I am fortunate enough to count Professor Jonathan Glover, a world renowned medical ethicist, amongst my former teachers. A very modest and thoughtful man, Jonathan Glover spent a number of years writing a similarly thoughtful book in which he tries to understand what he terms man’s inhumanity to man (Humanity: a Moral History of the Twentieth Century. Pimlico, London 2001). His starting premise is that, given the wrong circumstances, we are all capable of doing evil things to other human beings. At the heart of his efforts are a desire to understand, for all our sakes, what it  has taken in the past, and by extension what it would take in the future, for people- just like you and me- to be willing to take part in our own equivalent of the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide.

more…

I’ve spent the last few weeks saying goodbye to my patients, letting them know, that after eight years, I will no longer be their GP. I don’t tell every patient I see, but instead restrict myself to telling those with whose care I’ve been more intimately involved in and those whom I’m advising to come back for follow up, knowing full well that I won’t be around to provide it. It needs to be done and I want to be the one to do it, but- as any GP could tell you- it hasn’t been easy.

more…

According to UNESCO there are 111 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases among people ages 10 to 24 globally each year. In addition, 4.4 million women age 15 to 19 seek abortions each year. As part of their on-going programme to try to improve this situation, and with a strong focus on trying to reduce HIV transmission, UNESCO is in the process of formulating Sex and Relationship Education guidelines that they hope will make the task of helping the world’s young people to make informed decisions. A welcome and much needed contribution? Sadly, not everyone thinks so. more…