News,

Doctors may have broken British Medical Association guidelines when they did not consult a patient or her family before writing on her medical notes that she should not be resuscitated. Mr Cyril Smith says he saw the instruction on the notes of Mrs Jean Smith, his 81-year-old wife, who was being treated for broken limbs at Battle hospital, Reading. Comments by the hospital authorities suggest that they believe guidelines were followed and that they have not received a complaint. [Reading Chronicle, 22 May]


The Pope has told Italian pro-life activists that real peace is impossible without a special respect for the unborn. Those who sought peace had to defend life. The protection of life from the time of conception was "a necessary condition to build a future worthy of man." The Pope called for protection for those conceived through IVF, a method he described as morally unacceptable. [LifeSite, 22 May]


University officials in Wisconsin have complained that a ban on human cloning would damage their institution's reputation and prestige. Representatives of Wisconsin-Madison university were testifying to a legislative committee considering measures to forbid all human cloning, including for research. Senator Joe Leibham said that nine other states had bans similar to the one he was sponsoring in the state senate. Human cloning was "ethically and morally wrong". A fellow-Republican is sponsoring an identical bill in the assembly, the other legislative house. The university was also concerned that technological progress would be impeded. Also testifying, Ms Donna Arciszweski, a multiple sclerosis sufferer, said she would not welcome scientific advances which cost lives. [Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter, 21 May] Some measures which purport to ban human cloning only prevent cloned humans from being born but allow cloning for research which kills embryos.


The Catholic bishop of Worcester, Massachusetts, has refused to attend graduation ceremonies at a Jesuit college today because the main speaker is a pro-abortion political commentator. Rt Rev Daniel Reilly revoked his agreement to visit Holy Cross college because of Mr Chris Matthews' stated views. He said he could not let his attendance signify agreement with anything less than a pro-life position. The college president said that support for abortion was "arguable within Catholic thought". [LifeSite, 22 May]

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