DEFENDING
DR DAY
In reference to your article "'Dr
Profit': lip service to medicare" and the accompanying
editorial cartoon (Sept 15, 2006, Vol 3, No 15, pages
1 and 12), I'd expect a magazine like the National Review
of Medicine to present news of interest to physicians
in a neutral way, and take a balanced perspective on
important issues. Instead, your article on the Brian
Day election and the accompanying editorial cartoon
might have been taken from the pages of Toronto's NOW
magazine, or a similar agitprop vehicle. Dr Day has
stated his commitment to publicly-funded healthcare;
whether that's lip service or not is a matter of opinion,
not fact. The article itself was devoid of interviews
with his supporters, only his opponents.
The cartoon is particularly egregious.
It presents a group of middle-aged white men surrounded
by dollar signs congratulating themselves with champagne,
while Dr Day shrugs that these are his supporters. It
suggests that the only motivation for physicians who
support a blended system of healthcare, or who believe
that improvement in our healthcare system requires loosening
of the state monopoly, is to line their pockets. It
presents physicians as selfish fat cats (and as all
being white males — a worse crime). This caricature
is worthy of Communist-era propaganda, not of a responsible
medical newspaper.
Dr Laurence Klotz,
Toronto, ON
Editor's response: Thanks
for a fittingly impassioned response to a very controversial
event. The election of Dr Day signalled a sea change
in the CMA's long-held public policy position and remains
a divisive issue within the association.
SAFE
INJECTION site
Here's what some of your colleagues had to say about
our August 30 poll question about Vancouver's safe-injection
site (click
here for full poll results):
- Legalizing and taxing
all illegal drugs is the only way.
- There's nothing good happening
at these sites or around them.
- The site legitimizes drug use.
There are very effective rehab
methods for those who DO want to kick the habit.
CLARIFICATION
The article "Bariatric
surgery's benefits far outweigh risks" (Sept 15,
2006, Vol 3, No 15, page 5) contained a typo stating
that the cost of gastric banding is $1,600. The procedure
actually costs $16,000.
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