March 29: An Evening with Drs. Danielle Ofri, Allison Crawford & Rex Kay

 The Doctors’ Lounge is pleased to invite you to the return engagement of highly acclaimed physician and author Dr. Danielle Ofri , editor of the Bellevue Literary Review.

Back by popular demand, she will be joined in conversation with Dr. Allison Crawford, editor of Ars Medica and founding director of HeART Lab.

Their conversation will be facilitated by Dr. Rex Kay, who has been leading our World Storytelling Day Medical Narrative evenings since 2009. Dr. Kay is a founding editor of Ars Medica.

During the second half of the evening, Dr. Kay will be engaging the virtual audience in the discussion.

The theme for the evening is medical culture as seen through the lens of the humanities.

This continues our exploration of medical culture that we began in February. An interesting article on the topic can be found here.

Please join us as we continue our annual tradition of reflecting on the shared experience of being physicians.

Feb 28, 2022 An Evening With Drs. Sally Satel & Carrie Mendoza

 There is nothing better for a doctor to do on a cold February evening than to gather around the virtual fireplace of ideas that is at the heart of the Doctors’ Lounge series and engage in healthy discourse.

That is, unless you are feeling the cold chill of “walking on eggshells” when it comes to sharing your opinions with colleagues.

Medicine has elements of being a culture, yet the literature on that topic is surprisingly sparse. A good recent overview to reflect on is here.

COVID has exposed the fragile unity of the sub-cultures that contribute to the whole, if indeed, there is such a thing as medical culture.

Please join us for an evening where we explore harsh realities of the intersection between cancel culture and medical culture.

Our guides for the evening:

Psychiatrist and author Dr. Sally Satel and ER physician Dr. Carrie Mendoza, volunteer organizer of Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism.

Interesting video on the Gustilo case: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vJh349ppqM 

Wednesday January 26, 2022: An Evening With Dr. David Ludwig

Calories in, calories out, is a paradigm that has crushed many a New Year’s resolution.

You are invited to spend an evening with colleagues trying to understand why.

Our guide for this exploration will be Dr. David Ludwig.

Dr. Ludwig is an endocrinologist and researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital, Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Professor of Nutrition at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.

For an appetizer, an article from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, where he is an associate editor.

Please join us in the virtual OMA District 11 Doctors’ Lounge, where paradigms have been known to shift since 2005.

Follow-up resource: https://youtu.be/YUSs5RqHaMk .

December 14 : An Evening With Dr. David Goldbloom

 “Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind.”  -E. B. White

 As we wrap up 2020/21 (the longest year in recent medical history), The Doctors’ Lounge invites you to exit laughing.

Or at least consider the possibility.

Medicine has a long historical connection to the “humors.”

Some would argue that laughter is the best medicine (when all else fails).

Others might argue that laughter is the test medicine, as sincerely laughing with a patient can be an indication of the foundation for a successful therapeutic alliance.

On the other hand, if you have to end your attempt at humour with a “just kidding,” serious trouble can ensue.

Does humour belong in the clinical encounter?

Please join us for an evening of exploration of this question with our guide, psychiatrist Dr. David Goldbloom.

November 11: Annual Remembrance Day Program with Dr. David Livingstone Smith

 The Doctors’ Lounge is pleased to welcome a distinguished guest, Dr. David Livingstone Smith to help us explore a core issue of our time: dehumanization.

David has written or edited ten books. His 2011 Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave and Exterminate Others won the 2012 Anisfield-Wolf award for nonfiction. David’s most recent book Making Monsters: The Uncanny Power of Dehumanization will be published by Harvard University Press in November.

David was described in the Times Literary Supplement as “a philosopher seeking not just to interpret the world but to change it." His book On Inhumanity is praised by Harvard University philosopher Cornel West, as “a philosophically sophisticated and prophetically courageous treatment of dehumanization, especially in regard to race,” and by Yale University historian Timothy Snyder as “firm but gentle, wise but accessible.” and University of Pennsylvania law professor Dorothy Roberts says that “On Inhumanity brilliantly provides a chilling warning of repeating the past and a hopeful call to create a more humane future," and science journalist Angela Saini calls it "A chilling, comprehensive and passionate account of dehumanization,” and adds that “Smith offers a devastating reminder of the capacity of every human to treat other humans as lesser."

David is an interdisciplinary scholar, whose publications are cited not only by other philosophers, but also by historians, legal scholars, psychologists, and anthropologists.

Please join us for a thought provoking evening to honour the day.

