Anne Kenshole

After house jobs at Guy’s I moved to Nottingham to explore Obstetrics and Gynaecology. The hospital there was an early adopter of the Obstetric Flying Squad which mainly served the surrounding mining villages. When called out I quickly learned to look for the parrot cage. Miners no longer needed canaries but they were traditionally fond of birds so it was always a great relief to take down Polly from her stand, otherwise, as the lowly SHO I had the task of acting as the IV drip stand, sometimes for what felt like hours on end.

After discovering that babies have the uncivilized propensity to be born in the middle of the night I moved to Plymouth to do Medicine-my family are Devonian. There I had a great year developing a burgeoning interest in Diabetes in addition to sailing in the Sound and walking on Dartmoor.

With an MRC scholarship in my pocket I came to Toronto to do a year in research where it was was quickly confirmed that my forte lay in clinical medicine and not in intermediary metabolism.

I got married and had two children while taking my Ontario and FRCPC exams. Public health is a  required subject here and while knowledge about building safe septic tanks and outhouses might be of limited use in London, it is vital here in Ontario-the land of 10.000 lakes and the ubiquitous “cottage”.

I joined the staff of Women’s College Hospital, the “Canadian Royal Free”. At that time budgets were generous, so if one had a reasonable proposition it was usually funded. Cross-appointed to the Departments of Medicine and OB/GYN I was instrumental in setting up a combined high risk maternal obstetric service for women with diabetes. This later morphed into a Regional service for women with medical conditions that impact on pregnancy and vice versa.

After retiring from the University I became actively involved as an Assessor for MAID, (Medical Assistance in Dying). Having been fortunate enough to enjoy and get real satisfaction from almost everything I had done before, this has proved to be the most fulfilling role of all. It became law in Canada over 6 years ago with 80 % of both the population and physicians mandating it. The legislation is robust and the oversight meticulous.To be able to provide relief of suffering when there are no further treatment options is a rare privilege.