It was Franz Kafka—the famous twentieth-century German writer—who once said, “Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy”. Kafka dealt with the looming totalitarianism—also foreseen by George Orwell—and explored the theme of how state bureaucracies can utterly crush the individual. Considering what has recently happened to Dr David van Gend—a popular Brisbane doctor and noted author—Kafka’s insight seems especially apt.