May

I greatly appreciated the editorial by Dr Verchere, in the March issue [“Choosing the right resident,” BCMJ 2011;53:63-64].  My son was one of the lucky ones to match this year with his first choice of a residency in internal medicine at UBC. The emotional stresses encountered in this process were significant, and I strongly agree with the points outlined in the article.

I was disappointed to read Dr Porzecanski’s opinion of the medical students of today (BCMJ 2011;53;114), in follow up to Dr Brian Day’s editorial “Unprofessional professionals” (BCMJ 2011;53:6-7). Dr Day described in his editorial an unfortunate incident that a friend experienced when hospitalized with an acute illness. The incident was regrettable and I hope lessons were learnt.

Thank you for publishing Dr Laycock’s review of the un­certainties inherent in the current methods used in driver assessment (BCMJ 2011;53:74-78). I agreed with his position in a letter I wrote to Canadian Family Physician (“Doctors should not evaluate competence to drive,” 2011;57:170).

I believe that these letters add to our article, and I fully support the suggestions made by Drs Anderson, Lu, and Smith. 
—Shree Bhalerao, MD
Toronto

I so felt a kinship to Dr David Rich­ardson and Dr Cynthia Ver­chere who wrote about two issues I have felt quite unhappy about for some time now. 

Privileges, those which our “older generation” doctors were part of, and which are no longer the norm, have degenerated to such a level that I no longer am attracted to such insti­tutions and have distanced myself from them exactly because of all the poignant details outlined in the piece.