White Coat, Black Art

Overwhelmed by hot flashes, brain fog, and a frozen shoulder, Aidan Brame turned to a private clinic when the public system couldn’t help. Her experience highlights why more Canadians are paying for menopause care, and what it reveals about gaps in the health system.

One stretcher. More than 80 patients waiting. Paramedics arriving with patients while admitted patients await transfer. That was the reality for registered nurse Jayme Hack during a recent shift at Edmonton’s Royal Alexandra Hospital. Along with colleague Valerie Evanishen, she offers a frontline view of the relentless pressure inside one of Alberta’s busiest emergency rooms. ER physician and former politician Dr. Raj Sherman puts it bluntly: ERs are the canary in the coal mine and “the canary is dead.” He says we can, and should, do better when it comes to emergency medicine.

This is an extended version of the radio broadcast.

Dr. Michael Antil left North Carolina in 2023 with his wife and kids, driven out by an increasingly conservative political climate and COVID-era hostility toward doctors. Now a family physician to over 2,000 patients in Toronto, he’s repeatedly been denied permanent residency, lost in a maze of paperwork and immigration red tape. Canada needs doctors—so why is this so hard?

You may think you're burned out at work, or with life in general. But what does burnout actually mean? Christina Maslach, Professor Emerita of psychology at UC Berkeley, was one of the first researchers in the world to study burnout, and co-created the Maslach Burnout Inventory over 40 years ago, a diagnostic tool that's still widely used today. She explains the distinct phases of burnout, why it's so pervasive in healthcare, and why a spa weekend isn't the cure.

Cardiologist, scientist and bestselling author Dr. Eric Topol's latest book "Super Agers" distills decades of research on how to make us healthier for longer. Topol says that humanity is on the cusp of developing treatments to help tame cancer, dementia and other chronic diseases… just as political forces in the U.S. are shutting down that research.

This holiday season, many of us will be taking to the skies to visit family or escape to warmer climes. So we’re sharing a recent episode of our sister podcast, The Dose, which asks: “What do I need to know about in-flight medical emergencies?” Dr. Vincent Poirier, associate professor of emergency and aviation medicine at McGill University, senior medical advisor for Air Canada and medical consultant for Air Transat, explains what happens when a medical emergency occurs on board and how passengers can help prevent them.

B.C. emergency room physician Dr. Kaitlin Stockton took the rare step of suing her regional health authority, alleging her job was threatened after she and other doctors warned patients about unsafe, overcrowded ER conditions. The lawsuit has since been resolved to both sides’ mutual satisfaction. Dr. Stockton hopes her experience will empower healthcare workers and patients to speak up about patient safety.

Quebec family doctors have struck a tentative agreement with the province, but Dr. Marina Lagodich has made up her mind. When the CAQ government rushed through their healthcare overhaul, Bill 2, in late October, it was the last straw. December 17 will be her last day practicing as a Quebec doctor. Across the province, doctors have criticized the bill, saying it encourages “fast food medicine.” Health policy expert Steven Lewis says although the Quebec government’s means are extreme, it’s hard to argue with its aims: to solve the “disgraceful” primary care crisis.

Ottawa family physician Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth faced a long wait for surgery after post-menopausal bleeding, and has seen her patients endure the same. Dr. Nick Leyland, president-elect of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada, explains that gynecologists have limited operating room access, fewer perform surgery, and ovaries are valued less than testicles in the surgery hierarchy. Also: what’s being done to improve care for women nationwide.

Miles Randell, an advanced care paramedic, is trying to do something different for frontline health-care workers who need a supportive work environment. He says years of working as a paramedic in Vancouver led to post-traumatic stress that left him unemployable. And that the help he needed wasn’t there. So he created TEAAM (Technical Evacuation Advanced Aero Medical), a non-profit that deploys helicopters to provide advanced life support in some of the most rugged locations in B.C.’s wilderness. But TEAAM is also a workplace where health-care workers are encouraged to regularly check in and talk about work stress after a call. 

