A GP surgery in South Wales is apologising for asking some patients ‘to complete a “do not resuscitate” form in case their conditions deteriorated due to coronavirus’; the letter from Llynfi Surgery in Maesteg ‘said that indicating they would not want to be resuscitated had “several benefits”’, informing them that ‘people with life-limiting illnesses who […]
The past month has seen a deluge of coronavirus statistics and analysis, with some of us left scratching our heads as the complexities of what the world is facing continues to confound all and sundry. Much of the Irish media, for instance, has spent the past week congratulating people on avoiding a sudden spike in […]
The health situation in Italy is dire. Tragically, over 11,600 people have died and over 101,000 people have caught coronavirus, giving it some of the highest numbers of cases outside of China. The question is, what caused this to be the case? While the reasons are clearly complex and multi-faceted, the well-meaning—but ultimately misguided—advice from […]
Thank God for Malaysia.
A coalition of nine charities for older people has warned that ‘[d]enying the elderly access to intensive care units’ in the current Coronavirus pandemic is ‘“discriminatory, ageist and morally wrong”’; following Telegraph reports of ‘a major London NHS trust’ saying that ‘“very poorly patients with coronavirus may need to be on a ventilator for extended […]
Twenty years ago, the Catholic bioethicists of Australia came together to write the first ever Code of Ethical Standards for Catholic Health and Aged Care Services in Australia. Two years of robust discussion, informed by wide consultation, followed by even more robust discussion resulted in a set of guidelines which have stood the test of time. […]
Spoiler: Today’s blogpost has nothing to do with the Wuhan Flu. Sorry to disappoint… Almost a year ago I wrote a piece about the demographic problems that Hungary was facing. (Doesn’t time fly! I can remember writing this piece in our lounge after the kids had gone to bed – I was probably worried about some work […]
Spiked is an online blog whose writers regard themselves as proudly anti-establishment, but when it comes to abortion, they are all staunch supporters, from Ella Whelan declaring that abortion on the grounds of disability is not discrimination to Anne Furedi’s sycophantic praise for Andrew Cuomo’s New York law for abortion to birth for any reason. However, Spiked author Kevin Yuillis concerned about […]
The birth date of former Primate of Hungary and one of the most important Churchmen of the 20th century, the Venerable Cardinal József Mindszenty fell last week on March 29. He was a key figure in the resistance of the Hungarian people to Nazism and socialism over more than 50 years and an inspiration to […]
If you’ve only been reading the Irish media, there’s a very good chance you won’t be aware of the mounting row in Brussels over whether or not the EU should issue so-called “Eurobonds” to help countries like Italy (and Ireland, indeed) get through the Covid-19 crisis. There has been some coverage, but not a vast […]
A senior Republican politician from Texas sparked a media firestorm this week after suggesting that older people should consider sacrificing their lives for the economy in the face of the coronavirus crisis. Dan Patrick, a former radio talk show host who is now Lieutenant Governor of Texas, made the comments on Monday night while talking to […]
People over 60 are more affected by the coronavirus and most deaths have been of people over 70. With this background, a new study on perceptions of the elderly in the UK makes interesting reading. Attitudes to ageing are overwhelmingly negative, according to a new study by the Centre for Ageing Better, with older people subject to […]