The questions my patients ask me have changed subtly over the years. Initially it was “Do you know you look too young to be a doctor?” Then that became “Why are you always so weird?” And lately it’s been “When are you going to retire?” Therefore, as I inch closer to my golden years, I think more about who is going to take care of my future health care needs and what primary care will look like in British Columbia over the next few decades.

I read with pleasure Dr Brian Day’s lament about the mounting inadequacies of the hospital, physician, and nursing sectors over recent decades [BCMJ 2022;64:53-54]. The burning reality in BC, and certainly in Victoria, is the astonishing deficiency of family doctors, which has resulted in more than 750 000 individuals across the province finding basic health care to be inaccessible. Yet nobody is doing much about it.

Background

Endometriosis is a chronic gynecological condition characterized by the presence of endometrial-like tissue outside the uterus, and estrogen-dependent inflammation.[1] It is estimated that 1 in 10 reproductive-aged women suffer from endometriosis, making it one of the most prevalent gynecological disorders.[2] The extent of disease varies considerably from isolated peritoneal lesions to widespread pelvic adhesions, infiltrating lesions, and ovarian cysts.