Compassion Fatigue

Dr. Isabelle Tremblay pleaded guilty to showing up for work under the effects of alcohol on numerous occasions. Determined to cure her drug problem, she also signed a pledge comprising several measures to avoid relapses when she returns to practice after her eight months.

Parents ask me: "What do I do to support my child’s mental health?” My answer to this question is to remember three things that can promote your child’s mental health. First and foremost, parents must look after their own mental health. The evidence that children’s mental health is linked to their parents’ is very convincing. Your child knows when you’re anxious or depressed or stressed and it affects them. Also, in the same way that they cannot hide how they’re doing from you, you cannot hide your mental state from them. We all notice when the people we love aren’t doing well, even when we don’t know the reason. If you want to look after your child’s mental health, start by looking after your own. Take some time and reflect on how you’re doing.

Veronica Gerber was set to go before Ontario's human rights tribunal on Monday in a bid to see her mother more often during the COVID-19 pandemic. But three days before the case was to be heard, Dorothea Gerber, 82, died at the Toronto long-term care facility where she had lived for more than a decade. Veronica Gerber had been scheduled to appear before the tribunal seeking an interim order to restore her visitation rights to their pre-pandemic status.

Are Ontario doctors better represented now than four years ago? The jury is out, and the priority shouldn’t be less democratic representation. While we know that well over 90% of doctors don’t pay any attention to medical politics, their well-being can and will be affected by the quality of how their interests are represented.