Author profile
David J. Esler, MD, CCFP(EM)
On 6 April 2023, the Supreme Court of Canada announced its decision to not hear an appeal of the landmark Cambie Surgeries Corporation case, effectively closing the door on private care for all but a privileged few,... Read More
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II died on 8 September 2022, the same day the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC (CPSBC) surveyed the province’s doctors on a proposed new logo. The decision to retire the colonial... Read More
Your inside guide to the emergency department: And how to prevent having to go! By Dr Fred Voon. FriesenPress, 2021. ISBN: 978-1-7776034-0-3. Paperback, 142 pages. This 142-page... Read More
While the two leading health crises in BC remain opioids and COVID-19, a third—the declining access to primary care—is rapidly gaining ground. Statistics Canada figures from 2019 indicate that 17.7% of BC residents (... Read More
Patients at risk: Exposing Canada’s health-care crisis By Susan D. Martinuk. Winnipeg: Frontier Centre for Public Policy, 2021. ISBN: 978-1-7776577-4-1. Paperback, 264 pages.... Read More
Loyal BCMJ readers appreciate that the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 constituted a pandemic long before it was officially designated as such, and now tirelessly await confirmation of its conclusion. It is my pleasure... Read More
Natura abhorret vacuum (nature abhors a vacuum), a physics concept attributed to Aristotle, generalizes to biology and is strikingly manifest by the tendency of life forms to colonize and inhabit hostile environments,... Read More
24 March 2020 Medical practice is challenging, never more than during a pandemic. In such times we turn to Sir William Osler for wisdom and perspective. In 1896, Osler observed that “Humanity has but three great... Read More
This is my first BCMJ editorial, so I would like to introduce myself and offer my perspective on the enormous changes I have witnessed in the practice of medicine since being licensed in 1986. I was born in Williams... Read More