White Coat, Black Art

Pediatrician and vaccine scientist Dr. Peter Hotez warns the anti-vaccine movement has morphed into a dangerous anti-science force. In The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science: A Scientist's Warning, Hotez says failing to act now will threaten governments’ ability to fight serious infectious diseases.

Provinces are Increasingly turning to the Philippines to recruit nurses as fast as they can to help with a critical shortage of front-line nurses in Canada. But it’s a short-term fix with serious implications for both Canada and the Philippines.

Canada’s nursing shortage is so dire that provinces are stepping up efforts to recruit nurses from the Philippines. And that recruitment process is a well-oiled machine. From the Philippines government, to recruiters, to nursing schools, the message to nurses is clear: better opportunities only exist abroad.

A ride-along with TAIBU, a mobile crisis response team in Scarborough, Ontario that provides a non-police response to urgent mental health crises in the community.

After hearing from dozens of women about their experience with IUD pain, we find out how some gynecologists like Dr. Fiona Mattatall are making the experience of getting an IUD more comfortable, though there’s no standardized pain control method proven to work for everyone.

Shauna Pinkerton is waging a one-person campaign to save lives by passing out fentanyl testing strips, naloxone kits and safe drug paraphernalia. The people she is trying to save aren’t her clients. They’re her friends and sometimes her family.

30-year-old Aisha Uduman was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer and told her life expectancy was less than a year. But she and her family wanted more than the treatment plan her doctors provided, so they headed to Germany to try promising alternative treatments.

Women who have had troubling health experiences say perimenopause and menopause should be recognized and treated faster because it would reduce needless suffering. Four women share their stories and offer ideas about what should change in the health-care system to improve the experience for others.

On his 45th wedding anniversary, Ramesh Karnick was at home with his wife when he appeared to lose consciousness. He was in a coma for five weeks before he passed away. His daughter, Sonali has spent years trying to answer the question: how did her father die?

Author and activist Morningstar Mercredi is calling for coerced and forced sterilizations to be criminalized so that other women, especially Indigenous, Métis and Inuit women, won’t suffer the physical and mental trauma that she did.

The simmering crisis at Canada’s emergency departments.

Ketamine helped one police officer get through a childhood trauma. Some experts say psychedelics could help people with PTSD but much more research is needed.

Saskatchewan has lost so many of its family doctors in the last year that 200,000 "orphaned" patients are relying on walk-in clinics to get medical attention. Legends Medical Clinic in Warman is in the middle of the crisis, trying to meet the needs of all who seek their walk-in services but patients often wait for hours to see a doctor.

Nine-year-old Zach Bulger is wise beyond his years. He lost his older brother to cancer. He expresses his grief through play therapy and provides guidance for grown-ups on how to recover from loss.

Some doctors believe a minor gynecological procedure called an opportunistic salpingectomy can reduce dramatically the risk of ovarian cancer.

Some cancer patients are willing to go to great lengths to keep their hair through chemotherapy. But few hospitals offer cold capping: a system that cools the scalp to constrict the blood vessels to potentially reduce hair loss. A growing chorus of patients and doctors say more hospitals should offer it.

Cairo Gregory was just 15 when she got ovarian cancer. Chemotherapy meant she lost her long curly hair, just when she started to love it. She struggled to find a suitable wig through the hospital and says the healthcare system must do more to help women deal with hair loss, especially young Black women like her.

Famed British neurosurgeon and author Dr. Henry Marsh thought he was well-versed in human illness. That is until he was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer and was forced to see things from the patient’s point of view.

Now that single-event sports betting is taking off in Canada, ads and incentives are encouraging people to make a wager. But a recovering gambling addict and a gambling counsellor worry it’s easier than ever to get dangerously hooked. And they want way more done to limit advertising and to support treatment.

People with complex medical needs are accepted at Centretown Community Health Centre in Ottawa, and thriving because of it. Patients at about 120 CHCs across Canada are more likely to get cancer screenings and avoid costly trips to emergency. Teamwork by nurses, dietitians and others means the family physicians aren't saddled with paperwork that can lead to burn out.