Christian doctors concern over controversial death pathway; What 2013 will bring on the legal front; Young ‘cannot cope with daily life’; Teacher morale ‘dangerously low’; Archbishop Nichols ends ‘Soho Masses’ for LGBT after six years
Christian doctors call for ban on NHS ‘bribing’ hospitals to put more patients on controversial death pathway
By Jason Groves, Mailonline
• Christian Medical Fellowship said financial incentives should be ‘eradicated’
• Urged ministers to tighten controls on Liverpool Care Pathway system
• Cash should be reinvested in better training for staff
An influential group of Christian doctors yesterday called for an end to financial ‘bribes’ that encourage hospitals to place dying patients on the controversial Liverpool Care Pathway.
The Christian Medical Fellowship said judgments about whether to withdraw treatment from terminally-ill patients should be made solely on clinical grounds.
The CMF, which represents more than 4,000 doctors, said financial incentives for hospitals to use the system – thought to run at more than £10million a year in total – should be ‘eradicated’ immediately.
It also urged ministers to tighten controls to end the ‘undoubted abuses’ of a system designed to ensure patients die with dignity.
Dr Jeff Stephenson, a Devon-based consultant in palliative care, said the care pathway could help ease suffering if used properly.
But he added: ‘It remains a tool, and it is only as good as those who use it. There is always potential for misuse and abuse and there are undoubtedly instances where this occurs.
Liverpool Care Pathway – nine points for the government to consider in its review
by Peter Saunders, CMF – The Christian Medical Fellowship. CMF has nine key points it wants the government to consider in its recently announced review of the controversial Liverpool Care Pathway
http://pjsaunders.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/liverpool-care-pathway-nine-points-for.html
What 2013 will bring on the legal front
Law & Religion UK has published 2012 and 2013: retrospect and prospect.
This is a very comprehensive review of recent and forthcoming issues of a legal kind that affect Christians in England, and the Church of England in particular.
http://www.lawandreligionuk.com/2013/01/01/2012-and-2013-retrospect-and-prospect/
Young ‘cannot cope with daily life’
One in 10 young people feel unable to cope with day-to-day life, according to the Prince’s Trust’s latest youth index.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20885838
Teacher morale ‘dangerously low’
Morale among teachers in England and Wales is “dangerously low” and “has declined dramatically in recent months” a teachers’ union survey suggests.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20877397
Archbishop Nichols ends ‘Soho Masses’ after six years
Luke Coppen, Catholic Herald – Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster has announced that Masses in Soho organised for gay people are to end.
He also revealed that the church where the Masses took place will be given to the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
The fortnightly “Soho Masses” at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Warwick Street were established by the diocese almost six years ago. They were intended to be “particularly welcoming to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Catholics, their parents, friends and families”.
Archbishop Nichols said today that, while the Masses will stop, pastoral care of the community will continue at the Jesuit Farm Street church in Mayfair on Sunday evenings.
He also announced that Our Lady of the Assumption church will be given to the ordinariate in Lent. The archbishop said: “I hope that the use of this beautiful church, in which the young John Henry Newman first attended Mass, will enable Catholics in the ordinariate to prosper and to offer to others the particular gifts of the ordinariate.”
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2013/01/02/archbishop-nichols-ends-soho-masses-after-six-years/
Damian Thompson – Telegraph
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100196337/gay-masses-in-soho-abolished-by-archbishop-nichols-church-where-they-were-held-to-go-to-the-ordinariate/