Feb 2024
16 Feb
For the love of Spiderman (and the husbands who read his comics)
Two women, both confronting the untimely mortaility of their husbands, meet in a comic book shop and offer each other real support.
Jan 2024
24 Jan
Please, please don’t ask me
I love being recognized on the street, especially by former patients. But lately, it’s a curse as everyone is begging and pleading for my help in finding a family doctor.
08 Jan
The holy grail of patient care
If you know the story of knights seeking the grail, you'll know the lesson Percival learns the hard way by failing to ask awkward questions.
Nov 2023
29 Nov
Slipping
In the literature on medical errors there is a concept called the ‘Swiss Cheese Effect.’ This happens in real life, too.
Sep 2023
25 Sep
Lessons on medical education from the tennis court
Last week, I was watching a learner doing a first prenatal visit. She was asking all the routine questions without preamble or explanation. I could see the couple getting more and more anxious.
Aug 2023
25 Aug
Ethel Bruneau: An elegy to a dance legend
I delivered four of Suzanne's five children over the years—but her mother gave one of my children a magical gift, too.
July 2023
13 Jul
The next time you see me, I will be a Grandpapa
A discussion on the transformative power of love combined with directness gets squeezed in between buying cheeses at the market.
June 2023
27 Jun
The problem with ‘geezering’
Things absolutely were better back in my day . . . some of the time.
15 Jun
The hero’s journey
In myth, a hero may refuse the call to adventure, becoming mired in denial. I recently watched a resident with a young patient with diabetes. Already on max oral meds, his latest tests showed beginnings of complications in the eyes, feet and kidneys.
May 2023
17 May
Gossip and the art of storytelling
Inching towards retirement, somewhat reluctantly, I've pondered what I ought to do with myself once I finally take the plunge.
09 May
A physician of a certain age
I liked it better when my cohort was exhausted by attending each other's weddings, rather than the perpetual funeral arrangements I find myself making these days. But, death is something physicians all must learn about first hand.
Apr 2023
19 Apr
Distinguishing the capable from the dangerous
Recently I took part in a practice SOO for two different McGill teaching units. Many complain about this this exam but with something so high stakes as licensure, I'd argue we need it.
Mar 2023
10 Mar
'Opener of the womb': The burden and privilege of being the first born
Doctors have a tendency to be first-born or only children, myself included. Why are we the way that we are?
Feb 2023
24 Feb
The other side of Roxham Road
A 41-year-old woman just switched to me after her obstetrician retired. She has had all her previous eleven babies at another hospital and I want to make her feel safe. My vacation starts tomorrow and not a moment too soon.
Jan 2023
10 Jan
Crimes and misdemeanors
Dr. Perle Feldman finds herself in the middle of an ethical quagmire, when all she wanted to do was get her toenails painted.
Dec 2022
14 Dec
Dirt, marriage and cataract surgery
A few years ago, I began to find it hard to drive at night. There were halos around the street lamps and I was experiencing more and more eye-strain. I went to see my ophthalmologist and unsurprisingly I had cataracts.
Nov 2022
29 Nov
A profound response
A colleague texted me: “Have you read Ted Jablonski’s column this morning? I almost spit up my coffee, it’s so hilarious!” When I read the column I realized two things immediately: a) It was very, very funny, b) I had to try and write a response.
Oct 2022
29 Oct
Perle Feldman drops the baby
This was the second month of my rotating internship and I was so excited to be doing my obstetrics rotation at St. Mary’s Hospital in Montreal. I was eager, scared and green as grass.
19 Oct
In praise of hands
While working with a first-year FM resident in L&D, we were about to sew up a straightforward second-degree tear, but she did not even know how to hold the needle driver properly.
Sep 2022
27 Sep
My sister: A New Year’s meditation
At this time of year, during the High Holidays, we are encouraged to think about “Tikkun Olam,” the healing of the world.
06 Sep
Report from Burnoutville: Flexibility creates families out of teams
As I inch towards a peri-retirement, I am grateful for the long-standing flexibility my on-call group has used for many years—to the benefit of practitioners at many different stages in their careers.
Aug 2022
23 Aug
Report from Burnoutville: To quit or not to quit?
In an exhausting time for doctors, the question of whether it's time to consider retiring can't help but arise. But what questions do docs need to consider before actually throwing in the towel?
July 2022
20 Jul
Story time for patients who won't listen
My Family Medicine OB group has a group chat where we discuss what we euphemistically call “Patients of Note” i.e. the patients who are giving us nightmares.
05 Jul
Catch a falling baby
Beauty in this world needs protecting. Dr. Perle Feldman discusses a moment in obstetrics where, in an instant, she was able to provide that protection.
June 2022
02 Jun
Hospital food: the good, the bad and the ugly
As a medical student, the cafeteria lunches and dinners outside the white table-clothed private staff dining room was usually some horrible variation of mystery meat in cream sauce.
May 2022
11 May
Four decades of collaboration: My life with nurses
“Baby K is looking a little floppy.” I told them. An hour later when sepsis had been diagnosed, I received the accolades. “Good pick-up, Perle,” said the chief, approvingly. Nurse Deanna smiled.
01 May
Bill 96: If you don’t want to do something, one reason is as good as another
The image of two fluent Punjabi speakers being forced to communicate in French because of government fiat strikes me as completely absurd, cruel and ultimately dangerous. In many ways this follows a pattern of the Legault government’s strategy.
Apr 2022
05 Apr
Calamity ware: What's in a plate?
“Could he be having a posterior MI?” I thought to myself. “But he just had an echo and a stress MIBI that was all normal, how could this be?” I persuaded myself that I was wrong. After all, he did have bad reflux and the occasional panic attack.
Feb 2022
24 Feb
The Bubbie business
By the time my grandkids' parents came to pick them up, we were exhausted but happy and satisfied. “What good grandparents you are!” you might be thinking, but you see I have my own agenda.
Jan 2022
23 Jan
War stories: O, do not wish one more!
The problem with working during COVID is these are not abstract ideas: bed closures, people missing vital surgeries and treatments, refugees pouring across the border, escaping exploitation and mistreatment.
09 Jan
Chocolate cake: a medical metaphor
If you think of medicine as a large iced chocolate layer cake, you can think of the icing as the signs and symptoms of illness and the names of all the diagnoses. The top layer of the cake is common disease.
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