White Coat, Black Art

Alberta has a new law allowing eligible surgeons and anesthesiologists to perform publicly funded and private-pay surgeries. This dual practice is a first for Canada. Alberta politicians believe it will reduce wait times for elective surgeries like hip or knee replacements. Critics say there isn’t enough staff to go around, and those waiting in the public system for surgery will wait longer.

Wendy Wittenberg’s son, Ebel, completely changed after a brief illness. He went from being a confident 10-year-old who loved school, to having separation anxiety, mood swings, and OCD symptoms. Wendy is confident he has PANS/PANDAS. The challenge is that it’s a diagnosis that some doctors still don’t know about or believe in, says pediatrician Dr. Wendy Edwards.

​Ask any Islander and they'll likely tell you that heavy alcohol use on PEI is ingrained. "It's a reality of our culture and our socializing," says Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Heather Morrison. But she's determined to change that. Working with fellow Islanders like Brenda Simmons of MADD, whose son Jacob was killed on his bike by a driver who'd had 13 drinks, Dr. Morrison has released a sweeping provincial alcohol strategy that other parts of Canada may want to study.

Pope Leo XIV, who isn’t known to be a smoker, has been diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma. In this episode, Toronto father Winhan Wong shares his journey with that same disease. He was diagnosed nine years ago and was also a non-smoker. In Canada, one in four cases of lung cancer now occur in people who have never smoked. Thoracic surgeon Dr. Christian Finley explains why these cases are rising, the stigma patients face, and efforts to develop a national plan.

Dr. Michael Antil left North Carolina in mid‑2023 with his wife and kids, driven out by an increasingly conservative political climate and COVID-era hostility toward doctors. He’s now a family physician to over 2,000 patients in Toronto. He was repeatedly denied permanent residency in Canada, lost in a maze of paperwork and immigration red tape. In this encore episode, we have an exciting update to Dr. Antil’s battle with bureaucracy.