It's a problem that predates the pandemic—but eighteen months of a public health crisis has only made it worse. Every day nurses and emergency room staff in Canada face threats and assault from the public they care for. For decades they have suffered mostly in silence. But as Covid-19 has made their jobs even less safe, some of them are finally speaking out.

These are critical workers, who are already dealing with exhaustion and burnout. What's being done to protect them? Why is this happening now? And what becomes of the health care system if even more of them give up and walk away?

GUEST: Flannery Dean, writing in The Globe and Mail

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