Dr. Paxton Bach has spent years trying to help people navigate a broken system. Inconsistent approaches to withdrawal management, long wait times for detox and recovery programs and a system that struggles to address the social determinants of health have caused too many of his patients to fall through the cracks. So he and a team at St. Paul’s Hospital in downtown Vancouver are trailblazing a new model of care that’s set to roll out across B.C. It’s called Road to Recovery, and it’s helping doctors like Bach answer the question: How can I keep you alive until tomorrow? 

Like many of Canada’s rural and remote communities, Mackenzie, B.C.’s hospital struggles to staff the ER. But once a week, a doctor hundreds of kilometres away fills in virtually. Many provinces like B.C. are using virtual care in ERs in an attempt to keep the doors open. But critics are concerned about patient safety and the need to balance virtual with in-person care.

When care at a hospital or clinic falls short for you or a loved one, how do you raise concerns that get results? We asked listeners for stories about making complaints in health care and were flooded with them. Dr. Rob Robson, an ER physician, patient safety expert, and health-care mediator, helps us unpack what works and what doesn’t when you want your voice to be heard.

Until recently, Jeremy Auger’s diabetes was unstable. Then he met endocrinologist Dr. David Campbell and the team with the diabetes mobile clinic in Calgary. The roving clinic brings care directly to people who are homeless or have low incomes. For patients like Jeremy, it’s a lifeline that helps prevent devastating complications.

Obesity has more than tripled in Canada since 1981. In their new book “Food Intelligence,” Canadian co-authors Julia Belluz and Kevin Hall - an award-winning health and science journalist, and a prominent researcher on metabolism in the U.S. - argue that it’s not because of a collective loss of willpower. Instead, they say the foods we buy and eat have become more calorie-dense, delicious and addictive over the last 40 years. 

More with Kevin Hall! Until recently, Hall was the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s key researcher on the connection between ultra-processed foods and obesity. He took an early retirement due to increasing censorship of his work. He talks about his groundbreaking study with former “The Biggest Loser” contestants, the link between Big Tobacco and Big Food, and why Canadian scientist expats like him may soon be looking to return home. 

When his wife died of endometrial cancer, Charles Kinch refused to accept that the care she received was the best she could get. His complaint, at first dismissed, has now sparked major changes in how cancer patients in British Columbia are treated and supported.

Like many Canadian small towns, Carberry, MB had become a healthcare desert. In 2023, the small ER closed and the last doctor left. Carberry embarked on the fight of its life to get healthcare back. Just days before the first of two new MDs starts work, Dr. Brian Goldman visits Carberry to learn about the Herculean efforts it takes for one town to reinstate healthcare, and make sure they don't lose it again. 

For three decades, Dr. Brian Day has been at the centre of the debate around private health care in Canada. Despite losing his court battle to bring it to B.C., Day still wants to see more private, for-profit clinics. The orthopedic surgeon and owner of Vancouver's Cambie Surgery Centre says competition from the private sector could push the public system to deliver faster and better care.

Ottawa’s Montfort hospital sees twice the number of patients for mental health emergencies as the Ontario average. And as this number increased in recent years, the everyday environment of the ER waiting room – chaotic, loud and overstimulating – became an ever larger trigger, causing distressed patients to flee or harm themselves or others. In the new Mental Health Emergency Zone right off the main ER, everything has been designed for de-escalation, and staff and patients are seeing dramatic results.

Gurleen Kaur Chahal is one of the inaugural students at Toronto Metropolitan University’s new Peel Region medical school, designed to serve the area’s diverse population. She's determined to be part of the solution for the kinds of struggles her multigenerational Punjabi household has faced accessing care.

After a seemingly innocuous question about pi, Allan Brooks tumbled down a ChatGPT rabbit hole. Three weeks later, he emerged, after spending 300 hours in a spiralling 7,000-prompt exchange with the chatbot. Dr. Keith Sakata, the psychiatrist whose viral thread on X breaks down the phenomenon known as “AI psychosis,” says the built-in sycophancy of large language models like ChatGPT needs to change before more harm is done.

