Firstly, we apologize to our readers and contributors regarding the timing of our journal issues. Due to technical problems, our publisher had to delay the release of issues 6.2 and 6.3, although the articles published in these issues were published in advance of issue publication as part of the usual process. These issues have been resolved, and we are on track for our future issues.
Secondly, we note that editorials in medical journals typically restrict themselves to matters that are clinical and scientific. Sometimes, however, societal issues are larger than medicine and surgery dominating our inner thoughts and emotions. We have stated this in the past when we published editorials supporting Black Lives Matter (1), Truth and Reconciliation (2), and our opposition to the war in the Ukraine (3). We make no apologies for those editorials and we were, to the best of our knowledge, the only Canadian medical journal to comment on these important societal events. We also did not receive any negative comments, or censure, from our sponsoring organization, the Canadian Association for the Study of Liver (CASL) nor from our readers. The events of the past 4 weeks (as of this writing, November 6, 2023) are similar in their overwhelming dominance of the media and news headlines, and in conversations with colleagues, family, and friends. At the same time, they are different. The events of the past 4 weeks in the Middle East have been tragic beyond belief but have been polarizing within our hospitals and the larger society outside of our hospitals. Within our hospitals, among medical-surgical staff, trainees/students, and allied health care professionals, there has been sorrow, anger, and fear—anger at what has happened but also fear of being discriminated against, fear that one’s comments may be misconstrued as racism/bias and even fear of losing one’s job. In writing this editorial, we find ourselves in the same position and it is only with trepidation that we write these words. We note that the terrorist slaughter of 1,400 innocent Israelis, most of whom had been joyously attending a music festival, at the beginning of October can only be described as horrific and criminal. The military response of Israel defending its sovereignty, in our opinion, is sadly just as horrific and tragic—as of this writing, 10,000 killed in the Gaza region by devastating air strikes. We can only comment that the deaths of 10,000 civilians, many of whom were children, the majority of whom had no control over the provoking terrorist action, will not bring back the lives of 1,400 victims of terror. Human lives are of equal value regardless of nationality or religion. Killing more civilians in Gaza, or Israel for that matter, will still not bring about justice or security for anyone. Rather, the cycle of visceral hatred will just continue.
We appreciate that our words, which do not represent the views of CASL nor the publisher, the University of Toronto Press, will not have any effect on the governments of the world, including our own government. We also appreciate that this editorial may incite deep emotions among our readership. Yet, to not acknowledge what has happened would seem to be unjust as if the lives of the deceased did not matter. We can only do what our expertise allows us to do, that is, treat those with liver disease and try to improve the lives of our patients irrespective of who these patients are or where they are from. Outside of the clinic and hospital, however, being kind, gentle, and fair to everyone we encounter in our daily lives and accepting that in Canada, everyone has the right to express their opinion and has the right to peaceful protest (note: this does not include the right to hateful speech) will help us heal.
This will be a short editorial. We have intentionally left the rest of this page wordless, both as a requiem for every single life lost in this conflict and to represent the stain of our tears.
Funding Statement
Funding: No funding was received for this work.
Contributors:
N/A
Ethics Approval:
N/A
Informed Consent:
N/A
Registry and the Registration No. of the Study/Trial:
N/A
Data Accessibility:
All data will not be made publicly available. Researchers who require access to the study data can contact the corresponding author for further information.
Funding:
No funding was received for this work.
Disclosures:
N/A
Peer Review:
This manuscript has been peer reviewed.
Animal Studies:
N/A
References
- 1.Yoshida EM, Chandok N. Black lives matter: hepatologists and the duty to oppose systemic and non-systemic racism/bias. Can Liver J. 2020; 3(3):2336–6. 10.3138/canlivj-2020-0018. PMID: [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 2.Chandok N, Yoshida EM. Demanding truth reconciliation and justice for Canada’s indigenous people: now and forever. Can Liver J. 2021; 4(3): 255–6. 10.3138/canlivj-2021-0606. PMID: [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 3.Yoshida EM, Chandok N. Ukraine strong. Can Liver J. 2022; 5(2):101–2. 10.3138/canlivj-2022-0008. PMID: [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
Associated Data
This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article.
Data Availability Statement
All data will not be made publicly available. Researchers who require access to the study data can contact the corresponding author for further information.