farmdoc's blog post number 510

In my limited understanding of football, I’ve come to believe that you only play the man if you can’t win by playing the ball. In my work, other doctors who respond to my medical reports often say absurd things. This week I learnt that one of my so-called colleagues tried to discredit me by writing that I’m ‘not part of the medical community in Tasmania’. You bet I’m not. Far from that comment being a gratuitous slight, I consider it a badge of honour. However I’m not immune to the goings-on among doctors in Tasmania. So I think it a real tragedy that northern Tasmania’s only neurologist, Dr Stan Siejka (pronounced ‘Shaker’), was killed early last week in a skiing accident in New Zealand [1, 2]. I never met him, but I often commented on his work, and he on mine. Though we didn’t always agree, I respected him and his work. Also, to his credit, he was a bicycle racing aficionado. His medical shoes will be hard to fill; his waiting list spans months. But saddest of all is that he leaves three children aged 12-17 years. At the time of his death he was only 51 years old. Vale, Dr Siejka.