How much would you be willing (and able) to pay to get your knee or hip replaced? Calgarian Linda Slater's knee pain became unbearable during her two-year wait to see an orthopedic surgeon. She drained her retirement savings to pay $30,000 for a new knee at a private Toronto clinic. Dr. Rick Zarnett, an orthopedic surgeon who works out of both a private clinic and public hospital, says the system needs to improve so patients can get surgery sooner.

Companies are spending big bucks advertising weight-loss drugs like Rybelsus, seeing huge potential in capitalizing on the popularity of Ozempic. But in Canada, so-called "reminder ads" can give only the name of the medication, not what it's for, telling people to ask their doctor for details. Ad man Terry O’Reilly says it can result in bad ads that turn people off, and pharmaceutical policy expert Barbara Mintzes says reminder ads can lead to overtreatment and high costs, doing more harm than good.

As a rapper, Bishop Brigante was no stranger to on-stage battles. We met up with the then-45-year-old when he was battling Stage 4 colon cancer, which he said was caught too late. Bishop wanted Canadians to have easier access to colonoscopies and said advocacy had given him newfound purpose.

 Many women report difficulties with orgasms, low libido or pain around intercourse. And given that many have never even learned much about their genitals, they don’t always know where to get help. A cadre of Canadian doctors specializing in women’s sexual health is trying to change that. They’re helping patients boost pleasure, while empowering them to get to know their sexual anatomy.

Attracting a family doctor to work in a community is challenging, with fewer physicians choosing family medicine. That's why Cheryl Gnyp, the recruiter for Castlegar, B.C., needs to stand out. She uses the board game Operation and specialized coffee as part of her 10-minute sales pitch to potential recruits at conferences. It can take years before a doctor starts working in the community, but she’s in it for the long haul.

Judith Morrison needs a kidney. While she's on dialysis, her sister Catherine is putting out a public plea for a living donor. But the search has been hard. And if they do find a donor, the sisters say that person will have to go through a long and opaque testing process. A process that experts say needs to be improved across Canada because the demand for kidney donations is high.

One morning as she arrived for her hospital shift, Winnipeg nurse Jennifer Noone was assaulted outside the staff entrance, leaving her with a bad concussion and PTSD. Rather than stay silent, she took the unusual step of having her assailant charged with assault. Manitoba Nurses Union President Darlene Jackson says there needs to be more and better security and violence should not be accepted as just part of the job.

At 28 years old, Dr. Soania Mathur was building her medical practice and expecting her first child. Then, she was diagnosed with Young-Onset Parkinson’s Disease. She tried to ignore her diagnosis for a decade, but as the symptoms progressed, she had to close her practice. Now, the self-described "Unshakeable MD" uses her experience as both a patient and a doctor to advocate for especially young people living with Parkinson's, as up to 10% of patients are under 40.

How far would you go to test your body in extreme heat? Ironworker apprentice Britnee Miazek travels hundreds of kilometres to Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario for a gruelling experiment to see how her body deals with high temperatures. She wants to find out why she stopped getting her period while working in sweltering conditions on a coke oven. Researchers are hoping to find answers for Britnee, and understand more about the long-term health effects of working in an increasingly hot environment.

This episode is part of a CBC collaboration called "Overheated" where White Coat, Black Art, What on Earth, and Quirks and Quarks explore how heat is affecting our health, our cities and our ecosystems.

When Kalpit Sharma started smoking high-THC weed several times a day, he thought he was just “living his life” as a university student. But then, he started hearing voices. Researcher Dr. Daniel Myran shares the science behind stories like Kalpit’s – and why young men are particularly at risk for concerning mental health outcomes.

