I hear a lot about the egotism, the posturing, the arrogance of surgeons.
We have this one–I’ll call him, say, God. Dr. God. That’s about right. He’s a fab surgeon. If I was on the table, I’d want him scrubbing.
He is, however, an asshat.
There are other surgeons here, some good, some better, but (fortunately) the rigors of medical school, internship, etc. being what they are, usually the bad ones are eliminated before reaching the final round. All of them are competent surgeons (at least, that’s the word from the surgical aides), except for Dr. God, who is incredible.
His arrogance isn’t misplaced–I imagine operating to be essentially an act of ego, kind of like sex. I mean, if you’re good at it, you’d be stupid not to notice. You might as well admit it and use the fire to keep you going.
sdsm said,
July 24, 2007 at 11:52 pm
Great blog, I was a unit secretary for a long time. We had a surgeon that had such horrible bedside manner that the nurses ran behind him reminding the patients that it “isn’t the personality your hiring its the hands”. The surgeon actually had to have surgery one day and the nurses got into a physical fight over who got to insert the foley.
Hope the asshat doesn’t cause you any trouble.
SeaSpray said,
July 25, 2007 at 1:02 am
Good post!
Have you ever trad Dr Schwab at surgeonsblog.blogspot.com? Je’s a good read!
miranda5 said,
July 25, 2007 at 9:16 am
Yeah, I’ve read him. I especially enjoyed his posts on the gallbladder surgery.
Sid Schwab said,
July 27, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Your comparing surgery to sex is interesting: when I sort of implied that in a post called Taking Trust, a family doc said it was creepy and wrote a post comparing surgery to rape…
And thanks for your visit, and your blogrolling. You write very well.
Bongi said,
July 27, 2007 at 5:13 pm
surgical arrogance is actually something i touched on recently. sid actually commented on one of my posts, and i quote verbatum “And, of course: although some lesser beings are unwilling to acknowledge it, for their own petty reasons, the surgeons’ recognition of their own superiority is one of the few areas in which we have our feet planted firmly on the soil of reason and truth.”
miranda5 said,
July 27, 2007 at 8:16 pm
Surgery is sensual, moving with the fluid wave of the body’s own rhythm, the grounding of the soul. Those we allow entry, more completely inside us than any other, with us, carry a great trust, and it is essential that they tread with care. I’ve seen surgery where it was hack-and-slash, and it turned my stomach.
Surgery can be more intimate than sex, and for a rough job I wouldn’t hesitate to liken it to rape. Making love and raping someone require the same physical movements, the same joining of flesh…it’s the how and why that make them so very different.
As for arrogance, well, there are some things I’m good at because I started doing them younger than most people, I had teachers who excelled in their craft, and I have honed those skills to a peak most people will never reach. I’d be foolish not to see it for myself. That said, I’m not an ass about it.
What I was trying to convey, and I don’t know that I saw it done, was that doing something extraordinarily difficult, and doing it well, requires extraordinary grace. People who have that fit–that feel–might as well admit it, and put their egos to work. The level of dedication, effort, and sacrifice required to be that good more than offset the soaring arrogance.
I’m human–I admit it. Asshat, MD bothered me greatly, in that he required of me the impossible and stripped me of my dignity. After all, I hadn’t even been a unit secretary for three hours but I was supposed to explain-in detail-why her level of carboxyaminohemoglobin was too high. The only thing I could think of was “does she smoke?” But that is aside from his abilities as a surgeon. I’m not looking to marry the guy, and If I’m dying he better be there, scalpel in gloved hand, saving my life. Arrogance be damned.
Sid Schwab said,
July 27, 2007 at 9:02 pm
“touching more intimately than you’ve ever been touched… knowing things about you that you’ll never know yourself..” That’s, in part, how I’ve described surgery (that part was in my book). There doesn’t need to be arrogance; but self-confidence is really irreplaceable.
Another word about surgeons « O Brave New World said,
July 27, 2007 at 9:25 pm
[...] Here’s the bitty part (make sure you read the comments). [...]