WELL DONE WELLNESS
Congratulations to the National Review of Medicine team! The articles in the Physician Wellness Special Section (January 15, 2007, Vol 4, No 1, pp 13-18) are first rate.

Dr Michael Myers, Vancouver, BC

SHARE YOUR OFF-DUTY YARNS
I'm a story producer working on a new TV series about off duty doctors. We want to tell stories through the voice and perspective of doctors who've handled medical emergencies while off duty or travelling. The series will showcase doctors' insights and medical knowledge while handling emergency situations out of their element (ie, not working in a hospital setting, etc).

I'm looking to find doctors with interesting stories. Do you have an interesting story of an emergency you handled while off-duty? Tell your story on TV in a new series and help us re-enact what happened. Email your story to off.duty.doctors@gmail.com.

Nicole Lawson, Dreamfilms, Vancouver, BC

BEAUTICIAN, MD
Here's what some of your colleagues had to say about our January 15 poll question, "What do you think of doctors doing medical aesthetics (laser hair removal, Botox, etc) on the side?" (click here for full poll results):

• I do think that these practices are indicative of doctors being underpaid by the government (mainly in terms of overhead and benefits), and demonstrate the effects of underpay and the accompanying harassment and ongoing intimidation by provincial colleagues and abuse by OHIP. If doctors were treated with respect by the government and ethically by the colleges, I think we would be very willing to leave medical aesthetics to others, and to take care of the deepest healthcare needs of Canadian citizens, especially of children and adolescents, who now are so terribly deprived of (especially mental health) care.
• I think in the current climate where healthcare needs are so great and there's such a shortage of FPs, those doing cosmetic surgery seem to care more about filling up their own pockets rather than caring for patients in a way they went into medicine for in the first place.
• What's the logic? First-line MDs complain they are overworked yet they lose time doing anti-aging intervention. They say they have no time for dietary or anti-smoking intervention, yet they have time for beauty.
• It's a free enterprise.
• So much for the dire shortage of physicians.
• What a waste of resources!