We're replaying this episode in honour of National Indigenous History Month. Former senator and chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Murray Sinclair spent the last months of his life at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg. He found comfort in the music of Quinton Poitras, a Métis musician with Artists in Healthcare Manitoba who played his favourite songs. Niigaan Sinclair says that even though his father was in a lot of pain, the music helped him feel joy in the moment.

Dr. Theresa Tam steps down this week after eight years as Canada’s chief public health officer. Best known for leading the COVID-19 public health response, Tam tells Dr. Brian Goldman in a sit-down interview that Canada urgently needs a national vaccine registry to better manage outbreaks like measles, and must do more to support science and fight misinformation.

Cardiologist, scientist and bestselling author Dr. Eric Topol's new book "Super Agers" distills decades of research on how to make us healthier for longer. Topol says that humanity is on the cusp of developing treatments to help tame cancer, dementia and other chronic diseases… just as political forces in the U.S. are shutting down that research.

Alberta is dealing with almost 800 cases of measles, the most in nearly forty years. Dr. Mark Joffe is an infectious disease physician who recently served as Alberta's chief medical officer of health (CMOH). He says there’s a huge need to get the message out that the vaccine is safe and will protect people. Dr. James Talbot, an adjunct professor at the University of Alberta and a former CMOH for Alberta, is concerned provincial leaders aren't taking this measles outbreak urgently enough.

After 25+ years as a family physician, Dr. Fan-Wah Mang closed her practice because she burned out. Now, she’s at Humber River Hospital in Toronto, teaching the next generation of family doctors how to avoid the pitfalls that made her leave. Two of the residents know what they’ll need to be a family physician long term, and it may surprise you.

Thousands of Canadians are in line for a joint replacement surgery. Tracey Knowlton is one of them, waiting over 84 weeks for a knee replacement. Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Stephen Kwan says long waits are an ongoing, system-wide problem. Health-care policy experts like Tom McIntosh say we know how to make it better and faster for patients, but provincial health leaders need to step up.

A crowd lines up every weekday at a unique walk-in dermatology clinic in Toronto. People have conditions ranging from severe rashes to potentially cancerous moles, and can’t wait months for an appointment with a skin doctor. Dr. Davindra Singh, who runs the clinic, calls it a dermatology crisis.

At the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre for men in Winnipeg, over 90% of the staff are in recovery from substance abuse themselves. Staffers like Terrence Morrin use "lived expertise" to create a circle of recovery. He first came to the centre as a participant two years ago, after detoxing on the floor of a prison cell. Today, he's helping other guys like him walk the walk. 

When sportscaster Scott Oake isn't rinkside at NHL games, he's often hanging out at a substance abuse treatment centre in Winnipeg. He's there to be close to his late son. An urn with Bruce's ashes greets everyone who walks through the doors of Bruce Oake Recovery Centre. In the first of a two-part series, Dr. Brian Goldman visits the centre to meet Scott and learn about the centre's approach to substance-abuse treatment — one that came too late for Bruce.

With election day just around the corner, we know Canadians have questions about health care and how the next federal government can help make it better. That's why we asked candidates from the five major parties about three priority issues: how they would ensure every Canadian has a family doctor or nurse practitioner, what they would do to make it easier for doctors to work across the country, and how they would address the creep in private-pay primary care. 

Much of the federal election campaign’s focus has been on the U.S. But health care is always on the minds of Canadians. So what are the federal government’s responsibilities when it comes to health care—especially when six and a half million Canadians don't have a primary care provider? Amélie Quesnel-Vallée, a McGill professor and Canada Research Chair in Policies and Health Inequalities, explains.

The federal election campaign so far has been dominated by curveballs from the U.S. But meanwhile, the state of public healthcare in Canada remains dire. We look at what our listeners have to say about the creep of a two-tier healthcare system, and check in with health law expert Colleen Flood about how Canadians should demand healthcare reform no matter which party they choose.

