Peru – Rape victim’s who love their babies
UK – 466 reported abortion complications raise concerns
No news today
Canada – Some doctors are refusing to treat attempted suicides
Canada – Doctor to face disciplinary hearing for euthanasia
UK – United Kingdom court to rule on food and fluids
USA – Illusions of safeguards in Oregon
No news today
USA – ‘Uber for birth control’ creates new ethical challenges
USA – Should doctors comply with all patient requests?
USA – Paediatrician exposes the dangers of transgender ideology
South Africa – 70{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of SA sex workers don’t protect themselves
North Africa – Is Facebook Enabling The African Exodus To Europe?
USA – ‘Juuling’ a very dangerous smoking game for children
USA – Trump administration toughens stance on recreational marijuana
USA/South Africa – Kratom, an addict’s alternative, is found addictive itself
Abortion
USA – Another woman shares her abortion regret
Ally Bowlin struggled for six years trying to suppress emotions of grief after having an abortion. This led her to experience anxiety, anger and depression (symptoms associated with post-abortion stress syndrome in women). She became quick-tempered and couldn’t handle being alone because it would remind her of the abortion and heartache. She points out that a life for a life never empowered her as the abortion industries so often promote, and she eventually sought counselling to deal with the regrets she had been suppressing for years. Ally is now a national programs coordinator for Students for Life America.
Peru – Rape victim’s who love their babies
Rebecca Kiessling, founder and president of ‘Save the 1’ addressed a pro-life conference in Peru with her personal story. Rebecca’s mother was a victim of rape and sought an abortion twice; at the time (48 years ago) the law protected the unborn child and the mother from the horror of abortion. Today, Rebecca and her mother are both thankful for the law that was in place at that time. Rebecca says women who were raped suffer more because people don’t believe they were raped if they don’t go through with an abortion. Women actually love their unborn despite what happened to them and should not be forced into thinking that abortion is the only solution.
UK – 466 reported abortion complications raise concerns
Legalizing abortion was supposedly meant to make abortion “safe” for the mother at least, while the baby undergoes horrific procedures that poisons or rips the child a part. But ambulances were called to abortion clinics in London a total of 466 times over the last year. ‘Life’s’ Director of Education Anne Scanlan said, “Abortion clinics nationally have been guilty of health and safety breaches over the last few years and there is a need for immediate intervention to protect women from them instead of loosening the laws, as is being demanded by the abortion lobby. Women need greater support to continue with their pregnancy, not the exploitation of their crisis pregnancy by the abortion industry.”
No news today
Canada – Some doctors are refusing to treat attempted suicides
Quebec’s College of Physicians has issued an ethics bulletin which says that last year, “in some Quebec hospitals, some people who had attempted to end their lives through poisoning were not resuscitated when, in the opinion of certain experts, a treatment spread out over a few days could have saved them with no, or almost no, after-effects.” Bernard Mathieu, president of Association of Quebec Emergency Physicians said, “It’s possible it has confused doctors a little bit,” he said. Wesley J. Smith commented, “How many of those people would have been glad their lives were saved, as sometimes happens when suicides fail? We’ll never know because they are dead.”
Canada – Doctor to face disciplinary hearing for euthanasia
Dr Ellen Wiebe has been reported to the College of Physicians and Surgeons in British Columbia, Canada, by CEO David Kesselman, director of the Louis Brier Nursing Home, Vancouver, for euthanizing a patient residing in the home at the time, without consulting his nursing staff. Dr Wiebe snuck into the old age home after hours to perform the procedure. Dr Wiebe will face a disciplinary hearing with the College of Physicians and Surgeons which regulates the practice of medicine in British Columbia. David Kesselman states that Dr Wiebe’s action was totally unethical as she was made aware of the nursing home’s policy regarding Medical Assistance in Dying.
UK – United Kingdom court to rule on food and fluids
The UK Supreme court will be ruling on the 29 January 2018 on whether doctors can remove food and fluids from brain-damaged patients without going to court.
