Iris Gorfinkel, M.D.

Gender-based violence continues to grow and it doesn’t have to be that way Most Canadian women have experienced street harassment. I know; I'm one of them. Here is what needs to be done.

😰 1 in 3 Canadian teens have known gender-based violence

Teen dating violence has ⬆️30% over the past decade.

It's Canada's National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women

The solution is ACTION - not just remembrance

thestar.com/opinion/cont... via
@torontostar

Iris Gorfinkel: Ontario’s family doctor crisis: Here is what the auditor general’s report got wrong The number of family doctors has increased but GPs providing comprehensive care are leaving in droves.

Ontario is pouring $2.1 billion into health teams

…but that’s STEP 2

STEP 1 is attracting more family doctors back into providing cradle-to-grave care

Reversing these steps CANNOT WORK

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

Family doctors have been leaving comprehensive, cradle-to-grave care for YEARS

…in pursuit of better pay, fewer hours and less admin work

Ontario’s Auditor General missed the memo.

Iris Gorfinkel: Ontario’s family doctor crisis: Here is what the auditor general’s report got wrong The number of family doctors has increased but GPs providing comprehensive care are leaving in droves.

🚨 WHY 1 in 4 Ontarians won’t have a GP in 2026

Family doctors leave COMPREHENSIVE care for
⤴️ Pay
⤵️ Overhead & Admin
Better hours

But that’s NOT the AuditorGeneral’s take…

Be heard.

Please COMMENT in today’s Toronto Star ↙️

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

Aging startup backed by Sam Altman chases $5 billion valuation Retro Bio, a longevity startup backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, is close to raising what could be one of the drug industry’s largest investment rounds.

Who wants to live forever?

Sam Altman will combine epigenetic editing, cell replacement therapies, & other approaches to spur younger, healthier cells into aging tissues.

The goal?
It's not forever, but how about an extra 10 years ?

www.statnews.com/2025/12/03/a... via @statnews

Chesterfield Royal Hospital reintroduces mandatory face mask rule Chesterfield Royal Hospital says the rule comes after a rise in flu cases.

🦠Tis the season

MASK MANDATES in HEALTHCARE SETTINGS
are spreading FAST

...including jurisdictions in
-Spain
-Japan
-U.S.
-England
-Wales

Shout-out to Canada: Let's MOVE ON THIS !

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Ottawa’s children’s hospital sees ‘concerning rise’ in flu cases and hospitalizations CHEO is urging children, youth and adults to get their flu vaccine as the children’s hospital sees a “concerning rise” in flu cases in Ottawa.

🚨 INFLUENZA & KIDS

Last month, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario saw
🧪8 X ⬆️in kids testing positive than last year
🚑 2 X ⬆️in hospital admissions -most WEREN'T vaxed

Kids have TINY airways that can get blocked QUICKLY
💉cuts hospitalizations by HALF

www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/artic...

Report on 'escalating' food bank use in Ontario not surprising, expert says | CBC News A new report that says more than one million Ontario residents needed a food bank in the past year is "disheartening" but not surprising, says the CEO of Toronto's Daily Bread Food Bank.

ONTARIO FOOD BANK

2025: Highest demand on record

🧸 1 in 3 is a child <18 yrs
♿ 1 in 3 has a disability
😨1 in 4 has a job but can't make ends meet

Food banks were meant to be a STOP-GAP measure
...NOT a solution.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Changing the FDA's Vaccine Approval Process Could Threaten COVID, Flu Protection for Children The FDA is reportedly mulling changes that could make childhood vaccines less accessible and more expensive

3 CONSEQUENCES
...of CHANGING 🇺🇸 VACCINE APPROVAL

➡️ Clinical trials will TAKE LONGER
➡️ Vaccines will COST MORE
➡️ Preventable deaths will RISE

www.scientificamerican.com/article/chan...

Iris Gorfinkel: Alberta is turning public hospitals into private businesses. Will Ontario follow? Ontario doesn’t have a Bill 55 by name, but a version of this is already taking shape through expanding for‑profit clinics and extra fees.

Alberta is turning PUBLIC hospitals into PRIVATE businesses. Will Ontario follow?

Your input matters.

PLEASE COMMENT to the Toronto Star via this link ↙️

thestar.com/opinion/cont... via
@torontostar

Iris Gorfinkel: Alberta is turning public hospitals into private businesses. Will Ontario follow? Ontario doesn’t have a Bill 55 by name, but a version of this is already taking shape through expanding for‑profit clinics and extra fees.

🚨 Make no mistake

Alberta is setting a very
DANGEROUS 🇨🇦 PRECEDENT

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

Canadian parents urged to stop using ByHeart baby formula following infant botulism outbreak in the U.S. The CFIA is warning the public not to consume ByHeart baby formula following an outbreak of infant botulism in the United States.

BOTULISM is an EMERGENCY

🦠 CAUSE: Nerve toxin - Clostridium botulinum

😟SYMPTOMS
-Weakness: Face→Neck→Arms→Legs
-Poor feeding, weak cry, constipation, floppy tone

🍼 INFANTS = 7 in 10 cases​

TREATMENT Airway support, Immune globulin
TIME is CRITICAL

nationalpost.com/life/food/by...

Doctor Critical of Vaccines Quietly Appointed as C.D.C.’s Second in Command

More bad news for public health

More than ever
…we need to up our game

Doctor Critical of Vaccines Quietly Appointed as C.D.C.’s Second in Command www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/h...

