Recorded at St. Joseph's Healthcare in Hamilton, Ontario, scientists and physicians from the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research tackle questions ranging from whether it's safe to drive after using cannabis, the dangers of second-hand pot smoke to how long the drug stays in your system, and how it interacts with other drugs - and much more.…

This week: The surprising intersection between the worlds of medicine and monsters

'Provide good quality care, not just any care,' nursing home advocate says of Wettlaufer inquiry lessons

Alan Alda is best known for his 11 seasons on MASH but he's also forged a second career as an expert in communication. He tells Dr. Brian Goldman it began with hosting Scientific American on PBS, where he talked to some of the world's smartest people and helped them get their ideas across. About a decdade ago the Alan Alda Center for Communicat ...…

More than 40 per cent of Canadian women have dense breasts that increase the risk of breast cancer and render many of those cancers invisible on a mammogram. It's a surprisingly common problem that experts say should be getting much more public attention.

Dr. Brian Goldman travels to Iceland to find out how they turned around a culture of binge-drinking among youth, and discovers what we can learn from their incredible public health turnaround, just as Canada prepares to legalize cannabis.

Could your hip replacement hurt you? Journalist Jeanne Lenzer explores the medical device industry in her book, The Danger Within Us.

Sharron Cooke and Devora Greenspon speak frankly about life in long-term residential care, from the loss of freedom to advocating for those who can't do it themselves.

Dr Paige Church, developmental paediatrician talks about her life as a doctor with spina bifida.

This week: A follow to our #metoo in medicine show - A senior MD goes on the record about her experience being sexually harassed by a mentor, and details what she and others are doing to change the culture that allows for abuse. Reaction to our our Crisis of Care town hall event and we follow up on our first story of the season, about a woman w ...…

On June 12, White Coat, Black Art hosted a town hall meeting on 'aging out' at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. Parents, caregivers gathered to talk about the crisis of care they face when children with disabilities and complex needs 'age out' of the pediatric system that has supported them for their entire lives.…

Dr. Goldman spends a day with Gilly, a teen with autism and developmental delay. Gily is on the cusp of aging out of the programs that support her, and her parents are struggling to figure out how the family will manage when that happens.

Greg Price, a 31-year-old Alberta man fatally fell through the cracks of the health-care system after being diagnosed with testicular cancer. After his 2012 death, his family advocated for change by continually telling his story. This week, we explore how Greg's story became a film to teach med students, and why some of the best in Canada's TV ...…

Professor Michael Thaut, explores how music can be used to treat cognitive ailments from dementia and Alzheimer's disease to brain injuries. Dr. Michael Ehrenreich, a dermatologist based in New Jersey, wrote Medicine: The Musical opens off-Broadway this fall.

Dr. Lori Regenstrief took a job as the doctor on a luxury cruise liner and ended up having to treat herself. Astronaut Dr. Bob Thirsk tells Brian about practising in zero gravity. And Brian has his own tale of intrigue about visiting Russia and helping out a Soviet dissident. ** Note: This episode originally aired in January***…

When antidepressants first came on the market in the late 1980s it was recommended patients take them for six to nine months to relieve symptoms. But in 2018, in the US alone, 15.5 million people have been on anti-depressants for five years or more. And when they do try to stop, they face a raft of unexpected and debilitating withdrawal symptoms.…

Host Brian Goldman travels to Ottawa to meet two extraordinary women who share a common bond. Kim McLeod and Julie Drury were both mothers to children who doctors call “medically fragile”: two kids with rare diseases so complicated they need nearly round the clock care just to stay alive. Because of their medical conditions, both children died ...…

Each year Toronto’s Central Ambulance Communications Centre responds to more than 400,000 calls for 9-1-1 emergency care, but not everyone calling in has a critical emergency. After taking a closer look, one paramedic discovered that some buildings in the city are "hotspots" for 9-1-1 calls, meaning the residents made more than 100 9-1-1 calls ...…

The new movie Peter Rabbit didn't get great reviews from critics - but it got a unanimous thumbs down from kids who have anaphylaxis and their parents. The movie features a scene in which the animated rabbits pelt a character with blackberries - knowing he has a deadly allergy to them. It's just one of a raft of gags and insensitive jokes, whic ...…

There's a surprising intersection between the world of medicine and zombies. Yes, the flesh-eating undead of The Walking Dead, George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, and of course Shaun of the Dead. The iconic re-animated creature pops up in some unexpected places in medicine.

