Reflections

It is difficult for practicing physicians to win the Nobel Prize. Nobels are nowadays mostly awarded for laboratory based research and no matter how innovative the surgical technique that is conceived of and popularized, it is well-nigh impossible for a surgeon to make the grade. I personally cannot understand what was lacking in Michael Debakey’s accomplishments, that he never won the prize despite repeated nominations. I should have thought that someone who revoutionised vascular and to some extent cardiac surgery and strode the world of twentieth century medicine like a colossus would have done enough to deserve it, but somehow the powers that be thought differently. I can think of several other names in the surgical field who richly deserved the prize. The surgeons who did win the prize, however often won for work in areas other than surgery. Theodor Kocher  The first to be awarded was the king of surgery in the late nineteenth century and the person who standardi...

There is a hoary old story about the surgeon and the scientist. The surgeon was jogging around a lake when he noticed a man drowning in the water. He dived in to save him and when he got him out he saw another man drowning. In he went again and as he came out he saw yet another man going under. At the same time he noticed a scientist standing on the bank of the lake deep in thought. “Why the hell don’t you do something instead of just standing there?” he shouted. “I am” answered the scientist. “I am trying to figure out who is throwing them into the water.” This story has many important implications. While some may see it as a condemnation of the doer who just rushes in to solve the problem without addressing the root cause, the story is not as simple as that. While somebody figures out the root cause and presumably also a method of fixing the problem, trained individuals are still needed to save them while all this research in going on. As a surgeon and also now hopefully a sci...