David Galler 
The author and intensive care specialist on why he’s hopeful the prime minister will this week make a transformational announcement on Māori health. Maybe it was no coincidence that the country’s new cancer control agency, Te Aho o Te Kahu, released its first report in the week leading up to the commemorations at Waitangi. The … Read more
A year ago today, the volcano on Whakaari/White Island erupted, leading to the death of 22 people and the injury of 25 more, many of whom suffered severe burns. Dr David Galler, a member of the team of intensive care and burns specialists at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital, writes about that day and its aftermath. As … Read more
It’s unacceptable to shrug off greenhouse gases as someone else’s problem, writes Dr David Galler. In the pressure of the moment people say things they often come to regret. For some it’s the result of a slip of the tongue, a simple mistake; sometimes it’s an attempt to be bullish and occasionally it’s the result … Read more
Combatting climate change as a healthcare organisation involves more than simply reducing its carbon footprint, writes David Galler. It means seeing climate change and wellbeing as intertwined – and that what’s good for the environment is always good for health. This pandemic, as overwhelming as it is, will eventually pass. But before too long there … Read more
We in the medical profession can learn something from the new chief of police in Minneapolis, writes Dr David Galler. Following the death of George Floyd the spotlight has rightly settled on a close examination of police behaviour, as well as on the role of the police unions in setting and maintaining a culture that … Read more
Intensive care specialist David Galler remembers the time he tried and failed to save a New Zealander restrained in the same way that caused the death of American man George Floyd. Content warning: This article contains distressing descriptions of police violence and death. Thirty years ago, soon after I started my intensive care career, I was … Read more
With each new day, it is becoming increasingly clear that we cannot and should not return to the normality we have come to know in health, writes ICU doctor David Galler. Over the past few weeks, our lives have been turned upside down and inside out in ways we could never have anticipated. Many of … Read more
Nowhere will the reality of Covid-19 be felt more acutely than our hospital ICUs. Dr David Galler on the mood at the front line. Intensive Care is a glass half full specialty and I am a glass half full person. That helps a lot when matters out of our immediate control are thrust upon us. … Read more
Dr David Galler offers seven lessons from past reviews of the NZ health system that should inform the thinking currently under way Reviews of New Zealand’s health services have almost invariably proven controversial, arousing particular opposition from groups with vested interests. And once complete, they seem to have achieved little more than a reshuffling of … Read more
There is an enormous mismatch between the size of the damage caused by tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food and the amount invested in preventing that damage. Dozens of professionals have formed the Health Coalition Aotearoa, which launches today, to tackle the issue, explains Dr David Galler. In 2014 the Office of the Children’s Commissioner and … Read more
I was embarrassed and outraged by the news about the state of the hospital where I work, writes Dr David Galler – for this systematic betrayal of the very people we are here to serve and of the staff that works so hard to help them. And it goes to the fundamental question about what … Read more
All week this Christmas week we count down the best six books of 2017. Number one: Driving to Treblinka by Diana Wichtel. ‘It is a story that will make all who read it a better human being,’ says reviewer Dr David Galler. We come into this world imbued with the spirits of our ancestors. It … Read more