You can follow his writings here: https://davidlivingstonesmith.substack.com/

PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF DATE TO OCTOBER 20: An Evening with Dr. David Rosmarin

 Thanksgiving brings with it a spirit of renewal for gratitude, awe, appreciation, compassion and hope.

You are invited to carry that spirit forward into your daily life by exploring whether spirituality has any place in the clinical encounter.

Our guide for the evening will be Dr. David Rosmarin, Director of the Spirituality & Mental Health Program of the Harvard affiliated Mclean Hospital.

Thanksgiving is associated with celebrating the bounty of a successful harvest, and while, we cannot provide you with any delectable treats over the internet, we can offer you this mental appetizer.

Please join us.

Further resources:

Psychotherapy Tools

Full Access

Spiritual Psychotherapy for Inpatient, Residential, and Intensive Treatment

David H. Rosmarin

, Ph.D., A.B.P.P., 

Sarah Salcone

, B.A., 

David Harper

, Ph.D., 

Brent P. Forester

, M.D., M.Sc.

Published Online:19 Sep 2019https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.20180046

The handouts referred to: https://psychotherapy.psychiatryonline.org/doi/suppl/10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.20180046/suppl_file/appi.psychotherapy.20180046.ds001.pdf

MAY 10: An Exploration of The Semmelweis Reflex Within The Context Of COVID-19

 The Semmelweis Reflex stretches further back in medical history than even Semmelweis’ experience with it.

COVID-19 has shown that this phenomenon is alive and well in the medical community today.

Fueled by the HCQ debacle where science was Trumped by politics, observational evidence and even RCTs aimed at introducing COVID treatment into the community have precipitated emotional storms where civilized discourse should prevail.

You are invited to hear three speakers try to explain to you how their proposed treatments for COVID in the community should be deployed, and, most importantly, you are invited to give them feedback as to why their pitches don’t resonate with you if they activate your Semmelweis Reflex.

But first you have to hear their pitches.

Our guests are:

Steve Kirsch, CEO of the COVID-19 Early Treatment Fund, advocate for fluvoxamine as a treatment as seen recently on 60 Minutes.

Dr. Pierre Kory, ivermectin advocate, President and Chief Medical Officer of FLCCC.

See recent paper: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8088823/

Dr. Richard Neel MD, MPH, COL (Retd.) USAF, community physician, advocate for high dose melatonin, recently recognized by the Castroville, Texas COC as “Citizen of the Year” for helping to keep his fellow citizens out of hospital during the pandemic. He has treated over 1000 COVID patients successfully in the community over the past year.

Please join us in the District 11 Doctors’ Lounge for another evening of collegiality, because “we are all in this together.”

COVID 19: RESOURCES ON TREATMENT WITH MELATONIN

 

See here for the symposium: COVID-19: Paradigm Shifting Into 2021 with the Benefit of 2020 Hindsight (treating C19 in the community with high dose melatonin): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_4JeOj1JLc  

You can watch this at 2x speed in the interest of time. Dr. Neel's presentation on his pioneering experience with treatment in the community starts about the 15 minute mark.

Dr Neel presented an update in May. His presentation is here at the 38:15 mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljNlg6DJ4AU

Further readings:

Feb 2022: https://t.co/laVOM5uXXK

January 2022 articles:

https://sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024320522000686?via%3Dihub… https://mdpi.com/2076-3921/11/1/140/htm… https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35032042/

Recent article with colleagues: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8482145/

Click here to view the key article that initiated the discussion on using melatonin to treat COVID, from March 23 Life Sciences, COVID-19: Melatonin as a potential adjuvant treatment.

The June 2020 edition of Melatonin Research is entirely devoted to exploring the role of melatonin & COVID-19.

An article describing melatonin as a “silver bullet” with regards to treating COVID.

From early April - a nice overall perspective 

The Semmelweis Reflex

Clinical trials underway here 

FIASMAs for the COVID-19 miasma: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcpt.13390?af=R

Please note: melatonin can have side effects that are not commonly described but might not be that uncommon: https://www.cmaj.ca/content/early/2012/04/16/cmaj.111765/tab-e-letters?versioned=true

Looking forward to the realization of Willard Wigan's depiction of the end of COVID through vaccination :

If you are suffering from a lack of awesome in your life, go to https://www.willardwiganmbe.com/

June 21 :PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF DATE: An Evening with Angela Chen

PJune brings with it fresh bursts of colour, including the colours of the rainbow flag representing Toronto’s Pride Month.

