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Newfoundland and Labrador Opinion

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My husband and I are watching Doc Martin, the British medical dramedy that ran for 10 seasons between 2004 and 2022.

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In it, Dr. Martin Ellingham’s methods of dispensing family medicine are strictly old-school. Patient files are still of the paper variety, kept in envelopes the size of paperback novels, which get filed away in a metal cabinet. Ellingham mostly relies on his excellent medical training, observation and rudimentary testing — blood, urine, sputum samples — and not machines to diagnose residents of the fictional Cornish village of Portwenn.

It is in stark contrast to contemporary Canadian health care, where patients can often access their bewildering digital medical files online, and doctor visits can involve speaking over Zoom to a physician who has never actually examined you.

I was reminded the other day of how different and frightening all........

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