Christina Shehata waited 40 hours in an Ontario hospital ER to get an inpatient bed. It’s a common reality in hospitals across Canada. What makes Christina's story different is that her husband, Dr. Adam Shehata, was keenly aware that she could have died. While the hospital did the best it could, Christina says without the aid of a physician spouse, her stay could have been even longer. They're highlighting the need for systemic change.

We're seeing the worst measles numbers in Canada in more than a decade. Dr. Ninh Tran, medical officer of health in the country's hardest hit region of southwestern Ontario, describes how they're fighting to control the spread. And University of Alberta infectious diseases specialist Dr. Lynora Saxinger reflects on the "undead zombie of disinformation" that's helped lead us here.

Measles is on the rise, highlighting how a disease considered eliminated in Canada is making a comeback. Recent dramatic outbreaks are worrying people like infectious diseases specialist Dr. Sumon Chakrabarti. He explains why more people are getting measles, how it spreads, the symptoms and the long-term complications. He says getting vaccinated provides the best protection. (Originally published Mar. 6, 2025.)

A shortage of anesthesiologists in Canada often means postponed operations and procedures. But some hospitals are using anesthesia assistants (AAs) to get more patients into surgeries and routine procedures needing sedation. Dr. Brian Goldman observes AA Rob Bryan during a colonoscopy at an Ontario hospital to find out what he does. And Nova Scotia pediatric anesthesiologists Dr. Sally Bird and Dr. Mathew Kiberd say AAs have become an essential part of their anesthesia team.  

It may seem counterintuitive, but hospital emergency rooms can be hazardous to the health of elderly patients. An innovative geriatric multidisciplinary ER team at St. Mary's Hospital in Montreal is getting elderly patients discharged quickly and safely, saving them from preventable harms and the hospital millions in preventable admissions.

A growing number of young people in Canada are being diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and their needs often differ from older patients. Melissa Grof​f was diagnosed at age 34, with three small kids, in the prime of her career.​​ ​She​ says she would have benefitted from more age-appropriate care. Sunnybrook's Young Adult Colorectal Cancer Clinic offers this care including support for mental health, sexual health, body image issues and family planning.

Palliative physician Dr. Samantha Winemaker says her line of work has a branding problem. Instead of thinking of it as "the Grim Reaper service" to be called in at the 11th hour, she says patients benefit from a palliative approach as soon as they're faced with a life-limiting illness. "Dr. Sammy" meets a new patient and his family for the first time - showing how her person-centered care treads the fine line between honesty and hope. 

Dr. Tara Kiran knows primary care in Canada can be better. That's why the Toronto-based family physician and researcher went to the Netherlands, a world leader in health, to see what we can take away. What she found is a system that provides around-the-clock care and primary care teams who can see patients when they need it most. 

Patients don't like asking for them, doctors hate writing them, and yet, some employers continue to demand notes when a worker calls in sick for a minor illness like the flu or a cold. More and more doctors and other health-care providers says that sick notes shouldn't be required for minor illnesses, tying up an already overloaded system. Some provinces have now updated their sick note policies.

We know there are problems with our country’s health-care system, with millions of Canadians going without a family doctor or nurse practitioner. But Denmark, a country where more than 98 percent of its population is attached to a primary care provider, could have some lessons for us. We travelled to the Scandinavian country to see how the Danish system works for patients and doctors. The differences are startling.

More Quebeckers are paying to see a family doc for services that should be covered publicly. Dr. Martin Potter explains why he founded Clinique Santé Plus after 20 years in the public system. But Dr. Bernard Ho of Canadian Doctors for Medicare says Quebec may be a bellwether for the rest of Canada, and private-pay family medicine puts the public system, and individual patients, at risk.

In Quebec, family medicine is the latest troubling frontier in a two-tier system that's been quietly growing for years. Dr. Brian Goldman visits Clinique Santé Plus in Vaudreuil to learn why the clinic's youngest doctor turned away from the public system. Two patients - one languishing on a waitlist for a family doctor, and one who can never reach hers - explain why $150 is worth 15 minutes with a private family doctor.