White Coat, Black Art

CBC

Trusted ER doctor Brian Goldman brings you honest and surprising stories that can change your health and your life. Expect deep conversations with patients, families and colleagues that show you what is and isn't working in Canadian healthcare. Guaranteed you’ll learn something new. Episodes drop every Friday.

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22 episodes
weekly
Avg 28 min
English

Episodes 22

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Friday · 26 min
When Canadians go abroad for surgery, who should pay?
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.
September 18 · 26 min
She's a doctor with MS. Why is that a problem?
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.
September 11 · 26 min
Why U.S. nurses are moving north
Minnesota nurse Shane Tyson was frustrated by patients going without care because they couldn’t afford medication, and shaken by an ICE arrest at his hospital. Meanwhile, Canada needs nurses – and when Tyson saw B.C. was recruiting, he made the move to Nanaimo. Local volunteers Tod and Jocelyn Maffin have built an online community helping health-care workers like Shane move to Canada.
September 4 · 27 min
Becoming the doctor her community needs
Gurleen Kaur Chahal is one of the inaugural students at Toronto Metropolitan University’s new Peel Region medical school, designed to serve the area’s diverse population. In this encore episode, she shares her determination to be part of the solution for the kinds of struggles her multigenerational Punjabi household has faced accessing care.
August 28 · 27 min
She left family practice. Now she’s teaching doctors to avoid burnout.
After 25+ years as a family physician, Dr. Fan-Wah Mang closed her practice because she burned out. Now, she’s at Humber River Hospital in Toronto, teaching the next generation of family doctors how to avoid the pitfalls that made her leave. In this encore episode, two of her residents also share what they’ll need to be a family physician long term, and it may surprise you.
August 21 · 27 min
How a chef and a surgeon are reinventing hospital meals
When Ned Bell’s wife was recovering from cancer surgery at Vancouver General Hospital, the unappetizing food she was served left a bad taste in his mouth. So the five-star chef teamed up with her surgeon to rethink patient meals. In this encore episode, Dr. Brian Goldman visits Chef Bell to see how the “Planetary Health Menu” is improving patient health while reducing the carbon footprint of hospital food.
August 14 · 27 min
AI conversations gone too far
Allan Brooks tumbled down a ChatGPT rabbit hole after an innocuous question about pi. Three weeks and 7,000 prompts later, he emerged from a 300-hour spiral. In this encore episode, psychiatrist Dr. Keith Sakata, who examines the phenomenon dubbed "AI psychosis," says the built-in sycophancy of chatbots needs to change before more harm is done.
August 7 · 27 min
The roadside ER doctor
When he's not working in the ER, Dr. Nicholas Sparrow spends his spare time in a surprising way. He responds to critical threat-to-life calls over the vast landscape of B.C.’s southeast corner as a volunteer through the Kootenay Emergency Response Physicians Association (KERPA), a charity he created. In this encore episode, Dr. Brian Goldman rides along on one of Dr. Sparrow's shifts to learn how - and why - he does it.
July 31 · 27 min
A new knee for $30k
How much would you pay to get your knee or hip replaced? Calgarian Linda Slater's knee pain became unbearable during her two-year wait to see an orthopedic surgeon. In this encore episode, we learn how she drained her retirement savings to pay $30,000 for a new knee at a private Toronto clinic. Dr. Rick Zarnett, an orthopedic surgeon who works out of both a private clinic and public hospital, says the system needs to improve so patients can get surgery sooner.
July 24 · 27 min
Surviving a stroke at 24
When Kyle Brymer went to the ER with altered speech, facial drooping, severe headaches and confusion, the doctor blamed his symptoms on his post-grad academic workload and even his partner Kirstie. In a few days, Kyle went back to the ER – and this time, the stroke was unmistakable. We’re re-airing this episode from last season, as strokes in young people are on the rise in Canada, with one in 20 affecting someone under the age of 45.
July 20 · 55 min
Introducing IDEAS | How Canada forgot it once had a segregated health system
