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This paper examines the experiences of women in one professional organisation - the British Medical Association in Australia - during a significant period in the development of such bodies. In doing so it offers an opportunity to consider the relationship between professional societies and the construction of a gendered profession. For the medical profession in particular the time-frame of this study, from the 1880s to the 1930s, has been regarded by scholars as especially important. In this period various features of medical professionalism came to prominence: the status and authority of doctors, the processes of formally registering medical credentials, and the scope and cohesiveness of professional associations. Taking the third of these themes, the current paper extends previous analyses by uniting gender with history and medicine as the central point of examination, in order to evaluate the changing and contested positions of women within the profession. In this way we not only demonstrate how the history of professional societies can reveal the diverse beliefs and shifting priorities of their members, but also contribute to explaining the remarkable persistence of gendered differences in the medical profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the position of the British Medical Association (BMA) on the issue of abortion time limits in Great Britain. Motion debated by BMA; Developments in medicine on which supporters of the motion focused; Reason behind the option of women for abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

If some form of assisted dying is to be legalised, we are likely to hear voices of discontent, not least from the medical profession and some of its members, who might be expected to provide the service. The profession generally favours a position of opposition, premised on an ethic of 'caring not killing', which might be said to convey its 'professional conscience'. There will, of course, also be individual conscientious objectors. In this article, we initially explore the nature and sources of conscience and we argue that conscience does merit respect. We also recognise that professionals, qua professionals, are bound to serve their patients, some of whom will want (and may be entitled to) that which their doctors do not wish to provide. Reflecting on the different values in issue, we suggest that there is a case for principled compromise which would afford professionals a limited right to conscientiously object, while also protecting patients. We then relate these reflections to assisted dying specifically. In the absence of any definitive steer from the purported integrity of medicine, we suspect that the profession could adopt a neutral stance on this divisive issue. We nevertheless anticipate individual objections if the law does move to embrace assisted dying, and we argue that such objections should be respected, according to the terms of the compromise model we defend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports medical developments in Great Britain as of August 1987. Campaign of British Medical Association against cigarette smoking; Issuance of consultation papers on performance indicators for the health service by the National Health Service Management Board; Announcement on the applications for scientists on cancer research awards.

The experiences of medical refugees who came to the United Kingdom from Nazi Germany and occupied Europe in the 1930s and 1940s reflect the general characteristics of the British response to the refugee crisis. This article analyzes the role of the British medical establishment and its interplay with the government and refugee aid organizations. Processes of decision making and changes of policy are revealed, drawing on the files of the "Aliens Committee" at the archive of the British Medical Association, on the private collection of Yvonne Kapp, former administrative head of the Medical Department of the Central Office for Refugees, and on the medical subseries of the archive of the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning. "Divisions" refer to differing interests and attitudes of the institutions, organizations and individuals involved; "diversity" reflects the response to the various nationalities of medical refugees, mainly German, Austrian, Czech, and Polish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the efforts of the Royal College of General Practitioners in England and the General Medical Services Committee of the British Medical Association to produce a record card with an accompanying handbook outlining a plan for a developmental surveillance programme suitable for use in general practice. It cites activities that constitute developmental surveillance.