 You are invited to spend an evening contemplating the purple end of that flag (purple being one of the colours of the asexual community) with Angela Chen, the author of Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex.

What does it mean to be asexual in a world that’s obsessed with sexual attraction?

What can the asexual perspective can teach all of us about desire and pleasure and intimacy?
What does asexuality reveal about gender roles, about romance and consent, and the pressures of society?

What is the difference between asexuality and sexual dysfunction?

As a physician, how comfortable are you when patients raise the possibility that they are asexual? Do you rush to do blood work, or help them reflect on their personal values?

What biases do you bring into your interactions with members of the asexual community?

 Please join us for a thought-provoking evening exploring these and other questions in the Virtual Doctors’ Lounge.

May 27: An Evening with Dr. Shawn Whatley

Dignity.

Whatever happened to that concept as being at the core of patient care?

Where does clinical judgement and respect for autonomy fit into a bureaucracy driven health care system that is primarily interested in the optics of maintaining a health care system whose objective is creating an identity of a caring society?

You are invited to explore these questions in the Doctors’ Lounge series with former OMA President Shawn Whatley, as we explore the premise behind his latest book, When Politics Comes Before Patients - Why and How Canadian Medicare is Failing.

Please join us as we explore the future of medical care with one of our profession’s thought leaders.

April 22: Earth Day with Drs. Jeremy Theal & Joyce Lee

“A pessimist is somebody who complains about the noise when opportunity knocks.”-Oscar Wilde

 

During these chaotic times, it is hard to maintain an optimistic attitude, especially when multiple catastrophes are occurring simultaneously. We may be soon done with the worst of the COVID crisis, but the climate emergency marches forward.

The Lancet Commission on Health and Climate Change states: "Tackling climate change could be the greatest global health opportunity of the 21st century."

The Doctors’ Lounge invites you to explore your role in that opportunity.

Climate change affects our health, locally and globally, through direct effects (extreme weather, wildfires, air pollution, flooding, droughts, storms) as well as indirect effects (nutrition, food insecurity, cardiac and respiratory conditions, infectious diseases, allergies, and mental health).  As well, downstream effects of climate change include political and economic instability, climate refugees, as well as intergenerational socioeconomic inequity and injustice. 

You are invited to consider concrete steps that you, as a physician, can take to address climate change in your life, your practice and your communities.

Our guides for the evening are Drs. Joyce Lee and Jeremy Theal, who trained under Nobel Laureate Al Gore in March 2018 to become Climate Reality Leaders.  Dr. Joyce Lee is a Care of the Elderly physician at North York General Hospital.  Dr. Jeremy Theal is a staff Gastroenterologist and the Chief Medical Information Officer at North York General Hospital. Their goal is to share the scientific certainty, the immediacy, and the impacts of the climate crisis, while inspiring people to act on this important issue.

Please join us as we explore of the greatest health challenge of our time.  Please also consider visiting the OMA webpage, opening your profile, and under Groups adding your name to the membership of the Green is Health Medical Interest Group to keep up to date on this important issue, or follow them on Twitter at @greenishealthmd.

March 16: An Evening With Dr. Danielle Ofri

The Doctors’ Lounge series invites you to share an evening with physician author Dr. Danielle Ofri as we explore the topic of her latest of book, When We Do Harm: A Doctor Confronts Medical Error. 

If the evening goes well, we will have the opportunity to reflect on all of the subjects that she has covered in her eight books, as well as her participation in the documentary Why Doctors Write .  

Dr. Ofri, MD, PhD, is one of the foremost voices in the medical world today, shining an unflinching light on the realities of healthcare, and speaking passionately about the doctor-patient relationship. She writes about medicine and the doctor-patient connection. Her writing appears regularly in the New York Times, as well as in the New Yorker, Slate Magazine, the Lancet, the New England Journal of Medicine, and other publications. She is a founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Bellevue Literary Review, the first literary journal to arise from a medical setting.  Her essays have been selected by Stephen Jay Gould, Oliver Sacks, and Susan Orlean for Best American Essays (twice) and Best American Science Writing. She has received the McGovern Award from the American Medical Writers Association for “preeminent contributions to medical communication.”  She is also the recipient of the 2020 National Humanism in Medicine Medal from the Gold Foundation. She strives for a serene, uncluttered life of Zen, but has teenagers instead. 

Please join us as we continue our long-standing tradition of celebrating March and the beginning of spring with the power of story.