Lived Experience

A plea to maskless health-care workers from vulnerable patients

Health-care workers have a responsibility to protect their vulnerable patients. Our lives are in your hands.

Patients, not politicians, decide what is an emergency

Ontario Premier Doug Ford made reckless statements on Oct. 25 that we as emergency physicians must correct. Patients decide what is a medical emergency. We trust our patients to make that decision.

The status quo is not acceptable. We need bold, transformative action to save our health-care system

We need health innovation that is informed by the knowledge skills that day-to-day frontline experience provides.

Are Canada’s clinical trials in need of reform? Experts weigh in.

Private companies in Canada are recruiting thousands of often financially desperate test subjects each year to participate in clinical trials. If we want to ensure safer studies for participants and improve critical research, what is the best way forward?

‘I would still receive another rather than no vaccine at all’: Chronically ill people left with little choice

Canada will not be procuring the Novavax vaccine for the 2024/25 season, leaving those who would have preferred an alternative to the mRNA vaccine without another option.

Where are the patient voices in Canada’s pharmaceutical system?

While federal health priorities focus on areas such as pharmaceutical use, data infrastructure and connected care, the central priority – patients’ experiences and needs – remains neglected.

Canadians deserve potentially life-saving early warning health-care AI

AI technology threatens to disenfranchise the labour force, further concentrate power and wealth and even destabilize democracy. But it's not all bad news. CHARTWatch shows how AI could be used to save lives rather than destroy them.

From hospitals to encampments – the devolution of mental illness care in Canada

Solutions to the mental health and homelessness crises are not easy. It will take years to improve it. But if we want to call ourselves a civilized compassionate country, we have to do it.

Breaking the silence: Violence, harassment isn’t ‘just part’ of homecare jobs

PSWs understand their work to be physically and emotionally challenging. But it doesn’t have to be dangerous. Health-care employers can and must intervene.

Essential exposure: The case for mandatory palliative care clinical rotations

Clinical exposure to palliative care is not afforded the attention it deserves in undergraduate medical curricula. To rob medical learners of such experiences is a travesty.

Tackling the sepsis ‘beast’: New treatment aims to save lives

Researchers have developed a new treatment to block inflammation, supercharge the white blood cells’ ability to kill bacteria, and protect against heart and lung failure.

The urgent need for reception centres for refugees in Ontario

Delays in the opening of reception centres for refugees are significantly impacting the health of refugees and wellbeing of local communities.

Excuse me for living: MAiD, autonomy and feeling like a burden

With the option of MAiD squarely on the table for so many, is staying alive becoming a path that requires justification?

What is ‘normal’? Lab-based inequity in hematology

Inappropriate reference ranges are a significant issue in various areas of medicine and perpetuate systemic racism.

Facing up to life’s challenges

"Despite setbacks like injuries and losses, I am eager to embark on a new chapter of my life, transitioning from being a professional athlete to pursuing academia and becoming a doctor."

Telegraph hit job a prime example of how not to report on drug policy

The Telegraph story depicts Vancouver's Downtown Eastside in a way that maximizes the harm done to their most vulnerable sources. But as journalists, we don't need to punch down to do our jobs.

It’s time to make compassion more relevant in our world

A generative compassion approach looks at the bigger picture and proactively asks the question: What more needs to be done to prevent more harm from occurring?

Team Canada’s Alicia Souveny: Car crash survivor and blood donation advocate

Alicia Souveny lost her left leg in a car accident in 2019 and would have lost her life, too, had she not received enough blood in time from donors. She's now an ambassador for the Canadian Blood Services and a member of the national women's para-hockey team.

Ethical issues cloud online Ozempic prescription services

Patients with obesity are caught in the middle of two ethical issues rooted in weight bias – the reason the online services exist and the online services themselves.

Along with millions of others, I live with MCAS. There is an urgent need for research and support

"Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) is a debilitating and often misunderstood condition. As someone living with MCAS, I have firsthand experience of its profound impact on daily life and the urgent need for greater awareness, research and funding."