Lived Experience

Living with stage 4 lobular breast cancer: What I want you to know

Lobular breast cancer is different. Vigilance matters. And stage 4 does not erase the possibility of hope or joy.

Code Black and Blue: Nurses launch campaign against violence in the workplace

No one should be hurt at work, least of all those who care for others. It’s time to protect nurses and make safe staffing a priority.

AI and the mental health crisis: Can chatbots fill the gap?

Canadians are increasingly turning to AI chatbots, like ChatGPT, for mental health support. But is this type of technology truly up to the task?

Caregiver calls for action to tackle cancer’s financial toxicity

Everyone agrees lack of money shouldn’t be a barrier to life-saving cancer care. But when cancer metastasizes to bank accounts it can reduce the odds of survival.

Using ‘integration’ to silence culturally specific care

When culturally specific care is allowed to vanish under another name, we all lose a piece of the commons we rely on.

Ontario has a new way of measuring how hard family doctors work. What does it mean for doctors and their patients?

The new “Continuity of Care” measure included in the new agreement between the Ontario government and its doctors has good intentions but comes with severe penalties and without necessary checks and balances.

Knit one, purl two on the way to mental health

Addressing rising mental health rates will undoubtedly require a range of different tools, both pharmacological and non-pharmaceutical.

Beyond pink and teal: Patient advocacy is not a morality play

Patient advocacy at its best is not about purity. It’s about presence. It’s about showing up, with all our raw, unpolished language and stories, to demand dignity for people whose lives are already heavy with suffering.

Was my wife’s hospital care an anomaly or the new normal in Ontario?

I had hoped my wife would get timely and dignified care like I'd received in the past. She did not. Was her care an anomaly or is it the way of the future? I don't know but I sure as hell hope it is not the future.

Expanding access to disability supports: the case for impact investing

Thanks to limited access to interventions and income thresholds that fail to account for the cost of caregiving, families with children with neurodevelopmental disabilities are often left to pay out-of-pocket for services.

We are taught to fix the system – then forced to waste time in it

Every year, medical students across the country must resubmit the same forms verifying their vaccine history. Redundant paperwork like this is a symptom of a system which bureaucracy overrides basic logic.

‘I understand’: Words of empathy that have helped me through residency

"That evening, they walked me past the point we usually diverged and sat with me in my apartment lobby. They sat as I cried. They listened."

Black mistrust is logical and rational: What public health policymakers must learn from Black communities

Black communities are not hesitant just for the sake of it. They are hesitant because of memory. They need structural change built from trust, not just crisis.

Patient Perspectives: Telling our stories is critical to improving care

As a physician, nothing will tell you more than simply asking someone how their illness impacts their lives and listening closely to their answers.

#ScienceMatters. Canadian medical, research, clinical and health-care organizations stand up for science

In Canada and around the world, science is under attack. Increasingly, clearly false health information is being normalized and it’s causing serious harm to patients, communities, public trust and health policy.

The Non-Suturable Wounds

A poem inspired by University of Toronto medical student Ye-Jean Park's clerkship rotation.

‘Good hands for a woman’: Study exposes gender bias in surgery 

Deeply ingrained gender biases within surgery are discouraging women from entering the field, according to findings in a new McGill University study. 

Dancing with uncertainty: Finding my rhythm in the chaos of the OR

As a medical learner, uncertainty is everywhere—especially in anesthesia. But I hope to find calm within the unknown.

Beyond the signature: Is consent truly informed?

Moving forward, making informed consent truly informed – rooted in both equity and accessibility –  needs to be a priority, not just an ideal.

Healing the healers: Servant leadership and moral injury

In medicine, service and skill are not opposing forces. They’re inseparable. One without the other leads to harm. Together, service and skills just might help us heal.