UK
Artificial Intelligence – A threat to humanity?
AI is rarely out of the headlines these days, with experts and developers all seeming to have different levels of concern about how much of a threat to human existence it poses. On the one hand there are those who view it in a totally positive light and see it helping to improve the lives…
Read More‘Fixing’ the Patient
The common experience during most medical training is the emphasis placed on diagnosis and treatment of illness, rather than understanding the way that illness moulds and changes the life of the patient. It is only after we spend some time with our patients that we appreciate the opportunity and privilege we have of sharing in…
Read MoreCapturing the language of (assisted) death
Those promoting the agenda that, in plain speaking, wants the UK to legalise doctors to be able to provide a prescription for a lethal draught with which patients can kill themselves, have a long history of shape-shifting their language. Morphing from the Voluntary Euthanasia Society to Dignity in Dying in 2006 was a smart – if…
Read MoreCoronavirus vaccines – history, logistics, questions and conspiracies
En français The long-awaited news So, on Wednesday 2 December, the UK became the first nation in the world to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for medical use. The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the medicines watchdog, had given it the thumbs up and granted it temporary authorisation. The roll-out could begin. …
Read MoreMembers of a whole
The immediate effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are severe enough and sometimes unexpected. The higher Covid-19 mortality amongst healthcare workers and others from black and minority ethnic backgrounds in the UK have not been observed in Africa and South Asia. This has obliged those of us who work in the National Health Service to ask ourselves difficult…
Read MoreCaring for your mind during lockdown
En Français, Español, Português When Boris Johnson announced a UK-wide lockdown, my immediate response was fear and dread. Many people are currently living in fear of catching COVID-19, and understandably so. However, for some of us, this virus may present a greater risk to our mental health than it does to our physical well-being. I…
Read MoreTen things to pray for Christian healthcare workers
Em Português, Français This morning I read a news article entitled ‘What am I still allowed to do?’ It outlined what the new UK-wide lockdown means for each of us and when we can leave the house. In many countries around the world, similar measures have come into effect in the last few weeks. However,…
Read MoreHealthcare resource allocation during the COVID-19 pandemic: a Christian ethical perspective
Em português, français This is a short summary of a briefing paper – please read the full version for a more thorough consideration of the issues. As doctors based in the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS), a well-resourced healthcare system, we approach the subject of healthcare rationing with a degree of humility. However, as…
Read MoreDiagnostic capacity at scale is the key to coronavirus epidemic control – the clear lesson from East Asia
Em português. How many people will die in the UK as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic? According to the scientists it will be between 20,000 and 500,000 depending very much on how we respond. A team at Imperial College has produced a paper which this week has prompted the government to embark upon a range of…
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