Tags: Healthcare
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Religious campaigners shouldn't be able to veto the refusal of treatment
Posted: Mon, 15 Jun 2020 by Dr Antony Lempert
Christian campaigners have questioned a ruling that allowed a severely ill man to die. Dr Antony Lempert says they're misrepresenting the case – and patients' views are significant when determining their best interests. Read More »
Places of worship shouldn’t reopen prematurely
Posted: Thu, 04 Jun 2020 by Stephen Evans
As a group of religious leaders threatens legal action over the closure of places of worship during the coronavirus crisis, Stephen Evans says public health must be the priority in deciding when to reopen them. Read More »
Charities can’t sell snake oil. Or can they?
Posted: Tue, 07 Apr 2020 by Megan Manson
If we want to protect vulnerable people from being duped into buying 'miracle cures' from religious charities we should start by reforming charity law, says Megan Manson. Read More »
Medical regulators shouldn’t let doctors push religion on patients
Posted: Tue, 10 Dec 2019 by Stephen Evans
The General Medical Council has decided not to pursue a case against a GP who was accused of pushing religion on a vulnerable patient. Stephen Evans warns against allowing this exploitative behaviour. Read More »
The medical profession should protect all children from unnecessary genital cutting
Posted: Thu, 05 Dec 2019 by Dr Antony Lempert
Doctors in Britain should follow the lead of those who have declared ritual male circumcision a breach of medical ethics, argues Dr Antony Lempert. Read More »
A woman is convicted over circumcision. What happens next?
Posted: Fri, 06 Sep 2019 by Megan Manson
A pharmacist has been convicted for having a baby boy circumcised against his parents' wishes. Megan Manson says the case raises alarming questions over our willingness to defend children's bodily integrity consistently. Read More »
Doctors who favour legalisation of assisted dying deserve a hearing
Posted: Thu, 04 Jul 2019 by Dr Antony Lempert
As more doctors' groups consult their members on assisted dying and parliament debates the issue, Dr Antony Lempert says the challenge to the status quo, which is propped up by religious interests, is welcome. Read More »
Praying on the vulnerable
Posted: Fri, 24 May 2019 by Stephen Evans
A ruling that a nurse was not wrongly dismissed for repeatedly evangelising was unsurprising, says Stephen Evans. Healthcare professionals must be prepared to set aside their personal beliefs at work to protect patients. Read More »
The BMA’s genital cutting guidance is a disturbing departure from evidence-based, patient-centred policy making
Posted: Wed, 27 Feb 2019 by Dr Antony Lempert
The body which represents doctors has missed the opportunity to take a stand against medically unnecessary child circumcision in its new guidance on the subject, says Dr Antony Lempert. Read More »
The NHS’s pastoral support shouldn’t be based on religiosity
Posted: Fri, 11 Jan 2019 by Dr Antony Lempert
Moves to introduce humanist chaplaincy services in some NHS hospitals paper over the cracks in a discriminatory service, Dr Antony Lempert argues. Read More »
Genital cutting: the search for ‘health benefits’ is disingenuous and inconsistent
Posted: Thu, 27 Sep 2018 by Brian D. Earp
The principle of bodily autonomy is enough reason to end genital cutting, says Brian D. Earp. Allowing 'health benefits' to dictate its acceptability risks legitimising inconsistent, pseudo-scientific justifications. Read More »
Why we must reclaim religious freedom
Posted: Wed, 12 Sep 2018 by National Secular Society
There is an urgent case for resisting those who claim the mantle of 'religious freedom' without regard for others' rights and freedoms. Here's why our Secularism 2019 conference will be held under the tagline 'reclaiming religious freedom'.
"Everyone has the... Read More »
Religious freedom isn't a licence to violate others’ rights
Posted: Thu, 01 Mar 2018 by Stephen Evans
Increasing clashes between religious orthodoxy and secular liberalism highlight one of the most pressing challenges facing contemporary societies; how to manage the incredible religious and cultural diversity that exist within them. This throws up important... Read More »
How cutting cultures deny dissenters their voice and identity
Posted: Fri, 23 Feb 2018 by Dr Antony Lempert
As Icelandic lawmakers consider whether to ban cutting infants' genitals for non-medical reasons, Dr Antony Lempert reflects on the ferocious backlash to the proposal in the UK.