USA – Illusions of safeguards in Oregon
Articles by Wesley J. Smith expose weaknesses in safeguarding measures in the USA Oregon Death with Dignity Act Model. The Oregon Health Authority revealed that its own interpretation of the law is permissive. The law does not compel patients to have exhausted all treatment options first, or to continue with their current treatment.
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/455264/oregons-permissive-assisted-suicide-regime
IVF&Surrogacy
No news today
Medical Ethics
USA – ‘Uber for birth control’ creates new ethical challenges
A new smartphone app, Nurx prescribes and delivers all kinds of contraception plus the morning-after pill. Since there are no consultation or delivery fees, for women with health insurance their contraception will effectively be free. For those who don’t, the service costs US$15 a month. A woman selects a prescription, answers a few health and demographic questions, and a doctor will write a prescription. The medication arrives within 3 to 5 days. Nurx automatically refills the prescription, as well. More disturbingly it accepts applications from girls as young as 12 and anyone who might be ordering the Pill for the first time – without seeing a doctor face-to-face – although Nurx does offer the option of a video chat over the phone. Since Nurx has to comply with state laws, it is available in only 15 states plus Washington DC but is pushing to roll out its coverage across the US.
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/uber-for-birth-control-creates-new-ethical-challenges/12526
USA – Should doctors comply with all patient requests?
According to a report in Forbes, 2{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of primary care physicians’ pay is now based on “patient satisfaction metrics”. Does this mean that doctors should agree with every request from a patient? The authors of an article in JAMA Internal Medicine respond with a qualified No. They found that 68{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of requests included an explicit request by the patient but that doctors complied with only 85{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of these. When doctors did refuse, their satisfaction ratings could be 10 to 20 percentiles lower. “The sizes of the associations suggest that clinicians who are less likely than their colleagues to fulfil patient requests for these services could face a penalty in satisfaction ratings, potentially affecting clinician career satisfaction, compensation, and handling of subsequent requests for these services.” What doctors need, they suggest is, “Training … to provide clinicians with communication approaches that foster a positive patient experience without simply acquiescing to requests for low-value care, thereby avoiding the harms of unnecessary evaluation and treatment, maintaining good stewardship of resources and potentially enhancing clinician career satisfaction.”
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/should-doctors-comply-with-all-patient-requests/12537
Pedophilia
South Africa – UK man wanted for paedophilia
Lee Tucker, a commercial pilot had been living in Cape Town for 15 years before he was arrested in March 2016. He is wanted in the UK for 42 paedophilia-related charges and believes he is being targeted because he is homosexual. The charges he faces in the UK include assaulting underage boys, living from the earnings of male prostitution and being part of a paedophile ring in Bristol in 1998. Tucker remains in Pollsmoor prison until his next hearing.
USA – New film normalises pedastry
“Call me by your name” is a new movie about an older man’s affair with a 17-year-old boy whose relationship sparks homoeroticism and flirtation, which then turns romantic and carnal. Summed up, the movie is about pedastry. This movie seeks to mainstream sexual activity between a man and a boy in a warm and fuzzy way. This message will find its way into homes on the television, laptop computers and Smartphone’s of adolescent children. It is not pornography, but overtly an attempt to normalize pedastry.
http://ew.com/movies/2017/11/21/call-me-by-your-name-review/
Australia – New laws to crackdown on child sexual abuse
Last year, 800 registered paedophiles travelled overseas, often to developing countries in Asia, and about 40{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} did so without notifying police. “This will now stop,” said Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. The new law stops paedophiles convicted in Australia from travelling elsewhere to offend. Paedophiles can have their passports cancelled at the request of authorities and it is now an offence to travel without approval from law enforcement agencies. The Government is proposing new offences and tougher penalties targeting live-streamed child abuse and online grooming. They also plan tougher fines on internet service providers if they do not report abusive material to police since there is a growing concern for the role that technology plays.
http://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/27388/
Pornography
No news today
Same Sex Attraction
USA – Health issues associated with MSM
The Gay and Lesbian Medical Association updated their publication this year in August called: “Ten things gay men should discuss with their health care provider”, that men who have sex with men (MSM) not only have an increased risk of HIV infection but also abuse substances at a higher rate, have higher rates of depression and anxiety, increased risk of hepatitis, STDs occur at a higher rate and includes STD infections for which no cure is available. MSM are more at risk for prostate, testicular and colon cancer. The Human Papilloma virus puts MSM at high risk for anal cancers and the rates of spreading this infection between partners are also very high.
