Health issues have long occupied top headlines in Canadian media, and no journalist has written on public health with more authority or for as many years as André Picard. Matters of Life and Death collects Picard's most compelling columns, covering a broad range of topics including Canada's right-to-die law, the true risks of the Zika virus, the financial challenges of a publicly funded health system, appalling health conditions in First Nations communities, the legalization of marijuana, the social and economic impacts of mental illness, and the healthcare challenges facing transgender people.

The topic of health touches on the heart of society, intersecting with many aspects of private and public life—human rights, aging, political debate, economics and death. With his reporting, Picard demonstrates the connection between physical health and the health of society as a whole, provides the facts to help readers make knowledgeable health choices, and acts as a devoted advocate for those whose circumstances bar them from receiving the care they need.

Providing an antidote to widespread fear-mongering and misinformation, Matters of Life and Death is essential reading for anyone with an investment in public health topics—in other words, everyone.

André Picard is the health columnist at The Globe and Mail and one of Canada’s top public policy writers. He is also the author of the best-selling books THE PATH TO HEALTH CARE REFORM: Policies and Politics, CRITICAL CARE: Canadian Nurses Speak For Change; The Gift of Death: Confronting Canada’s Tainted Blood Tragedy and; A CALL TO ALMS: The New Face of Charity in Canada. His latest book is Matters of Life and Death: Public Health Issues in Canada.

André has received much acclaim for his writing, including the Michener Award for Meritorious Public Service Journalism, the Canadian Policy Research Award, and the Atkinson Fellowship for Public Policy Research. In 2002, he received the Centennial Prize of the Pan-American Health Organization as the top public health reporter in the Americas. In 2005, he was named Canada’s first Public Health Hero by the Canadian Public Health Association, and in 2007 he was honoured as a Champion of Mental Health. His advocacy work has been honoured by a number of consumer health groups, including Safe Kids Canada, the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and the Canadian Hearing Society.

André Picard's profile page

“This is the essence of good science journalism to me: that it stimulates dialogue and further consideration.”

Dr. Gail Beck

“This is simply a must-read for everyone who is part of the Canadian health system. That means every Canadian. We believe that our healthcare system is part of our identity. We also know that it needs to change and improve, but many of us don’t know what needs to change, and we end up arguing in opposite directions. That is why, as a start, we all need to read Matters of Life and Death, reflect on it, generate conversations, and take action for change. Without such conversations and changes, our health system is not sustainable. Thank you, André Picard, for giving us your columns to start these conversations.

Canadian Journal of Physician Leadership

Canadian Medical Association Blog

“If ill-informed health policy debates are part of the problem, this new book from journalist Andre Picard is an important part of the solution. Matters of Life and Death distills Picard’s 30 years of experience covering the health policy beat into a bracing dose of fact and analysis. And his elegant voice as a prose stylist is the spoonful of sugar that makes even his more alarming and discouraging passages go down smoothly...This important new book should be required reading for voters across the country...This is a remarkable and useful book, rich with anecdotes, facts and statistics and often providing thoughtful suggestions for the big-picture reforms that the author believes would improve Canadian health service...this is a vitally important book. Read it if you care about your own health and the collective health of our nation.”

Vancouver Sun

“Over the past 30 years, André Picard has become the most prominent Canadian commentator on the intersection between medicine and social values. His new book, Matters of Life and Death, a selection of some of his most powerful columns written for The Globe and Mail, further establishes his unique voice in discussions about Canadian health-care policy...The extent of Picard’s influence has accrued because he stands outside medicine and the academy – he has no formal training in health care. This allows him a skepticism and clear-sightedness that has made him an indispensable medical writer...This is a golden age of medical writing...Long may André Picard continue to argue his case and may he help draw our country away from the Gilded Age excesses we and our neighbours both sicken from, and die, in ours, the wealthiest of countries."

The Globe and Mail