We asked listeners to tell us about the seeming "stupid rules" that frustrate them when it comes to our health-care system. We got a barrage of emails, tweets and posts ranging from gripes about getting kicked off a GP's roster for being "too healthy," being forced to jump through hoops to get a referral to a specialist; being unable to access ...…

Kathryn Fudurich was 21-years old when her 55-year-old mother Pat was diagnosed with dementia. Pat's memory loss began with small things, like leaving the TV remote in the pantry. But soon, she was forgetting to take her medication. Then she could no longer remember the route to get to her teaching job outside of Toronto. Soon it became clear t ...…

What happens when the health-care system heals you but leaves you with emotional scars?

Could your hip replacement hurt you? Journalist Jeanne Lenzer explores the medical device industry in her new book, The Danger Within Us: America's Untested, Unregulated Medical Device Industry and One Man's Battle to Survive It. And Dr. David Urbach tells us why Canada's device regulators could be doing a better job.…

Endometriosis affects one in ten Canadian women, yet for the most part, it is invisible. It's a condition where the uterine tissue grows outside of the uterus, resulting in severe pain, and possibly infertility for those who have it. It takes on average, eight to ten years to get a definitive diagnosis and women typically see up to ten differen ...…

This week, White Coat, Black Art has stories of up-and-coming female doctors who have been harassed, abused and even assaulted by the higher-ups who are supposed to be mentoring them into the world of medicine. Many of the women say they were too afraid to file complaints fearing the power senior doctors have over their career prospects.Those w ...…

The big "H" sign for the hospital signals safety to most patients. But many Indigenous Canadians have a different reality. The San'yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Training Program uses blunt talk to confront racial biases in medicine in a bid to make heath care safer and more accessible.

Last week we told you the story of Ian and Rachelle Geddes, middle-class Canadian parents working flat-out to care to care for their 18-year-old daughter Gillian., who has low-functioning autism, meaning she'll never be able to work or live independently. They shared their concerns about how they'll cope as Gilly ages out of the services she's ...…

A day with Gilly, a teen with autism and developmental delay on the cusp of aging out of the system – and her parents who are expected to pick up the slack.

The latest report on Canada's flu vaccine shows the shot is less than 20 per cent effective against the most common strain.. Some public health officials are questioning the focus on a seasonal flu vaccine that delivers unreliable results. We speak to Dr. Danuta Scowronski, the lead for influenza at the BC Centre for Disease Control, who says i ...…

In our second show exploring the impact of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) we speak to Clifford Campbell. His wife Noreen was among the first to be approved for and to receive MAID. He tells Brian what it's like to be the witness to suffering, party to assisted death, and the spouse left behind.

Tim Regan had a medically assisted death on Dec. 12, 2017. Dr. Brian Goldman spoke to him the day before he died.

Dr Kevin Menes was on duty as an ER doctor after the worst mass shooting in US history.

We hear from doctors whose medical degrees took them places they never expected...from cruise ships to space ships.

This weel, it’s all about you. You have sent us a ton of emails, letters, tweets and Facebook posts about what you heard on the program so far this season. We share some of them.

In 2011, Dr Brian Goldman travelled to Nelson, a city of just over 10,000 located in BC's Southern Interior. This picturesque region boasts one of the most successful groups of midwives in all of Canada.

Sharron Cooke and Devora Greenspon speak frankly about life in long-term residential care.

How peer support workers help people with mental health crises in the ER of the North Bay Regional Health Centre.

A Canadian doctor is caught in the eye of a fake news storm. Snopes Science editor Alex Kasprak tells us how to sniff out fake health newse. And why stem cell stories are so vulnerable to becoming fake-news clickbait.

White Coat Black Art looks at the growing number of kids with anxiety and why the healthcare system is largely failing to help them.

Dr Paige Church, developmental paediatrician talks about her life as a doctor with spina bifida.

Health professionals are hurting like never before. Studies show close to half of Canada's doctors are burned out and the numbers are going up.

The story of Kirk Foat, who shocked his doctors by coming up with his own successful plan to wean himself off prescription opiods. And a Toronto doctor who has become an expert in "de-prescribing' patients like Kirk, who want off opioids.

Vaccine hesitancy means that 11 per cent of Canadian 2 year olds are not fully immunized against measles, and 23 per cent don’t have all the recommended doses for diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus.

As Canada mourns Gord Downie, we share the inspirational story of Catherine Wreford-Ledlow. The Winnipeg woman is facing a similar diagnosis with the same kind of courage and intention - to do good in the world before she leaves it.

Meet the family with FCAS, a disease so rare that just six hundred people on the planet have been diagnosed with it. Lynn Bidner, the matriarch reckons it goes back at least eight generations.