McGill-Queen's University Press Blog

Who Killed the Queen? reviewed in the Canadian Medical Association Journal

978-0-7735-3340-0   May 2008

It is always a pleasant surprise to open a book about a subject that seems remote in time or space and then realize that it has clear implications for our daily life. This book is one of those surprises. Holly Dressel, a journalist and researcher known for her work with science activist David Suzuki, uses archives and interviews to describe the life and death of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, a small community institution in Montréal, Quebec. The multifaceted history unfolds before our eyes: we navigate through the creation of the hospital in the 1890s, its struggles and  functioning in the pre-medicare era, the lives and devotion of nurses and physicians and the switch to state-sponsored universal health care.

The Life and Death of a Hospital review in The Gazette by Aaron Derfel

                                                978-0-7735-3340-0      May 2008

More than a decade after the Quebec government abruptly closed the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Notre Dame de Grâce, many doctors and nurses who worked there are still angry and bitter about the decision.

Affectionately known as the Queen E, the small community hospital was beloved by its patients, and news of its imminent closing drew thousands of protesters to the streets.