Jacqueline Fitzgerald

Wife and mother of four, Runner, Swimmer. Retired Chartered Accountant.

[Neil Stone @DrNeilStone]

I've never been at a medical conference where the results have been greeted with a standing ovation

Tremendous breakthrough in pancreatic cancer treatment

Through science

Hard work, rigorous research, clinical trials.

Science

Not the quack pseudoscience of social media

[Canadian Baseball @CDNBaseball]

Well that didn’t take long. After appearing in one game for the Rookie-level ACL Reds, Nova Scotia native and @Reds prospect @DoucetteTy has been PROMOTED to the Single-A @daytonatortugas. In Ty’s only game with the ACL Reds, he went 3 for 3 with a HR, 2 BB, 2 RBI, and 3 Runs.

[MLB @MLB]

We’re celebrating Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s birthday with a giveaway 🥳

Repost and reply for a chance to win this autographed Bowman’s Best card!

[Jacqueline Fitzgerald @jmfitzgerald]

@MLB Happy birthday Vladdy!

[Evan Scrimshaw @EScrimshaw]

“Carney is responsive to critics, he engages with the broad tent of our party, and has us well positioned to govern for years to come. He has survived the immense strain that he is under, and has made Canadians, and Liberals especially, proud of our leader

To many more years.”

[Neal Katyal @neal_katyal]

My statement: 
“Today, the U.S. Supreme Court stood up for the rule of law and Americans everywhere. Its message was simple: Presidents are powerful, but our Constitution is more powerful still. In America, only Congress can impose taxes on the American people.  

The US Supreme Court gave us everything we asked for in our legal case. Everything.

I’m grateful for the leadership of the Liberty Justice Center, and in particular for the brilliant advocacy by its chair, Sara Albrecht, who led the fight when others wouldn’t and was dauntless in its defense of our constitutional order. I'm also grateful to the five small business owners who stood up against these unjust, unconstitutional taxes. By taking a stand, they have delivered crucial relief to tens of thousands of businesses and millions of consumers across the country.  

Finally, I lack the words to properly thank my brilliant Milbank team, especially Colleen Roh Sinzdak and Sami Ilagan, who worked with me day and night for many months to craft the winning argument.  

This case has always been about the presidency, not any one president. It has always been about separation of powers, and not the politics of the moment. I'm gratified to see our Supreme Court, which has been the bedrock of our government for 250 years, protect our most fundamental values.

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

Perhaps the most important piece you read today, this week, this month…

👀

[Howard Luks MD @hjluks]

Lindsey Vonn Raced.
Who am I to say she shouldn’t have???

Whenever a high-profile athlete competes through pain or injury, the commentary starts immediately. Many have said she shouldn’t have been out there, or that someone should have stopped her. A few said it was reckless and would ruin her future.

The certainty was breathtaking.

What always strikes me is how easily people thousands of miles away, watching on a screen, assume they know more about the athlete’s body than the athlete does.

I’m an orthopedic surgeon. I’ve spent my life around injured people, professional athletes, weekend warriors, people who push too hard, and people who are afraid to push at all. I understand risk. I understand tissue. I understand consequences.

And still, I would never presume to own someone else’s decision the way the internet often does. Elite athletes are not naïve… they usually know exactly what they’re trading. They understand pain. They understand rehabilitation. They understand what another surgery might mean. They understand what stopping might mean!!

They live inside those calculations every day. Long before the public debate begins, those conversations have already happened in training rooms, in quiet meetings with physicians, with family, with coaches, and most importantly, in the athlete’s own head.

By the time you see them in the starting gate, the decision has been examined from every angle. And it belongs to them.

The myth of protection
There is a persistent belief that if an athlete competes while injured, someone has failed them. A doctor should have stopped them. A coach should have intervened. A governing body should have pulled them aside. But adults get to choose, and we don’t revoke autonomy simply because we worry.

My job as a physician is to explain risk, uncertainty, probability, alternatives, and consequences. I make sure the person understands the landscape. After that, the decision is theirs. Not mine. Not Twitter’s.