This week non-therapeutic childhood male circumcision has hit the UK headlines... Read More »
Ireland’s hospitals: some welcome secularisation
Posted: Fri, 01 Sep 2017 by Keith Porteous Wood
NSS executive director Keith Porteous Wood detects a long-overdue and decisive turn towards secularism in publicly funded healthcare in Ireland, an area in which the Catholic Church has until now been predominant.
The Catholic Church in Ireland has, until recently,... Read More »
Abortion ruling is a missed opportunity to recognise the disparity in women’s reproductive health rights across the UK
Posted: Thu, 15 Jun 2017 by Dr Antony Lempert
Ensuring that NHS abortion services are made available, free of charge, to UK citizens travelling from Northern Ireland would be a way of mitigating the harm caused by a disparity in women's reproductive health rights across the UK, argues Dr Antony Lempert.... Read More »
Irish National Maternity Hospital: “Keep your rosaries off my ovaries!”
Posted: Mon, 05 Jun 2017 by Keith Porteous Wood
The determination to give a hospital to a disgraced religious order, in spite of public outrage, is the very antithesis of secularism. But the episode has prompted calls for fundamental changes in the relationship between church and state, writes Keith Porteous... Read More »
Stop pharmacies refusing prescriptions for emergency contraception on religious grounds
Posted: Fri, 17 Feb 2017 by Keith Porteous Wood
With the regulator considering curtailing 'conscience' objections to contraception prescriptions, Keith Porteous Wood urges supporters to respond to the consultation in the interests of vulnerable patients.
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has launched... Read More »
Sister Sarah Kuteh: up steps the next so called victim of ‘Christian persecution’
Posted: Wed, 14 Dec 2016 by Stephen Evans
It has been another week in which we've seen Christians in the Middle East losing their lives to violence and persecution, but much media attention in the UK has instead focussed around the plight of a nurse, supposedly sacked for "offering to pray with her... Read More »
Forced cutting of young boys’ genitals violates the most fundamental medical ethics
Posted: Mon, 24 Oct 2016 by Dr Antony Lempert
Too often those who carry out forced cutting of young boys' genitals escape with gentle admonishment, rather than punishment commensurate with the severity of their actions, writes Dr Antony Lempert of the Secular Medical Forum.
In 2013, Dr Hassan Abdulla,... Read More »
Channel 4’s Dispatches reveals intimidating tactics of US-inspired anti-abortion campaigners
Posted: Thu, 06 Oct 2016 by Dr Antony Lempert
Dr Antony Lempert of the Secular Medical Forum reacts to Channel 4 Dispatches' programme that showed the shock tactics UK anti-abortion campaigners are importing from America.
This week's Channel 4's Dispatches, presented by Cathy Newman, went undercover among... Read More »
NHS pastoral care should be a non-discriminatory service for all
Posted: Thu, 16 Jul 2015 by Stephen Evans
If NHS Trusts want to provide pastoral care for all, then there is no rationale for restricting the role of chaplain to those of faith, argues Stephen Evans.
God forbid – but if you or any your family end up in hospital, and feel the need for some emotional... Read More »
The Christian “fired for praying at work” – here’s the other side of the story
Posted: Thu, 23 Apr 2015 by Terry Sanderson
The British media unquestioningly promulgates the false narrative of Christians being discriminated against in the workplace. Terry Sanderson looks at the latest case involving a Christian disciplined for subjecting a subordinate to unwanted and intrusive... Read More »
The dishonesty of religious lobbying shines like a beacon
Posted: Tue, 03 Feb 2015 by Terry Sanderson
NSS President Terry Sanderson argues that the churches have changed their lobbying tactics, and are trying to impose their doctrines through misdirection and 'slippery slope' arguments.
The reaction of the Church of England and the Catholic Church to the debate... Read More »
The dishonesty of religious lobbying shines like a beacon
Posted: Tue, 03 Feb 2015 by Terry Sanderson
NSS President Terry Sanderson argues that the churches have changed their lobbying tactics, and are trying to impose their doctrines through misdirection and 'slippery slope' arguments.
The reaction of the Church of England and the Catholic Church to the debate... Read More »
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