The calumny against Great Ormond Street hospital

I wrote here two days ago that in the tragic case of Charlie Gard, the 11-month old British baby suffering from a rare form of mitochondrial disease, reason and objectivity were being howled down by emotion. Since then, it’s got a lot worse. Charlie’s parents want to take him to America for experimental treatment. Great Ormond Street children’s hospital, which has been caring for him, oppose this on the grounds that the damage to his brain and other vital functions is irreversible, the treatment being proposed is futile and might…

Treating a very sick child – who decides?

In the tragic case of terminally-ill baby Charlie Gard, a legal battle is being fought over his parents’ wish to take him to the US for experimental treatment against the advice of Great Ormond Street hospital that this would merely add to his suffering. On BBC Radio’s Moral Maze last night, my fellow-panellists and I discussed who should have the last word over what happens to a child: parents, doctors or the courts. You can listen to the show here.

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The hijacking of tragedy

Public debate on highly contentious issues is now careering out of control. Tragedy is being hijacked by political agitators. Facts are being junked for ignorance, misrepresentation and misleading hearsay. A culture of hyperventilating emotion and licensed resentment means that those trying to articulate dispassionate judgment, justice and compassion are being vilified as unfeeling brutes. The Grenfell Tower fire in London, in which an entire apartment block was consumed by flames at the loss of at least 80 lives and left all the survivors homeless, was an appalling event whose causes…