - 'I've come away inspired and excited...' 'The standard of teaching was excellent and I felt refreshed... BMA ARM ethics debate - report BMA ARM 2010 - Ethics Debate 1 July The ethics debate on the last morning of the BMA's 2010 Annual Representative Meeting began 8 minutes behind time, but then ran for 54 minutes instead of the planned 40. Well chaired as always by Peter Bennie, business was disciplined and conducted calmly. Tony Calland, Chair of the Medical Ethics Committee, reported on a particularly busy year responding to a wide range of ethical issues, and proceeding towards the publication in autumn 2011 of the new 800... Euthanasia - CNK's news update CMF is a founder member of the Care Not Killing Alliance and their latest newsletter gives a wide-ranging update of recent developments. On 30 June the Scottish Parliament published all the written evidence received about the End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill and announced their timetable for receiving oral evidence. Another non-prosecution for assisting suicide On 25 June the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, announced he did not consider it would be in the public interest to bring a case against former GP Michael Irwin, for assisting in 2006 the suicide of pancreatic cancer sufferer Ray Cutkelvin. See Peter Saunders' blog on the worrying implications for the assisted suicide debate, and note how the DPP's decision contradicts the very recent BMA guidance. Can the fetus feel pain before 24 weeks' gestation? In a report published on 25 June by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, it was claimed that the fetus cannot 'feel' pain before 24 weeks' gestation as nerve connections in the cerebral cortex are not sufficiently developed. See Peter Saunders' blog and follow the links in it for the fetal pain story, and watch Josephine Quintavalle of CORE, Comment on Reproductive Ethics, on the wider implications of the Report for the abortion debate.