This Magazine

Progressive politics, ideas & culture

Menu

Doctors

May-June 2017

Who treats Canada’s often-overlooked patients?

How Dr. Paul Caulford has helped and treated asylum seekers

Pema Tsering@PemaTsering1

Dr. Paul Caulford has had a busy and unusual year. Since November 2016, he’s seen an unprecedented volume of patients and treated a peculiarly high number of frostbite cases. Many of these visitors have travelled on foot from the United States, escaping the Trump administration’s anti-immigration agenda. As the co-founder of the Canadian Centre for Refugee […] More »
March-April 2017

Thousands of Canadian women are dismissed by their doctors—because of their gender

Lisa Benshabat was told by doctors that things were "all in her head" when she was unwell. Then she took her life. Why women are routinely silenced by medical professionals

Talia Wooldridge@TaliaWooldridge

On February 9, 2016, at 3:45 p.m., Gail Benshabat sent a text to her 27-year-old daughter, Lisa, asking if she wanted to catch an early movie. Benshabat was wrapping up her workday at a quiet special needs school in the north end of Toronto, about a 30-minute drive from the third-floor apartment where she lived […] More »
May-June 2011

This45: Craig Saunders on environmentalist Gideon Forman

Craig SaundersWebsite

That Gideon Forman is an activist should come as no surprise. The child of New York peace activists, he spent his 1960s childhood handing out leaflets around his Greenwich Village home. What is surprising is that this wiry man in his 40s has become one of Canada’s best environmental strategists and led a group of […] More »
March-April 2011

Progressive Detective: Could I be criminally charged for transmitting HIV?

Victoria SalvasWebsite

Dear Progressive Detective: I’m an HIV-positive Canadian, and I’ve heard troubling stories about people being criminally charged for transmitting the disease. Can that happen here? What are my rights and responsibilities under Canadian law? Under Canadian law, criminal charges can be laid if an individual does not disclose his or her HIV-positive status prior to […] More »
March-April 2011

Interview: Silicone Diaries playwright-performer Nina Arsenault

Paul McLaughlinWebsite

Nina Arsenault has spent a fortune changing her appearance from male to female. The 37-year-old used to work in the sex trade, but now supports herself as a playwright, performer, and motivational speaker to queer youth. Her one-woman show, The Silicone Diaries, recently had a second highly successful run in Toronto, was later performed in […] More »
March-April 2011

Why Canada’s drug-approval process isn’t as safe as you think

Elizabeth Wright

On March 18, 2000, Terence Young was at home catching up on the weekend paper when his 15-year-old daughter, Vanessa, came to ask his permission to go out with some friends that evening. Exhausted and not relishing the idea of another conversation about Vanessa’s curfew time, Young asked her to wait until after dinner. There […] More »

Due Date: Five reasons not to induce labour and one reason to have more sex

Jenn HardyWebsite

[This Magazine contributor Jenn Hardy is pregnant and due in a few weeks. In this Due Date series, we’re running some of her thoughts on pregnancy, health, and her experience trying to de-medicalize her childbirth.] I’m not afraid of labour. I’m not afraid of the intense pressure of my uterus contracting, tightening, pushing… My cervix slowly dilating… Once open […] More »

Due Date: Deciding when to cut the cord, and what to do with it

Jenn HardyWebsite

[This Magazine contributor Jenn Hardy is pregnant and due in a few weeks. In thisDue Date series, we’re running some of her thoughts on pregnancy, health, and her experience trying to de-medicalize her childbirth.] When to cut? Going into the delivery room, you might have decided who was going to cut the umbilical cord. Will the doc do […] More »

Due Date: Why I said no to prenatal screening tests

Jenn HardyWebsite

[This Magazine contributor Jenn Hardy is pregnant and due in a few weeks. In this Due Date series, we’re running some of her thoughts on pregnancy, health, and her experience trying to de-medicalize her childbirth.] Congratulations! You’re pregnant! First thing’s first: would you consider an abortion? If your pregnancy was planned or the surprise was […] More »
January-February 2011

Why Sally Rhoads risked her life 10 times to be a surrogate

Paul McLaughlinWebsite

Sally Rhoads is passionate about surrogacy. The 32-year-old mother of three (ages 12, seven and 10 months) lives near Stratford, Ontario. She has been a successful surrogate once and an unsuccessful one nine times. Although her commitment to surrogacy almost killed her, she remains an advocate for a practice that is highly restricted in Canada […] More »
January-February 2011

How Canada’s midwife shortage forces healthy mothers into hospitals

Jenn HardyWebsite

It wasn’t until the early 1900s that it became “normal” to have a baby under the watch of an obstetrician in a hospital. But over the last few decades, childbirth has become an increasingly complicated, medicalized affair, with more inductions, surgeries, and drugs than ever before. The advancements have saved many otherwise dangerous deliveries, but […] More »