IDEAS, hosted by Nahlah Ayed is a daily podcast that explores how ideas over place and time shape our world. In the days before her medically-assisted death, journalist Elaine Dewar made it her mission to finish writing her book revealing ignored Canadian history. For more than three years, the author investigated how Canada's health care system cruelly mistreated Indigenous people — including forcing them to use segregated hospitals. Dewar's extensive research uncovers not o
July 17 · 27 min
The Netherlands’ primary care is better – here’s how
Dr. Tara Kiran knows primary care in Canada can be better. That's why the Toronto-based family physician and researcher went to the Netherlands, a world leader in health, to see what we can take away. What she found is a system that provides around-the-clock care and primary care teams who can see patients when they need it most. In this encore episode, Dr. Kiran and Brian chat about what the Netherlands is getting right.
July 10 · 26 min
Grief built this treatment centre
When sportscaster Scott Oake isn't rinkside at NHL games, he's often hanging out at a substance use treatment centre in Winnipeg. He's there to be close to his late son. An urn with Bruce's ashes greets everyone who walks through the doors of the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre. We’re re-airing this 2025 Mindset Award-winning episode for reporting on addiction, taking you inside the centre to learn about its effective recovery approach.
July 3 · 26 min
How post-traumatic stress led one paramedic to a new mission
Miles Randell says years of working as a Vancouver paramedic led to post-traumatic stress that left him “unemployable.” When the help he needed wasn’t there, he created TEAAM (Technical Evacuation Advanced Aero Medical), a non-profit that deploys helicopters to provide advanced life support in some of the most rugged locations in B.C.’s wilderness. But TEAAM is also a workplace where health-care workers are encouraged to care for their mental health - a story that we’re proud to re-air as the
June 26 · 26 min
Fighting for better births
What if birth care put women and babies first? Dr. Michael Klein’s guiding question came from the Ethiopian midwives who let him “catch” his first babies during a gap year in med school. It would go on to shape his lauded career in pediatrics and family medicine—and challenge medical dogmas like routine episiotomies. His research helped show the once-common procedure often did more harm than good, helping drive a major shift in maternity care. On the occasion of his death on June 10, 2026, we
June 19 · 27 min
Condoms and wastewater testing: How public health is handling FIFA World Cup
As Toronto and Vancouver play host to the international soccer tournament, public health officials have been preparing for the influx of people and any health risks that come with it. From wastewater surveillance and food safety inspections to sexual health outreach, Dr. Michelle Murti of Toronto Public Health and Dr. Mark Lysyshyn of Vancouver Coastal Health discuss the work happening behind-the-scenes for the games.
June 12 · 27 min
A camel, a fractured pelvis, and a travel insurance lesson
Carol Ann McDevitt spent two years looking forward to a trip to Egypt. But an accident on a camel ride completely changed her travel plans and her understanding of travel insurance. McDevitt and other Canadians share what people should know about travel health policies before packing their bags.
June 5 · 26 min
The power of an exercise prescription
Calgary nurse and primary care behavioural health provider Rachel Fynn prescribes exercise as medicine. Through Alberta's Prescription to Get Active program, she helps patients improve their physical and mental health. Once intimidated by the gym herself, Rachel is now a dedicated weightlifter, and proof of the power of movement.
May 29 · 27 min
Inside the Halifax hospital scanning for weapons
AI-powered weapons detectors now scan everyone entering the Halifax Infirmary, screening out everything from box-cutters to homemade throwing stars studded with razor blades. The technology is part of a province-wide reset on hospital safety after years of escalating violence, and a knife attack that injured three healthcare workers. The message is clear: if you wouldn’t bring it to the airport, don’t bring it to the hospital.  For our episode on a nurse who survived a v
May 22 · 26 min
The permanent birth control surgery that may lower ovarian cancer risk
There's a surgery to remove the fallopian tubes as a permanent method of birth control that could also reduce a woman's risk of the most common ovarian cancer. But a group of B.C. researchers and physicians say the procedure isn't widely known across Canada. They're trying to change that.

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