“Do no harm” is paraphrased in the Hippocratic Oath that
medical students are all exposed to first thing. It’s the common principal in
all medicine, but is especially stressed in neurosurgery, where the possibility
for harm is so high. Henry Marsh has been a top neurosurgeon in Great Britain
for many years and shares his stories of the trade here.
Each chapter is named for and explores the treatment of a
different neurological problem; meningioma, pituitary adenoma, infarct. Each
chapter features a different patient; we see how the patient came to Marsh, how
the operation went, and sometimes we see how they fared. Not always; sometimes
they are whisked way back to the hospital that referred them, rather them
leaving them under the care of the surgeon. So there are times that the author
had no idea how they ultimately turned out.
The descriptions of the problems and the way they are
treated fascinated me, but beware if you are squeamish- the author describes
things pretty vividly. But his book is not just about operations; it’s also
about his own life, the about the NHS system in England. The system limits not
just patient care but the hours doctors can work, which can make arranging long
operations difficult. New doctors don’t have time enough to learn all they
should. Marsh describes taking this out on nurses, anesthesiologists, clerks,
and more- while an empathic, caring, man with patients, he seems to have been
an ass to those he worked with at times- and admits it.
I couldn’t put this book down. It was like reading a series
of exciting stories, watching Marsh’s expertise and character grow. And I love
a good medical description.
The above is an affiliate link. If you click through and buy something- anything, not just this book- Amazon will give me a few cents. This in no way influenced my review.
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