USA – Social discrimination and the facts
A new report by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) called ‘HIV among Gay and Bisexual Men’, reveals that men who have sex with men (MSM) make up only 4{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of the entire U.S. population, but account for more than two-thirds of all new HIV infections which is more than 44 times that of other men. Many MSM are unaware of their status and unknowingly transmit the virus while other MSM give false information about their HIV status to their partner. The CDC also claims that social discrimination is a factor that contributes to the risky sexual behaviour of MSM. However, the Netherlands legalized homosexuality since 2001 and despite their liberal recognition for homosexuality, a 2015 report from the Netherlands shows that the health implications of MSM did not decrease but that some infections increased.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/factsheets/cdc-msm-508.pdf
USA – Paediatrician exposes the dangers of transgender ideology
Dr. Michelle Cretella M.D. has been a paediatrician for over 20 years and in this video posted by the Daily Signal, she likens the transgender ideology to child abuse and explains that our sex is determined at conception by our DNA, stamped into every cell in our bodies. There are over 6,500 genetic differences between men and women, hormones and surgery cannot, and do not change this. Thoughts and feelings are not biologically hardwired; our thinking may be factually right or factually wrong. According to most mainstream medical organisations, if you want to cut off a healthy leg or an arm, you’re mentally ill, and therefore the same would be true if you want to cut off healthy breasts or a penis. Dr. Cretella had one boy patient who was between 3-5 years old when she referred his parents to a therapist because the boy would play with stereotypical girls’ toys and would call himself a girl. The therapist learned that when the boy was three, his sister with special needs was born and she required more care and attention from his parents. The child misperceived this as his parents love girls and if he wants them to love him, he must be a girl. With family therapy, the boy got better. Sometimes mental illness of the parent or abuse of the child are also factors that cause a child to feel confused, but Dr. Cretella feels very strongly that telling children the lie that they could be trapped in the wrong body is psychological abuse that leads to chemical castration and surgical mutilation of a healthy body, and this ultimately tells the child not to trust in the reality of their physical body.
Sexual Exploitation
USA – The ‘chatbot’ taking on Seattle’s sex trade
You can find “her” number within fake messages placed alongside real ads on websites popular with those looking to buy sex. Naive and innocent, the chatbot will tell you she is nervous and check that her age is “cool with you”. If you say yes, that’s when it’s revealed: you’ve been talking to a chatbot, and buying sex is a crime that harms women the world over. The tool is part of groundbreaking efforts in Seattle to fight sex trafficking, an industry that like many others has moved online, and in doing so has become acutely difficult to prevent. Using chatbots, and machine learning, specialists here believe they can simultaneously achieve two huge goals –deterring men and helping women.
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42120800
South Africa – 70{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of SA sex workers don’t protect themselves
Despite being offered a daily pill to protect them from HIV almost three-quarters of women sex workers stopped taking the pills after a year. This is according to a study published in the PLoS journal (Public Library of Science) conducted by the TAPS Demonstration Study (Treatment and Prevention for Female Sex workers in South Africa). The study tested almost 700 women, and says that the average woman was “married or had a steady partner, worked in brothels, and were born in Zimbabwe”. Almost half of the women tested were HIV positive (341). Of these, 139 decided to go on ARVs. Around 60{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of them were still on the medication after a year. The sex workers who tested HIV negative (351) were offered one pill, Truvada, to take every day to protect them from the virus and 219 women accepted the offer. But a year later only 49 women were still taking Truvada – although none of those still on the pills had contracted HIV. “The final retention rate was lower than we would like. However, there were no seroconversions among those women who stayed on the PrEP arm,” said Robyn Eakle, a senior researcher from the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (WRHI), which was part of the study. Last year the SA Law Commission recommended that sex work remain illegal. “The issue of sex workers is not just for the Minister of Health but involves other Ministers,” said Motsoaledi. “India has not decriminalised sex workers, but health workers in Bangalore are working very openly with sex workers and police are not arresting them.”
