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2021
The I Ching, or Book Of Changes, is an ancient Chinese book. While there are many translations, the German translation by Richard Wilhelm rendered into English by Cary F. Baynes (1950) has become a well respected classic. The book includes a foreword by CG Jung, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, who has elsewhere described using the I Ching in his psychiatric practice from time to time. An electronic version of the text related to the hexagrams (the oracle), from the first part of the translation, can be viewed online or downloaded using the link below.
There is a sleeping sickness throughout our land. It has found its way into health care and affected all the doctors. It is not some esoteric thing happening in some small political arena or lawyers club. This impacts all of BC and all of us: the ability of doctors to practice medicine the way they were taught and trained, according to their conscience and oath for the benefit of patients.
Dr Z. Essak, MD - Vancouver BC - February 16, 2018
Does the BC NDP's new legislation: Bill 36 - Health Professions and Occupations Act, introduced on October 19, 2022, set the stage for political interference in the licensing of physicians and other health professionals? Under sections 519 to 532 of the proposed Act, the Cabinet can make changes to the regulations including disciplinary measures, the composition of discipline panels and the oversight of complaints. In BC, will politics trump science when it comes to health professionals?
Dr Z. Essak, MD - Vancouver BC - August 11, 2021.
Mistakes were made (but not by me): Why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions, and hurtful acts... a book co-authored by Elliot Aronson.News Items
The courts will not save Canada's sick health system; Dr Day is not a gadfly
Public
The BC ruling, after grinding through the courts for a decade, is but a reminder that Canada's sick health care system will not be cured by its dysfunctional legal system. To expect our system to be saved by the courts amounts to, at best, magical thinking, while more and more Canadians who suffer in silence and risk dying from inability to access essential care will "just have to wait".
Understanding Generations X, Y, Z and more
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Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the growing list of names for different generations; boomers, gen-X, millenials, zoomers and what follows? Here are a couple of links that may help.
Telehealth, what does it mean?
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With tongue in cheek some might say it was about time we made more use of the tech we've got and now here we are all using telehealth. What does it mean? What does it look like? How does it work?
Society-changing infections - parallels to the polio epidemic of 1927
Public
Poliomyelitis – a.k.a. “The Crippler” or “infantile paralysis” - is a viral disease that primarily, and quite harmlessly, infects the gastrointestinal system. But if the poliovirus survives and is able to enter the bloodstream and nervous system it can cause damage to motor neurons in the spinal cord that connect the brain to muscles. Such damage interferes with muscle control, causing weakness or paralysis.
- Richard Merchant's blog
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The Future of Psychiatry?
Public
Dr. Chris Sedergreen.
A highly respected psychiatrist has recently sent a letter to her patients announcing her decision not to return to clinical practice. I've known her professionally for over 15 years and can attest that her departure will leave a gap in her patient's lives that will be almost impossible to fill.
Will we see changes to copyright laws in Canada?
Public
2019-06-21 Vancouver, BC
Canadian copyright laws were updated in 2012. Now, in 2019, two Canadian Parliamentary Standing Committees delivered reports with recommendations on changes to copyright laws in Canada.
Will we see any changes to the copyright laws in the near future?
What are ethics and why are they important?
Public
2019-03-12 Dr Z.Essak, MD - Vancouver, BC
Ethics are a big part of our lives as principles that govern our actions. Doctors take an oath to serve the patient's interest and not their own or that of others.
We expect ethical actions of people involved with our daily lives: teachers, accountants, professionals, merchants and others. It is the basis of the trust we have in them. We depend on them as people with privilege and power over ourselves, children and others.
It's not just ethics in medicine and health: it's ethics in politics, in technology, in corporations and the list goes on. People are growing more concerned about the decline of ethical leadership in politics and also business tech giants like Facebook, Google and others.
What happens when an individual's actions run contrary to ethical principles?
The late Dr Morris VanAndel, a well-respected GP and subsequent Registrar of the BC College of Physicians and Surgeons, reminded doctors in 2002 this way: "An ethical principle, by nature, is not modified by circumstances, regardless of the validity or justification of the reasons leading to the action."
Media depiction of Flu shot technique
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David Naismith (retired physician), Vernon BC, January 15, 2019.
On January 11th I was so disturbed by the portrayal of health professionals on TV, both in adverts and on the National, that I fired off an email to some colleagues. As usual, I learnt something as the thread progressed, so here is a distillate of that exchange.
"Cracked Science" light-hearted in-depth science for everyone
Public
The youtube channel "Cracked Science" with Jonathan Jerry provides some good humour and scientific knowledge in ten minute episodes to bring you up to speed and get you thinking.
Take a look at CRISPR is a Puppy and learn how gene therapy may be applied to human diseases.
Another episode helps to debunk the media hype on the discovery of a new human organ - "the Interstitium, the largest organ we never knew we had", Does a New Organ Explain Acupuncture? While some of this is opinionated to the reporter's own views on acupuncture, the evidence of the Interstitium is a good reminder of what we already know.
