White Coat, Black Art

Ill-fitting equipment in the military took a toll on Wanda Motard, worsening an existing health condition. She’s lived with chronic pain for 20 years, as well as the effects of military trauma, and has struggled to get the care she needs. She finally found it at a clinic that specializes in physical and mental trauma-informed care for veterans.

In 2009, Kay Carter asks her daughter to help her die. Assisted suicide is illegal in Canada, and 89-year-old Kay has spinal stenoisis — a painful degenerative disease. So she and her daughter, Lee Carter, covertly plan a trip to Switzerland, where Kay takes a lethal barbiturate, followed by a square of chocolate, and says goodbye. It’s a good death, and Lee decides it can leave a legacy. So despite the risk of prosecution, she goes public with Kay’s story, triggering a court battle to make doctor-assisted death legal in Canada.

See You in Court host Falen Johnson and journalist Clare Bonnyman tell the story of Carter vs. Canada, and the family who found themselves at the centre of a national debate about who decides when life is worth living.

This episode is part one. Part two can be found here: https://link.mgln.ai/SYICS2xWCBAxEP2

The stories behind the legal battles that changed Canada — and the unlikely people who made it happen. Some were sh*t disturbers, some were convicts, and some were just regular folks dragged into a fight. 

Each week on See You in Court, host Falen Johnson teams up with a journalist to dig into a case that challenged the status quo, and asks: what kind of person takes on the law? What are the costs? And what would our lives look like if these cases never happened? Because let's be real, just because a case is closed doesn't mean the story’s over. More episodes of See You in Court are available here: https://link.mgln.ai/SYICS2xWCBA

Alberta has a new law allowing eligible surgeons and anesthesiologists to perform publicly funded and private-pay surgeries. This dual practice is a first for Canada. Alberta politicians believe it will reduce wait times for elective surgeries like hip or knee replacements. Critics say there isn’t enough staff to go around, and those waiting in the public system for surgery will wait longer.

Wendy Wittenberg’s son, Ebel, completely changed after a brief illness. He went from being a confident 10-year-old who loved school, to having separation anxiety, mood swings, and OCD symptoms. Wendy is confident he has PANS/PANDAS. The challenge is that it’s a diagnosis that some doctors still don’t know about or believe in, says pediatrician Dr. Wendy Edwards.

​Ask any Islander and they'll likely tell you that heavy alcohol use on PEI is ingrained. "It's a reality of our culture and our socializing," says Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Heather Morrison. But she's determined to change that. Working with fellow Islanders like Brenda Simmons of MADD, whose son Jacob was killed on his bike by a driver who'd had 13 drinks, Dr. Morrison has released a sweeping provincial alcohol strategy that other parts of Canada may want to study.

Pope Leo XIV, who isn’t known to be a smoker, has been diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma. In this episode, Toronto father Winhan Wong shares his journey with that same disease. He was diagnosed nine years ago and was also a non-smoker. In Canada, one in four cases of lung cancer now occur in people who have never smoked. Thoracic surgeon Dr. Christian Finley explains why these cases are rising, the stigma patients face, and efforts to develop a national plan.

Dr. Michael Antil left North Carolina in mid‑2023 with his wife and kids, driven out by an increasingly conservative political climate and COVID-era hostility toward doctors. He’s now a family physician to over 2,000 patients in Toronto. He was repeatedly denied permanent residency in Canada, lost in a maze of paperwork and immigration red tape. In this encore episode, we have an exciting update to Dr. Antil’s battle with bureaucracy.

For Black women in Nova Scotia, getting basic health care can be a real struggle – so the Nova Scotia Sisterhood, a primary care clinic in Dartmouth, takes a different approach. Detailed intakes lead to everything from cancer screening to mental health care, delivered by a Black female team that understands the community. And there are Pap parties, too.

Farley Yuras, 74, traveled to Poland to have both knees replaced after the wait in Edmonton became unbearable. He and his wife say that because of long delays, Alberta should reimburse people who leave the country for medically necessary surgery. Steven Lewis, an adjunct professor of health policy at UBC, says the wait for elective surgeries in many provinces is “chaos and anarchy,” and needs fixing.

Dr. Erin Norris used to hide her multiple sclerosis to preserve her career as a rheumatologist. She was following an unspoken rule in medicine: either you practice at 100%, or you can’t practice at all. Yet one in five Canadian MDs self-identifies as having a disability. Now, Dr. Norris has rebuilt a career that works for her – all while challenging an ableist medical culture that pushes doctors with disabilities out the door.