David Galler

Dr David Galler is the son of Polish Jewish refugees. He is the author of Things That Matter: Stories of Life and Death, a memoir of his work as a Middlemore Hospital intensive care specialist, which was named the best book of 2016 by the Spinoff. David was born in Wellington in 1967.

Politics
Feb 3, 2021

Dr David Galler: My wish for Waitangi

The author and intensive care specialist on why he's hopeful the prime minister will this week make a transformational announcement on Māori health.

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Society
Dec 9, 2020

December 9, 2019: An intensive care doctor remembers Whakaari/White Island

Dr David Galler, a member of the team of intensive care and burns specialists at Auckland's Middlemore Hospital, writes about that terrible day and its aftermath.

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Politics
Oct 6, 2020

A short note on Judith Collins' apathy over carbon emissions

It's unacceptable to shrug off greenhouse gases as someone else's problem.

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Society
Jul 6, 2020

As a doctor, I know better than most that climate change is a healthcare issue

Healthcare organisations need to realise that climate change and wellbeing are intertwined – and that what's good for the environment is always good for health.

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Society
Jun 15, 2020

On doctors, unions and competing interests

We in the medical profession can learn something from the new chief of police in Minneapolis.

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Society
Jun 4, 2020

The restraint technique that killed George Floyd has been used here too

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.

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Society
Apr 11, 2020

David Galler: Life on the other side of a health crisis

The pandemic is helping restore the mana of New Zealand's public health workforce. Will significant and ongoing resourcing follow?

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Society
Mar 19, 2020

Our task in a world turned on its head: an Intensive Care doctor writes

Nowhere will the reality of Covid-19 be felt more acutely than our hospital ICUs. What is the mood at the front line?

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Politics
Mar 27, 2019

How to avoid another health system review that goes nowhere

Dr David Galler offers seven lessons from past reviews of the NZ health system that should inform the thinking currently under way.

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Politics
Nov 7, 2018

NZ faces a daunting health gap. Damned if we’re going to sit and watch it grow

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

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Society
Apr 3, 2018

The toxic mould and rot of Middlemore is the legacy of a crisis in values

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.

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Books
Dec 21, 2017

The best book of 2017: 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.

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