Posted inGeneral

Medical consent: Informed or not?

Have you ever consented to a medical procedure? Did you consider that to be an informed consent? Were you aware of the benefits, risks and complications of the procedure? Have you ever consented to a Blood Product transfusion? Were you told that the risk of contracting HIV is 1 in 2 million people? I attended […]

Posted inLifestyle

Occupational hazard

Employment is a risky thing. I don’t mean the possibility of being pink-slipped or the company liquidating or poisonous cafeteria-unknowns. In my line of work, showing up is a bloody hazard. I spent the better part of the last three weeks praying desperately for an HIV-negative result. Some light: I’m a medical intern. Most of […]

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Burqa ban, just another form of oppression

Speaking about the ban on the burqa, Denis Ducarme, a Belgian Liberal Party MP said: “We are the first country to break through the chain that has kept countless women enslaved.” As noble as this may sound, I cannot say that I agree with his statement. First, how exactly does one go about liberating women […]

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Channelling Holden Caulfield

I had quite the Holden Caulfield experience at a popular restaurant recently. Is it just me or are we fast becoming a race of phonies? This group of young people sitting at the table right next to us, phony girls with their hair all straightened and all, looking like bloody clones of each other. Sitting […]

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Why wait for the maggots?

My eyesight is terrible. I really can not see well out my left eye, a congenital problem I am told. One that was not identified by the conglomeration of nurses who descended upon my primary school with their wooden spatulas and needle-and-syringe kits. But that’s another story for another time. Seriously though, I am not […]

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Think dry

What is it about the festive season that makes people want to kill themselves and each other? Strange question, I know, but I spent the night of the 25th and early hours of the 26th December with the drunks and depressives at hospital in the casualty department. I could probably count on one hand the […]

Posted inLifestyle

Road Tripping for Dummies

Having only just returned from a most eventful road tripping experience (Durban to Cape Town via the garden route), I consider myself somewhat mildly qualified to write this piece. It must, however, be said that this trip was undertaken as novices and by two young girls with only a vague idea of what they were […]