My medical career started because I wanted to be a hippie. In the summer of 1969, the hippie movement had arrived in Montreal. I was fascinated by the groups of long-haired fantastically dressed people hanging out in front of Christ Church Cathedral on Ste Catherine St., or around the “Three Bares” fountain on the McGill Campus. So, I would dress… Read More »People knew I was going to medical school before I did
When I was young, I was raised in an almost exclusively Jewish world. My parents, who grew up in the ’30s and ’40s and were first generation immigrants whose worldview was shaped by the second world war, did not really socialize outside of their own community. While Montreal is a big city, English Montreal is a small town, and Jewish Montreal… Read More »Cultural differences in the ER
It may not surprise you to learn that I love stories and storytelling. I have always learned and thought and taught medicine through stories. These days there seems to be an explosion of medical storytelling everywhere. Everyone is watching ‘The Pitt,’ The Nocturnists podcast is extremely popular, even the Globe and Mail is getting into the act with stories by Nick Pimlott.… Read More »Why are we so hooked on storytelling now?
Many years ago, when I was young and in my first practice, I had a patient who taught me a lot. I keep saying that, but as I tell my residents: you can be a resident for the rest of your life, but you will never learn as much as you will during that first year or two in your… Read More »A real head case
After 40 years of giving advice professionally it has become something that I cannot turn off. It is, as we say in Quebec, my “deformation professionelle”, a play on the French for medical education. I assume that I have the right to just tell people what they should do, whether they ask me or not. Since my retirement I have started… Read More »Locker-room talk
A long time ago in 1982, I was an obstetrics resident at the Royal Victoria Hospital. I was just beginning to realize that I was not destined to be an ob-gyn. So, I was not very happy then. Yet, there were some very special moments. I remember Christmas that year as very magical. The Woman’s Pavilion of the Royal Victoria used… Read More »A Christmas story in L&D
I entered the Jewish General hospital, past the clinic where I used to work, heading towards the radiation suite. It was strange to come back after 8 years away, and to walk in as a patient instead of a doctor. Five people stopped me as I walked down the hall. “Oh you’re back! Can I be your patient again?” I… Read More »Being Seen in the Worst of Times
It was a beautiful sunny day in the spring of 1980, the kind of day which promises you that it is really the beginning of summer. Janet, Jane and I were in Janet’s Fiat Spider. This classic sports car convertible was the beloved toy of her husband, but we were driving it that day. Janet and Jane sat in the… Read More »One day of sunshine
I have always been an unfashionable weight. As a young child in the ’50s and early ’60s when chubby cheeks and dimpled knees were the rage, people would stop my mother on the street and demand that she feed me. I was tiny, wiry and elfin and lived on a diet of salami, green peppers and cocoa with the occasional… Read More »The fat lady speaks: Obesity has almost killed me several times but not how you might think
In my last piece on tips for surviving family medicine residency, I touched on the red flags and green lights for choosing a partner. I also want to talk a bit about marital maintenance and how to stay married. Marriage, which I define as a long term committed relationship, is something that I have had a keen interest in all my working… Read More »Red flag, green flag: A few words about marriage