A few years ago I was assigned a story about circumcision for a national women’s magazine. My research into the topic took me far beyond medical technicalities—circumcision in Canada is a controversial topic, surrounded by heated debate across provinces, religious lines and parental preference. I conducted interviews across the board—from a doctor in Nova Scotia, […] More »

One day’s salary might not mean much to most of us, but to Dr. Jane Philpott, founder of the Give a Day to World AIDS campaign, it might be just enough to save a life. In 2004, the Markham, Ont.-based family physician gave a presentation to her colleagues about the AIDS epidemic. Knowing that she […] More »

My doctor and I sat there, blankly staring at one another, wondering where we both went wrong. I was perched beside his desk, asking for a prescription refill for my birth control. “You don’t need to ask me,” he kept saying. “Just call ahead, ask for what you’d like and come pick it up at […] More »

Dying is the one thing that unites us all, yet we do it so badly. Allow us to die on our own terms Dying was so straightforward a few generations ago, or so it seems in gauzy retrospect. We stayed home, surrounded by supportive family; the doctor dropped by and perhaps prescribed some morphine, but […] More »

Last week, I talked about preparing two pitches for the 2010 editorial calendar of New Mobility Magazine and I addressed one of them here. It was the one about Kyle Maynard, the limbless mixed martial arts fighter, and whether it was appropriate for him to fight at all. I argued he could do more for […] More »

In a country with supposedly universal coverage, some of the most vulnerable must pay cash for health care. It costs them their livelihoods — and sometimes their lives Dr. Paul Caulford will never forget what happened to Patricia. An 18-year-old girl from Grenada, she had an athletic build, black skin, and black hair cropped at […] More »

You have to wonder what the staff at Canada’s medical schools are smoking. At least one quarter of the schools have accepted money from Big Tobacco to fund their operations, according to a study conducted by the University of Toronto’s Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health in May. Four […] More »

Cosmetic enhancement for the common folk More »