Phoebe Friesen
@phoebefriesen.bsky.social
Assistant professor at McGill - philosophy, medical ethics - focused on psychiatric knowledge production, community-led research governance, inequality, the placebo effect.
What happens when scholars of medicine study topics that are controversial, legally incendiary, or politically polarizing? Join us next week for reflections on this experience and process at "Writing on Medicine in Climates of Controversy". More info: www.mcgill.ca/ssom/upcomin...
Op Ed in the Toronto Star: Nonconsensual sensitive exams continue to take place on anesthetized bodies in Canadian medical schools www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
Medical students and doctors aren’t supposed to do invasive exams on surgery patients without permission. My research found it’s still happening. Here’s what should be done
Clear professional guidelines related to consent for educational pelvic exams on unconscious patients have been in place in Canada for well over a decade. But they are not being followed.
thestar.com
NEW: Part 2 of my series on Edmonton police Taser use, including a look at EPS procedure documents. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
What are the policies guiding Taser use in Alberta? The answers aren't easy to find | CBC News
Police data and policy documents about how and when officers use Tasers are not always easy to get. Experts say that needs to change.
cbc.ca
NEW: Here's the first story in my two-part series on Edmonton police Taser use. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
As old as 75, as young as 12: Reports detail how Edmonton police use Tasers | CBC News
Incident reports obtained by CBC News shed new light on the circumstances where police use electric weapons, including details about the people they shock.
cbc.ca
🧵In this new op-ed in the Edmonton Journal, @pinglamjoeip.bsky.social and I debunk the myth that EDI hiring and “reverse discrimination” happened at University of Alberta. In actuality, the U of A has not made any advancement in EDI hiring.
Opinion: Little evidence of EDI hiring policy in practice at the U of A
The U of A’s recruitment data does not show any signs of progress in EDI, let alone patterns of reverse discrimination.
edmontonjournal.com
New Paper! (Although one I've been working on for a few years..) "The Ghosts of Psychedelic Science: Haunting and Moral Repair", out in @neuroethicsj.bsky.social, explores how appropriation, abuse, and the war on drugs haunt the domain of psychedelic science. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
The Ghosts of Psychedelic Science: Haunting and Moral Repair - Neuroethics
Psychedelic science is haunted. A dark past, and contemporary violations, litter the field with ghosts of appropriation, abuse, and a violent war on drugs. Yet, these forms of haunting often remain un...
link.springer.com
We're hiring at McGill! Tenure track, funded position, cross-appointed to Philosophy, and to Equity, Ethics, and Policy. Please share widely! mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/mcgill...
Assistant Professor (Tenure Track), Department of Equity, Ethics, and Policy and Department of Philosophy (L000088)
Please refer to the How to Apply for a Job (for External Candidates) job aid for instructions on how to apply. If you are an active McGill employee (ie: currently in an active contract or position at ...
mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com
Important discussion of the potential impact of SSRIs on teen sexuality by Daniel Bergner www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/m...
More Teens Are Taking Antidepressants. It Could Disrupt Their Sex Lives for Years.
nytimes.com
Sarah Wright on the importance of informed consent in @statnews.com - how can we move away from seeing this process as an obstacle, as a box to tick? www.statnews.com/2025/10/08/i...
Patients shouldn’t be pressured to ‘just check that box’ on informed consent forms
Doctors should actually discuss informed-consent paperwork with their patients.
statnews.com
Fantastic opportunity to work as a research fellow on our new and fascinating Wellcome Trust funded project "Between deception and dissent: regulating unproven, disproven and misleading health-related claims" - elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
Research Fellow
The Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society (CBSS) at the Usher Institute, The University of Edinburgh, is looking for a Research Fellow working at the interface of science and technology studies (ST...
elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com
I wrote about the day the president attended the opening of an American concentration camp:
The Grand Opening of an American Concentration Camp
The Republicans are proudly calling it “Alligator Alcatraz.” Let’s call it what it is.
newrepublic.com
NEW: More women have nearly bled to death during miscarriage under Texas’ abortion ban. Experts say the trend paints a troubling picture of the harms of unnecessary delays in care. “This is striking,” one doctor said. “The trend is very clear.”
