ENDOSCOPY FEEDBACK
Many thanks for sending along the issue with the colonoscopy piece "No easy way to scope out best endos" (February 28, 2007, Vol 4, No 4, page 3). You covered the issues very well — this should help get the message out.

Dr Linda Rabeneck, Toronto, ON

MORE ON BC's HEALTH SCARE
Good work on the article "BC health: is the sky really falling?" (February 28, 2007, Vol 4, No 4, page 34). Since I was interviewed for the article I've written a piece on the "crowding out theory" (the notion that healthcare will take up a larger and larger portion of BC's spending, not because healthcare is becoming so much more expensive but because spending in other areas is being cut back). I've also been chosen to be one of the 100 people in the North Vancouver forum for the Conversation on Health at the end of March. I invite your readers to read about these on my website (www.StrategicThoughts.com).

David Schreck, Former NDP MLA in North Vancouver-Lonsdale

IN TORY DEFENcE
I'm a retired nurse (my husband is a physician). Dr Jennifer Rahman should be corrected in her assertion that "there's more Islamophobia these days since the government is more right-wing and conservative" ("A head scarf is not a war cry," Feb 28, 2007, Vol 4 No 4). The Conservatives have been in power since January 2006 and the so-called rise in Islamophobia began long before that. Any blame for this phenomenon lies solely within the Islamist movement.

Shirley Blair, Burlington, ON

DUE CREDIT
Thank you for the opportunity to speak about my work with hemiplegic children ("Can video games zap childhood — and adult — obesity?" March 15, 2005, Vol 4, No 5, page 36). I'd just like to note that the game was developed at Bloorview Kids Rehab, Canada's largest children's rehabilitation hospital and a teaching hospital of the University of Toronto. I'm an undergraduate engineering student at U of T, but I've been doing my research placement at the hospital under the direction of Dr Darcy Fehlings and Dr Tom Chau, and with the assistance of its clients and their families.

William Li, Toronto, ON

BACK TO SCHOOL!
Here's what some of your colleagues had to say about our February 28 poll question, "Does Canada need stricter standards on who can perform colonoscopies?" (for full poll results click here):

• Colonoscopy is not a benign procedure. It can be hazardous. Accuracy can have a profound effect on morbidity and mortality. I suspect too many ill-trained physicians are doing procedures to make money.
• We need more training opportunities for procedural GPs, or look forward to more "nurse assistants" doing these.
• I feel it's up to the individual family physician to monitor the specialists to whom they refer their patients for colonoscopy based on patient acceptance of the specialist, results of their testing over the years, and appropriate wait times for consultation and treatment if required.
• Colonoscopy should only be performed by trained endoscopists to minimize colonic trauma and to recognize significant disease.