Risk does not disappear at the highest level, and every athlete at that level is already accepting enormous risk simply by participating. They train at speeds and intensities most of us cannot comprehend. They compete in environments where fractions of seconds matter and margins are thin. They understand that the risk of injury is not theoretical… It is part of the profession. To suddenly draw a moral line when someone chooses to compete with pain feels selective, almost performative.

What people are really reacting to…
Often it’s fear. People imagine themselves in that position and feel uncomfortable. They project their own risk tolerance onto someone whose relationship with risk is entirely different… But elite sport is not normal life. It requires decisions most of us would never make, and that’s precisely why we admire the people who live there.

Outcomes do not determine wisdom !!!
If the race goes poorly, critics say, “See? Never should have happened.”
If it goes well, they call it heroic. Neither response actually tells us whether the decision was right. It only tells us how we feel about the outcome. Good decisions can have bad results.

Respect the athlete and their ability to decide for themselves.
You can disagree and say you would choose differently. What you can’t honestly claim is that you understand the calculus better than the person living it. Especially someone with decades of experience, world-class medical input, and an intimate understanding of her own limits.

From where I sit…
I respect @lindseyvonn enormously...
I respect the preparation. I respect the courage. I respect the acceptance of consequences.
Most of all, I respect that it was her decision to make.
Not mine.

[This Hour Has 22 Minutes @22_Minutes]

Naamik, Mr. President.

[Richard Deitsch @richarddeitsch]

Very exciting day.

My first byline for @cbcsports:

The Future of Olympics viewing:

https://t.co/1JIM4EAQEp

[Rick Westhead @rwesthead]

Posted this earlier on Instagram: If you buy We Breed Lions today, I'll donate the same amount you pay for the book to the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre.
Just DM me on Instagram (@rickwesthead) a screenshot of your purchase receipt.
Moving forward, will post more news/updates on that platform.
Link to purchase: https://t.co/PMUdATOVeh

[Matt Gurney @mattgurney]

My first dispatch from last month’s Halifax International Security Forum. The absence of America was notable, and those Americans that did show up got an earful from some allies with a pretty blunt message to deliver to our friends to the south.

[Evan Scrimshaw @EScrimshaw]

Don’t always agree with Gurney, but man, when he’s good he’s fucking good, and this is a must read https://t.co/Tf2ZuOZDXj

[Hazel Mae @thehazelmae]

@newheightshow @JasonKelce @tkelce Wow. What a disappointing comment.

[Jacqueline Fitzgerald @jmfitzgerald]

@AveryChenier You guys were awesome as you have been all year. Thanks for staying up to get that done so we could listen to it this morning!

[John Atkinson @JohnAtkinSwim]

A crisis, pools are for performance, fitness & teaching a life skill ‘swimming’ A build program is needed for a multibillion $ industry, sport & grass roots sport @vankayak @ownthepodium @SportCanada_EN @TeamCanada @bruce_arthur @Devin_Heroux @MarkJCarney https://t.co/52cTt32G8g

[Crazycdn @Crazycdn2]

@jmclennan8 @NSwilderness As someone who lost their home in a wildfire you can kindly fuck off.
Keep fucking off until you get to a gate with a sign that says "you can't fuck off past here" climb over that gate dream the impossible dream and keep fucking off for fucking ever.

[Mike Morris @1MikeMorris]

HAPPY CANADA DAY! The country who's leader has never pedaled gold sneakers, autographed bibles, fake schools, eau de toilet cologne or anything else.

[Kyle Sockwell @kylesockwell]

Summer McIntosh is the best swimmer on the planet right now, and it really ain't all that close.

[David Frum @davidfrum]

PS to the Trump administration's great patriotic war on girls' dolls and pencils: notice how "unnecessary foreign luxuries" are female-coded. An outboard motor is crammed with Chinese components, but try to imagine Trump asking, "Do Americans really need to own personal boats?"