A “Striking” Trend: After Texas Banned Abortion, More Women Nearly Bled to Death During Miscarriage
A new ProPublica data analysis adds to the mounting evidence that abortion bans have made the common experience of first-trimester miscarriage far more dangerous.
propublica.org
“For protests to succeed, they must be backed by movements with the ability to promise to withhold—labor, debt payments, rent payments, or consumer support—and to follow through if demands aren’t met.” @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social author of Elite Capture, in @time.com
Why Protests Should Be Promises
Modern movements that aim to advance racial equity should withhold and promise, rather than perform, writes Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò
time.com
Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer says they don’t use the term excited delirium anymore - so why is included in the autopsy report of Mazin Zaim, who died tragically after being restrained by Edmonton police? A correction is in order. theijf.org/excited-deli...
Alberta has rejected excited delirium as a cause of death, but it’s all over this police-related autopsy report
Mazin Zaim’s 2023 death after arrest by Edmonton police remains under investigation
theijf.org
unethical and deeply disturbing VA policy shift. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
‘Extremely disturbing and unethical’: new rules allow VA doctors to refuse to treat Democrats, unmarried veterans
Trump order allows VA staff to decline providing healthcare to patients based on political affiliation or marital status
theguardian.com
Today in Alberta - May 28: The Canadian Medical Association files a constitutional challenge to Alberta’s Bill 26, which directs doctors on how to deliver gender-affirming care to people under 18. The CMA calls the bill an “unprecedented intrusion into the physician–patient relationship.” #ABpoli
Great piece on the current destruction of higher ed under the Trump administration by @debthompsonphd.bsky.social - universities are a lot of things, both good and bad, but are still worth fighting for. www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
Opinion: What is happening to higher education in the U.S. right now is not reform. It is destruction
Universities have faced varying crises over the decades, but the recent showdown initiated by the Trump administration is an unprecedented inflection point
theglobeandmail.com
Inuit, Métis and First Nations women in Canada are sharing their experiences of being forced or coerced to undergo surgical sterilization. Advocates say the practice is still happening and they want it criminalized, by Kate Kyle, Juanita Taylor www.cbc.ca/newsinteract... via @cbcnews.ca
A pregnancy almost denied
cbc.ca
My opinion piece in today’s @nytimes.com . I discuss how clinical neglect of medication-related harms has made RFK Jr’s stance on antidepressants appealing to so many and moving the public conversation in a productive direction requires us to remedy this neglect. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/03/o...
Opinion | What Kennedy Gets Right, And Wrong, About Antidepressants (Gift Article)
Harm from these drugs is real. Let’s not cede the conversation to Kennedy.
nytimes.com
Nearly a decade after Ottawa pledged safe drinking water for all First Nations, promise remains unfulfilled, by Willow Fiddler, Patrick White www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic... via @theglobeandmail.com #sdoh
Nearly a decade after Ottawa pledged safe drinking water for all First Nations, promise remains unfulfilled
Despite massive spending, new water issues seem to be arising faster than they can be addressed with a total of 35 advisories currently in place
theglobeandmail.com
ICYMI, some thought-provoking reading before we head into the weekend. Bruce Robbins, author of Atrocity, wrote about Mahmoud Khalil on @thenation.com
Columbia Is Betraying Its Students. We Must Change Course.
The administration is choosing complicity over courage in the case of Mahmoud Khalil. It’s time for the faculty to demand a new path.
thenation.com
“If we just sit back and allow ourselves to shrink back in the face of darkness and denialism, then we don’t deserve the jobs that we have." @jondoesscience.bsky.social on the need for researchers to speaking out. w/ @hollylynchez.bsky.social + Melissa Simon. Story: www.statnews.com/2025/03/21/r...
‘We’re living in the Twilight Zone’: Researchers decry Trump administration assault on science
At the STAT Summit on Thursday, researchers called for a "full-throated defense" of university research again the attacks by the Trump administration.
statnews.com
Powerful TEDx talk by @samir0s-h.bsky.social on Confronting Medical Colonialism in Canada www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dwn...
Confronting Medical Colonialism in Canada | Samir Shaheen-Hussain | TEDxChamplainCollegeStLambert
YouTube video by TEDx Talks
youtube.com