Under Construction
Meaning me, of course. I worked a (rare) Night 12 a few days ago. It was the usual dog’s breakfast of high acuity, walking wounded without end lining up at…
torontoemerg
Explaining Gay Rights
Not exactly relevant in Canada, but still useful for dealing with your fundamentalist relatives over the holiday season.
All You Really Need to Know About Herman Cain
Herman Cain sees the Virgin Mary on a tortilla: He has won over some voters . . . by telling them that, when he was suffering from colon cancer, he…
Asking for Drugs
In the Emergency Department, part of a nurse’s job in discharging patients is to figure out if they are good to go home, because in part it’s good nursing practice,…
Adventures in Depression
I swear Allie Brosh has channelled everyone who has ever suffered depression in this brilliant webcomic. Including me. Check it out by clicking on the graphic or the link. Filed…
Poem for a Saturday
I am really pleased to offer another poem by Michèle Katrina Thorsen. I have a couple more to offer over the next while. my dreams of your recovery died…
“Christian” Family Values?
Texas judge William Adams beats his daughter with a belt. Warning: this video will trigger victims of abuse. I could only watch about thirty seconds at a time. The video…
Smokers Have Other Problems Besides, Well, Smoking
If you work in the North, you’re familiar with the scene: patients in gowns, riding wheelchairs and trailing IV pumps scrambling over snow banks and icy walkways and braving frostbite-inducing…
Three Thoughts on the Greek Debt Crisis
1. Just wondering. If the Greek people are being asked to make extraordinary sacrifices to resolve a crisis largely not of their own making (see here, for example, on the…
All Nurses Are Not Equal
My best friend Reid made an interesting point the other day. “I have,” she said, “an alphabet soup of certifications. I have ACLS. I have BCLS. I have TNCC. I…
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A cool take down of the consumerism and the scarcely vocalized passions lurking in every IKEA catalogue. Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Short film, Vimeo
It’s Climategate II! Except It’s Not.
Kate at Small Dead Animals is virtually peeing herself with excitement: the lyin’ bastards have been caught again! Data manipulation! Climate change is a hoax! Etc.! She quotes from a…
Where Breasts Meet Art
Breast casts of various celebrities customized and tarted up by artists (more breasts here) to be auctioned and proceeds going to the Keep-a-Breast Foundation, a charity which promotes breast cancer…
Favourite Poems XLII
Two poems on the theme of Autumn. Autumn Valentine In May my heart was breaking- Oh, wide the wound, and deep! And bitter it beat at waking, And sore it…
“We Will Now All Be Unwilling Participants in a Social Experiment That Will Undoubtedly Place Canadian Lives at Risk”
My thoughts exactly, from Alan Drummond of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians. His full statement on the proposed repeal of the Gun Registry. It is regrettable that we, as…
On the Gun Registry
Globe and Mail headline: “End of long-gun registry seen as victory in war on Big Government.” The headline could have just as easily read, “Government wants to kill Canadians to…
Watching Your Employees Die Gets You -1,000,000,000 Karma Points
This is pretty appalling. Actually no. It is un-freakin’-believable: Last month, Julia’s daughter, Vianney, buried her mom, after the 67 year old woman died Sept. 8th at her desk, at…
Sometimes Things Ain’t What They Seem
Niagara Health is taking a beat down lately. First it was an uncontrolled C. difficile outbreak, then a provincial administrator was appointed to deal with the outbreak, and now this:…
Says Blatchford, First We Shoot All The Nurses
I actually did a double take, and my jaw dropped, slightly when I read this: It’s why, where I used to think that before I got really old I’d get…
Death to PowerPoint and Other Notions
Back again.Yeah, I’ve been away for a while, for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with writing or blogging. However my unintentional sabbatical has had the benefit of leaving…