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Michelle Cohen, MD

@DocMCohen

11 Feb

Let’s talk about a common, problematic way that we conceive of “health.” Too often we equate the absence of illness with morality. This leads down many bad paths both on a personal and a policy level.

We need to be reminded periodically that health is not a moral virtue.

THREAD

Diet & lifestyle are probably the most commonly moralized ideas around health. How many times have you heard disparaging comments about “lazy” people who “pop pills”? The notion being that meds are an easy substitute for the hard work of eating “clean” and exercising.

This creates a dichotomy: either you're virtuous don't take meds, or you're sick with vice & meds are the punishment you deserve.

It's a ridiculous idea. MANY conditions have nothing to do with lifestyle or even if they are improved by lifestyle change, meds are still necessary.

Read 17 tweets

Michelle Cohen, MD

@DocMCohen

30 Oct 20

A thread about things male doctors have said to me about the #GenderPayGap and sexism in medicine.

"I do not think the FFS system discriminates against female physicians. I believe it discriminates against all physicians who are taking the time to practice medicine properly"

"If women are only working 4.7% less hours per day, then the only possible explanation for the majority of the 30% difference in FP pay and the 40% difference in specialist pay can be due to seeing less pts per day... There is no other way to explain this."

"I am a male FP. Many of the points in this article are false... My other female colleague, a surgeon, receives all the female breast surgery referrals. Her male colleagues are deprived of this part of their practice."

Read 14 tweets

Michelle Cohen, MD

@DocMCohen

30 Jul 20

@ElainePelley

What happens when certain types of medical work become synonymous with women’s work?

This excellent paper by @ElainePelley & @Molly_Carnes explores the trend of ⬆️gender segregation in medical specialties and downstream impacts.

#WomenInMedicine THREAD
journals.lww.com/academicmedici…

Women have moved into medicine in huge numbers over the past 4 decades. This is usually viewed as a good news story of social progress in a profession that had either banned or severely restricted female entry well into the 1960’s.

The authors begin with a discussion on gender segregation in the broader workforce (in the US). It generally decreased thought the 20th C with the entry of women into the workplace, but then stalled in the mid-90’s and ticked back upwards slightly.

Read 22 tweets

Michelle Cohen, MD

@DocMCohen

4 Jul 20

How is it possible that a surgeon can hang a NOOSE to target a Black colleague and escape penalty?

I'll tell you how: medicine has a deeply bigoted history and an inability to deal with the misconduct of powerful men.

THREAD
cbc.ca/news/canada/ed…

Medicine grew out of an explicitly white supremacist culture, one that quite literally believed racialized people were biologically inferior and treated them as subhuman.

That history is NOT in the distant past. BIPOC people continue to face discrimination in health care daily.

Entry of women and racialized groups into medicine was restricted through much of the 20th C. And while equity & inclusion are popular new mottos in the profession, we still see severe underrepresentation of Black and Indigenous people and a lack of women in medical leadership.

Read 9 tweets

Michelle Cohen, MD

@DocMCohen

15 Jun 20

Thinking a lot today about how Queen's med school instituted a Black student ban in 1918 that remained on the books for 100 yrs (even after Black students were allowed entry in 1965).

What I'm thinking about how the school responded to criticism over that century.
THREAD

Queen's was asked multiple times over many decades why the ban was instituted, what happened to the 15 students expelled, and if the school kept its promise to help those students finish their education elsewhere.

As late as 1988, the school gave false and misleading answers.

That's right. Even AFTER the ban was over (unofficially anyway), and all of the people associated with it were long gone, the school still felt the need to lie about its past so as to protect its reputation.

Always remember that institutions value self-protection over progress.

Read 8 tweets

Michelle Cohen, MD

@DocMCohen

23 May 20

Canada may have closed its physical border to the growing American disaster, but in the online world, disinformation is borderless and flowing freely. Allow me to demonstrate:

Politics & Dysinfo THREAD

Here is a recent comment in one of my local FB groups. I live in Ontario.

Doctors and coroners are deliberately misclassifying deaths? Where did this idea come from?

The particular poster didn't have any info on that for me. It pretty much devolved to insults (even after he wished me a nice day) and that's typically when I leave these convos.

I've been following MAGA-influenced disinformation in the US, so I'm actually familiar with this particular conspiracy theory (just not in Canada... yet).

I'll let one of its loudest Twitter proponents lay it out in his own words.

Read 16 tweets

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