Teresa has Down syndrome and was 49 when the capacity assessment took place in Ontario. I saw her as happy, healthy, and active. She enjoyed living nearby with my 91-year-old father, who often said, “We’re a team. We help each other.”…
Category: Conditions
Can you predict Alzheimer’s? New research on early detection.
You can’t treat something until you know it’s there. Currently, there’s no cure for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) but earlier diagnosis may lead to better understanding of how the disease inexorably progresses, which in turn may lead…
Wendy Williams’s battle with health and the fragility of success
Lifetime recently premiered the documentary Where is Wendy Williams? This four-part special delves into the captivating life and career of Wendy Williams, the once dynamic 59-year-old American broadcaster, media personality, and writer. Renowned for ho…
A potential discovery of highly fatal SARS coronavirus?
Has a highly fatal SARS coronavirus already been discovered? Maybe yes, but just its report is highly concerning. On January 4, 2024, a letter to the editor was uploaded to a preprint server which gave too few details but described a 100 percent fatal …
Understanding seasonal affective disorder: more than just winter blues
As the summer sun bids its farewell, a distinct group of people seem to “fall back” as a mysterious change begins to take hold. Several individuals get caught in the embrace of the transitions of fall and winter, revealing a shift between t…
Shedding some weight on the health care crisis
In today’s world, the term “obesity” is more than just a medical diagnosis—it’s a complex issue intertwined with personal experiences, societal norms, and systemic challenges. As a seasoned family doctor, I’ve witnessed fi…
Women of color face biases in endometriosis diagnosis and surgical treatment
March is endometriosis awareness month. Endometriosis, a disease in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside of the uterus, affects 1 in 10 women, or 190 million individuals worldwide. Although endometriosis leads to chronic pain …
Beyond the workout: the hidden struggle of diabetic gastroparesis
The final three minutes of my hour-long elliptical workout were not easy. Pain spread across my stomach, causing me to row in a half-sitting motion, and my chest vacillated between violent coughs and the sorts of deep breaths people take when they thin…
Sepsis protocols coupled with rapid host response technologies are the key to improving patient outcomes
Patients come into the emergency department (ED) with symptoms, not diagnoses. That’s when time is of the essence. Clinicians must quickly triage patients and establish an appropriate care pathway to obtain the best possible outcome. The time-sen…
A doctor’s journey: from student to healer, facing a mentor’s illness
I had a teacher in my third year of med school. His name was Dr. T. He taught us pediatrics. At that time, he was the head of the department of pediatrics in the busiest teaching hospital in our city, where I was working. Every day, hundreds of childre…
