Category: Justice

  • Fatherhood

    It was hard to hear him over the rhythmic humming of the ventilation, so I leaned in as his other classmates filtered out of the room. “How do you be a dad?” As a pediatrician, most of the questions I am asked are technical ones.  What is this rash?  How do you change the diaper…

  • Counterpoint: Donald Trump got elected and I know exactly what to think

    This is written as a public response to Jonathan Imbody, VP of Government Relations for CMDA, who recently wrote an opinion piece for a CMDA blog titled “Donald Trump got elected and now I don’t know what to think.”  As he introduces: If that statement describes how you feel, you are a member of a large group…

  • Dead Bodies and Lamentations

    What do you do with a dead body in the room? My first dead patient arrived that way.  He was half naked, pupils blown, head bashed in from a car accident in which he was thrown through the windshield.  It was my first week on the wards as a medical student and though I had been…

  • Scum of the World

    I could hear the cussing from inside the room and noted the awkward glances of nearby nurses and staff who turned to look and gawk.  Even though I only sat a few feet outside the door, I ignored the increasingly loud litany of expletives and deliberately focused on the screen in front of me.  He was my patient and I was doing my…

  • Brown and Bubbles: Why Ferguson and Wilmington Are Alike

    Brown and Bubbles: Why Ferguson and Wilmington Are Alike

    “Hey, Bubbles has a gift for you.  He’s been looking for you, since you saved his life,” my neighbor said casually.  I was somewhat surprised; Bubbles (not his real street name) was a young man whom I met while administering first aid for an injury sustained on my block.  Bubbles had a critical wound to his chest, and…

  • Only as an urban resident – Ep. 8

    An epilogue of some sorts: Shihiem does not come to my house anymore. After my neighbours told him whatever they told him to get him to leave my porch, they have spotted him twice pacing around the block and teaching little kids how to punch and kick each other. He showed up at work for…