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Midwifery
Perspective is a mysterious thing: a thousand people crossing a single bridge is a thousand people crossing a thousand bridges. We can only see the world through our own eyes; none of us is exempt. When I first graduated, doctors were a cult, and immersed in it as I was, I would not have thought of it as such.…
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The Hormonal IUD
A few of my readers and a not inconsiderable number of my patients have encouraged me to comment on the hormonal IUD (IntraUterine Device). In the UK, it is often known as the intrauterine system, but here in Canada it is best known as Mirena. It is a plastic T-shaped device containing a synthetic progesterone (levonorgestrel)…
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Choice
What do you do if you just don’t like someone -or in the context of a doctor/patient relationship, what should you do? It’s a vexing question at the best of times, but perhaps even more so if you are a patient that has been referred to a specialist. Or you are that specialist… The question assumes a…
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Understanding Risk
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. This quote from Hamlet has always stuck in my memory; it reminds me to be humble, especially in the face of the unknown. Uncertainty has always been anathema to most of us. We need explanations and we crave stability; anything…
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Words
As time harvests the years and winnows my memories, I find I no longer sift through dictionaries looking for new and unusual words. The thrill of finding one is still there I suppose, but more often the discovery is in an interesting book or magazine and it is not so much the originality of the word as the novelty of its use -its evolution. And…
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The Intrauterine Device
I’ve got a poster in my examining room that captures a lot of interest; I call it my pasta poster. It’s a picture of a random assortment of interesting IUDs throughout history -including a couple of stones (Yes, stones have been used!). It often serves as a springboard for discussion of contraception back in the consulting…
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Doctor on Call
“Are you going to be there to deliver me, Doctor?” It is a question I hear each time I see a new obstetrical patient and one for which I have to admit I am never prepared. After all, the patient has come to see me because either they or the referring doctor feel that I…
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Choosing a doctor
There are age-old dilemmas in choosing a doctor, aren’t there? Choices often have a way of seeming problematic, even insoluble, when considered in the abstract and all the more so when they have to be made for real. Theoretically, I suppose, they should be made after due-diligence, as the lawyers would say. One merely sets out a…
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