Apology

Canadians may well have 2 national sports: hockey and debating health care issues. In hockey, it is often better to play the body, not the puck. But, in debate, a guiding principle of our editorial processes at CMAJ is that discourse should be conducted fairly and impersonally. Our intention is to referee the exchange of opinion in a way that allows ideas to stand or fall on their own merit, without recourse to ad hominem arguments or the imputation of motive.

We recently published a commentary¹ in which a passing remark from an article published 5 years ago is cited unfairly and out of context. Until we reviewed the replays, we didn't notice that one colleague had thrown an elbow at another. Our oversight was substandard in this instance. We apologize to Dr. C. David Naylor.

John Hoey Anne Marie Todkill CMAJ