CONCLUSION

👉 Happiness is linked to low rates of private healthcare delivery

Red countries include the U.S. & Switzerland.​

Yellow countries include CANADA​

Green countries include Sweden, Norway, & Denmark
...also consistently rated as the world's HAPPIEST

Will PRIVATIZING Canadian MEDICARE WORK?

Researchers compared 25 wealthy countries.

The more each relies on FOR-PROFIT COMPANIES to deliver healthcare

...the WORSE LIFE EXPECTANCY gets.

www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

It's official: The CDC is no longer trustworthy.

Its website contradicts 40+ high-quality studies involving 5.6 MILLION people.

The reason? RFK Jr. is Health Secretary.

This is what happens when politics replaces science.

Coffee: $3.95
Shirt: $25.95

Prescription cost: ❓🤷‍♀️❓

👉🏻 You’ll find out at the pharmacy counter.

When doctors can’t see drug prices, Rxs often wind up costing more
… for the same health outcomes

Iris Gorfinkel: When doctors can’t see drug prices, patients — and Ontario — pay a steep price Cost-effective care is impossible if doctors are kept in the dark about drug prices — the health system’s second-highest expense. Ultimately, patients pay twice — once at the pharmacy counter

An UNAFFORDABLE 'LUXURY'

It's IMPOSSIBE to deliver cost-effective care when clinicians lack access to the Rx price patients pay at the pharmacy

...when 1 in 5 have NO coverage

...& drugs are the 2nd highest item in the health budget

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont....

On measles and vaccines, Canada can’t keep ignoring the elephant in the room Study after study has shown that political affiliation is one of the single strongest predictors of vaccination status.

DISINFORMATION

A "deliberate instrument" to attack & discredit scientists & health professionals for
-Political gain
-Building online brands
-Influencers to get clicks

☠️ Note to Public Health: Silence like a cancer grows

@CaulfieldTim @TorontoStar

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

Iris Gorfinkel: Homeless encampments always trigger despair, but Ford’s government is adding deep shame to the mix People living in encampments have no other place to go. Ontario offers less than half of the supportive housing units needed.

SHAMEFUL

Removed from encampments
Belongings trashed
Fines up to $10,000
Jail terms up to 6 months

...while Ontario provides LESS THAN HALF the supportive housing needed

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

U of C doctor says study shows for-profit diagnostic screening will lead to unintended problems "We're going to prey on people's anxieties," says doctor who studied increased cardiac imaging in Alberta in the late 1990s.

🚨BUYER BEWARE
FOR-PROFIT DIAGNOSTIC CENTRES DON'T SAVE MONEY

They INCREASE
🧪 Tests not indicated
✖️ Anxiety
🧐 Waste of public resources
🗓️ Public wait times

...while Conflicts of interest, Upcharges & Oversold services
are NOT DISCLOSED

@alonghurst.bsky.social

calgaryherald.com/news/local-n...

Iris Gorfinkel: How politics, not science, is putting vulnerable patients and health care workers at risk As a family doctor, I have seen first-hand the difference masking makes. Since my clinic adopted consistent masking, staff absences from colds, flus, and COVID‑19 have plummeted. Scaled across the

🏆 KUDOS

...to Toronto's University Health Network for bringing back masking in their facilities as of Nov 18, 2025

😷TGH
😷Toronto Western
😷Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
😷Toronto Rehab
😷Michener Institute
😷West Park

🏥 Hope others will follow...

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

Nearly 300 Quebec doctors apply to get licence in Ontario in less than 1 month: CPSO Nearly 300 doctors from Quebec have applied to get a licence to work in Ontario in less than one month’s time amid a law passed by François Legault’s government that will overhaul how physicians are c...

285 doctors (& counting) have now applied to ONTARIO
from QUEBEC

...over HALF are FAMILY DOCTORS

Why the exodus?

BILL 2 forces
😬75% of ER patients to be seen w/in 90 min.
😲97% of surgeries completed w/in 1 year
😟Clawbacks if targets aren't met

www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/arti...

What Kennedy's saturated fat guidelines would mean for American health RFK Jr.'s new dietary guidelines are set to encourage consumption of more saturated fat, but some nutrition experts say that could cause long-term, widespread harm.

Not depressed enough?

RFK Jr's latest "commonsense" guidelines
stress eating "saturated fats of dairy, of good meat” as a part of the whole-food diet he wants Americans to follow

...breaking from scientific consensus - yet again.

Sigh.

www.statnews.com/2025/11/12/i...

Based on my back of the envelope calculations and 2024 populations, these are the cases per 100,000:
ON, 14.9
BC, 5.74
AB, 40.1
MB, 17.0
SK, 8.69

We're not as bad in ON as I thought, but nothing to be proud of either.

WHY Canada lost measles elimination status

👉 5,138 cases as of Oct 2025

ON 2,392 cases
AL 1,944
BC 324
MN 253
SK 107

👉 Over 300 hospitalizations
👉2 deaths

It'll take 12 months of ZERO cases to regain status

Both are priorities.

Canada could face ‘worst kind’ of flu season as experts warn evolving strain may be mismatch for vaccine | CBC News With flu cases now rising in Canada, medical experts are bracing for a difficult influenza season linked to the global spread of an evolving H3N2 strain that could be a mismatch for this year’s vaccin...

FLU SHOTS & HOSPITALIZATION

ALL AGES: 💉lowers risk by 40-50%
KIDS: 💉lowers risk by 50-70%

How effective the flu vaccine is in any given year is known only AFTER the flu season ends.

Bottom line: Get vaxed

www.cbc.ca/news/health/...

Tragic.
Preventable.

It finally happened.

Canada loses measles elimination status after three decades, health agency says -
From reuters.com