Tea, cake, and the End of Life (Scotland) bill - Saturday, 1st May

Hello all!

Some of you may be aware that an ‘End of Life’ Bill has been introduced at the Scottish parliament proposing legalisation of physician assisted suicide, that is, allowing doctors to prescribe drugs to cause the immediate death of those requesting it.

You may also have heard that the Scottish Parliament has authorised the formation of an ad-hoc committee to consider the general principles of the bill. The committee is currently holding a public consultation on the bill, and it is accepting written evidence and opinions from members of the public up until the 12^th of May 2010.

Whatever your opinion regarding physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia and end of life care, it is impossible to deny that there are huge ethical and moral issues surrounding this bill. Some concerns that have been raised by health professionals and members of the public are detailed in the attached word document.

As medical students and future doctors, this bill has the potential to affect our future practice of Medicine, and we have a moral obligation (perhaps even more so than that of the public) to be aware of and take an interest in the drafting of this piece of legislation – so that at the end of the day, what does pass into written law will be something that we can live with.

Bearing this in mind, we will be holding a “writing in” session this coming Saturday (1^st May 2010) at 3.00pm where folk can come round to 86 Shaw Crescent and, over tea and cake (always helps procedures!) get more information about the Bill, discuss it and, most importantly, focus on writing a paragraph or two to our MSPs or a submission to the committee to let them know our thoughts/concerns.

Everyone is very welcome- whatever you think about the Bill: we welcome discussion! Hope to see you there,


CMF xxx 

Bible study

Hey all,

Bible study, one of those things I'm sure we all agree is useful and necessary in our Christian lives: sharing the word with each other, learning to know God and "training [ourselves] in godliness" 1Tim5 vs8. But how many of us have managed to settle into a bible study group? How many of us are always too busy, just haven't found the opportunity or haven't managed to get involved in one at our own church?

Well, there's a bunch of us medical students (and a physics student!) that meet together, usually on a Saturday afternoon to study the word together and we'd love it if anyone would like to join us :) We share and discuss and support each other through the tough times that invariably come with being a medical student, and we all know how hard that can sometimes be.

If you are interested in joining or finding out more about it, please just drop me an email at erlove88@googlemail.com. You would be very welcome and, indeed an encouragement to us- "when we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith , but i also want to be encouraged by yours" Rom1 vs12. So please join us, we would love it.

CMFxxx