Category: United Kingdom

Doctors’ leaders clash with pro-shooting group over health checks on gun licence applicants

The Herald

W.N.M.P. Bowern

Apply for a firearms or shotgun licence and your family doctor will be asked by the police if he or she thinks there might any medical reason or ‘concerns’ to refuse to allow you to possess a gun.

A change in the licensing regime last April meant new information sharing processes between GPs and the police were introduced in an attempt to ensure those licensed to possess firearm and shotgun certificates were medically fit to carry sporting guns.

The British Medical Association expressed concerns at the time. This week it has gone further, advising doctors they can refuse to engage in the process if they have a conscientious objection to firearms and telling them if they do agree to provide information they should charge a fee. . . .[Full text]

 

Doctors told not to call pregnant women “mothers”

Bioedge

Xavier Symons

British doctors have been told not to call pregnant women ‘mothers’ in a British Medical Association (BMA) document that has been slammed by conservative commentators.

In a booklet entitled A Guide To Effective Communication: Inclusive Language In The Workplace, doctors are instructed to use “inclusive language” that demonstrates “a commitment to equality and inclusion”. This includes revising conventional language used during pregnancy:

“Gender inequality is reflected in traditional ideas about the roles of women and men…We can include intersex men and transmen who may get pregnant by saying ‘pregnant people’ instead of ‘expectant mothers’.”

In an introduction to the guide on the BMA’s website, senior executive Dr Anthea Mowat wrote: ‘I would encourage you all to read and share this guide, and think about how you can apply it in your day-to-day work. This is a time where we need to come together to support and protect our colleagues and our patients.’

Conservative MP Philip Davies described the guidance as ‘completely ridiculous’: “If you can’t call a pregnant woman an expectant mother, then what is the world coming to?'”

Women’s rights campaigner Laura Perrins was equally critical of the document:

‘As every doctor knows only females can have children. To say otherwise is offensive and dangerous. This will offend women up and down the country, and is an example of the majority of women being insulted for a tiny minority of people.’

The BMA controversy comes just weeks after British media outlets reported the ‘first male pregnancy’, involving a transgender who halted her gender transition to being a male so that she could have a child.

Doctors told not to call pregnant women "mothers"This article is published by Xavier Symons and BioEdge under a Creative Commons licence. You may republish it or translate it free of charge with attribution for non-commercial purposes following these guidelines. If you teach at a university we ask that your department make a donation to BioEdge. Commercial media must contact BioEdge for permission and fees.

 

Pharmacy plans could force Christians to act against their conscience

Christian Institute

Christian pharmacists could be forced to provide services which go against their conscience, under controversial new proposals.

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) is currently consulting on new guidance which would require pharmacists to park their religious convictions while at work.

One group representing Christian pharmacists has warned that the move could make “the position of some excellent professionals untenable”. . . [Full text]

 

Management of late gestation abortion of concern in Birmingham Women’s NHS Foundation Trust

Sean Murphy*

According to an inspection report of the Birmingham Women’s National Health Service Foundation Trust, the facility did not consistently provide women seeking abortion with information to prepare them for the possibility of the survival of an infant following a late gestation abortion, including the need to notify the coroner should the infant die. (p. 4, 15)  Apparently the outpatients’ clinic provided patients with this information verbally. (p. 16)

The effect of late term abortions on staff and patients is described as “distressing,”  one of the risks in need of identification, monitoring and mitigation(p.6).  Ward staff felt unprepared to respond to late term abortions involving the survival of an infant (p. 6), several complaining that they “had not received training that would equip them to deal with the physical and emotional aspects of advanced gestation abortions.” (p. 15, 18)

One issue was the need to develop “differential care pathways,” apparently related to decisions about how to manage a surviving or deceased infant based on the reason for the abortion. (p. 16)

Staff involved in what the report describes as a “new complex termination of pregnancy service” were not adequately prepared or engaged before it began, and “continued to express concerns” over a year after its introduction.  Staff had been allowed to opt out of the service, but several (apparently among those who remained) complained about “distress to women and how they felt ill prepared to care for them.” (p. 31)

The report also states, without explanation, “The trust must ensure all HSA1 certificates for termination of pregnancy are fully completed by the registered medical practitioners signing them.” (p. 34)  This may reflect a continuing problem with certification by physicians of the need for abortions, which is a legal requirement.  Among problems previously identified was the practice of signing the forms in advance without actually seeing a patient.

These elements of the report illustrate the practical realities that inform the decisions of some health care personnel who refuse to provide or participate in abortion.

 

 

 

Submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Freedom of Conscience in Abortion Provision (United Kingdom)

. . . Abortion has developed technologically and now includes medical and surgical methods, but, generally speaking, remains the deliberate killing of a developing human individual at some point between implantation in the uterus and birth, either directly or by premature delivery intended to cause death. The moral arguments against abortion have been refined and somewhat expanded since 1967, but their focus is substantially unchanged. . .
Project Submission