In many parts of the world, you can legally smoke once you turn 18. Starting to smoke can be a rite of passage, something that marks the difference between children and adults. 95% of smokers started smoking before the age … Continue reading →
In 2013, Canada’s 4.6 million smokers puffed their way through 31,468,896,967 cigarettes. 37,000 of them died as a result of smoking. In Ontario, 200 farmers grow 54 million pounds of tobacco. Three major tobacco companies have their headquarters in Canada, … Continue reading →
Globally, tobacco kills 6 million people a year, including 600,000 who die from second-hand smoke (WHO). Smoking kills more people than AIDS, Malaria, TB, War, Murder and Traffic accidents combined: If you compare tobacco with recent wars, major natural disasters, … Continue reading →
Why do I care about tobacco? I am an anesthesiologist. I work in the operating room, keeping patients safe and comfortable while surgeons operate. I know that tobacco causes cancer because I am there when the smoker has the cancer … Continue reading →
What the Ontario government has done to physicians is so extraordinarily unfair that it is hard even for physicians to understand what has happened to them. Throughout the long and arduous contract negotiation process the government insisted that it needed … Continue reading →
Murderball,more politely known as Wheelchair Rugby (or in the USA as Quad Rugby) is definitely the most violent and aggressive Para sport, and arguably the most exciting to watch. On Friday 14th August my family and I watched the Para-Pan … Continue reading →
Canadians pride themselves on “Medicare”. Under the Canada Health Act the provinces and territories are required to provide health care which is: Publicly administered on a non-profit basis by a public authority. Comprehensive: The health care insurance plans must cover … Continue reading →
If you are a doctor with strongly held views about contraception and the sanctity of life, how should you treat a patient who comes to you requesting contraception or an abortion? Continue reading →
When I was eight years old I decide I wanted to be a doctor. I never changed my mind. I went to medical school when I was 17 and have been studying medicine ever since. I have worked in over 25 hospitals in five countries on four continents. Almost every penny (or cent) I have ever earned, spent or invested came from the practice of medicine.
My speciality is anesthesiology. I come to work every day with the aim of making things better for people, specifically by getting them through difficult and painful experiences like surgery and childbirth as safely and painlessly as possible.
I enjoy my work. It is a rare privilege to be able to earn good money by doing something you believe is good and right. But it is not all sweetness and light. There is a lot which happens in healthcare I am concerned about. Those issues will be the theme of this blog.
I am appalled by the six million unnecessary deaths caused, every year, by tobacco. I am dismayed that, more than sixty years after we learnt how lethal cigarettes can be, we are still allowing them to be manufactured and sold. This issue was featured in a series of blog posts during Canada’s National No Smoking Week, January 17th – 24th, 2016.