Substance Abuse
USA – ‘Juuling’ a very dangerous smoking game for children
JUULing is not a new dance but instead a dangerous form of vaping that is tearing through schools across the country. John Ross, an M.D. at Brigham Hospital who contributes to the Harvard Health Blog said long-term safety data on e-cigarettes do not yet exist, and research from a group called Truth Initiative shows that 25{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} see no danger. “Electronic cigarettes are devices that heat a liquid into vapor, which is then inhaled; the liquid is anything from a flavored water or oil-type mixture to liquid nicotine to marijuana THC.” The True Initiative web panel survey of 5,018 15- to 24-year-olds in the U.S. revealed that 37{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} of teens don’t know they inhale nicotine, although on the JUUL website each pod is equal to 200 cigarette puffs, That’s like smoking a pack a day in one sitting. Like other forms of vaping, the JUULpods are offered in enticing flavors such as créme bruleé and mango and perky peach which is appealing to kids. And rather than smelling like an ashtray, JUUL smells pleasant. The JUUL device is sleek, and resembles a car key holder or flash drive or a pen that’s easily hidden.
USA – Trump administration toughens stance on recreational marijuana
The US Justice Department announced a “return to the rule of law”. Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded five key memos issued by the administration of President Barack Obama that discouraged enforcement of federal laws which still classify marijuana as a dangerous narcotic like heroin. This will clash with the six US states that have already moved ahead to legalize pot sales. Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Alaska and California have legalized sales.”It is the mission of the Department of Justice to enforce the laws of the United States, and the previous issuance of guidance undermines the rule of law and the ability of our local, state, tribal and federal law enforcement partners to carry out this mission. “He directed federal attorneys “to use previously established prosecutorial principles that provide them all the necessary tools to disrupt criminal organizations and tackle the growing drug crisis.” Nevertheless, the move was seen as a signal that the government is likely to resist more legalization and decriminalization of cannabis.
USA/South Africa – Kratom, an addict’s alternative, is found addictive itself
It’s a fascinating drug, but we need to learn a lot more about it, said Dr. Edward W. Boyer, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and a co-author of several scientific articles on Kratom. “Recreationally or to self-medicate opioid dependence, beware – potentially you’re at just as much risk” as with an opiate. Kratom is derived from Mitragyna speciosa, a tropical deciduous and evergreen tree in the coffee tree family native to Southeast Asia in Indochina. Its leaves are used for traditional medicinal properties. It is psychoactive and the leaves are used to uplift mood and treat health problems. A recent article in the New York Times argues that it is just as addictive as heroin, for which it was used as a recovery tool from heroin addiction. Kratom’s narcotic effects have been known for centuries in its native Thailand which banned the substance decades ago. The FDA did ban the import of Kratom into the United States in 2014; however, Kratom now exists in a kind of legal purgatory. Because it is categorized as a botanical dietary supplement the Food and Drug Administration cannot restrict its sale unless it is proved unsafe or producers claim that it treats a medical condition. (Some packages are coyly labeled “not for human consumption” to avoid tripping FDA alarms.) This plant is currently 100{01b0879e117dd7326006b2e84bcaac7e8fa1509c5c67baf2c9eb498fe06caff4} legally available to purchase in South Africa, at shops or online.
http://www.camcheck.co.za/kratom-addicts-alternative-found-addictive/
Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of Doctors for Life International
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