surgeons

"Indeed, throughout human history, the end of life has always coincided with the cessation of the heartbeat: every hero worthy of the name has died because their heart stopped beating. Literature, works of art, and old medical textbooks provide ample evidence of this. [...] With the first cardiac surgery procedures and the invention of extracorporeal circulation, it became clear that the function of the heart could be replaced by an artificial mechanism: the person continued to live without a beating heart in his chest, as long as blood continued to flow to their brain. Doctors had recorded numerous signs, and the idea that the brain played a crucial role in human life was already well established. Based on these assumptions, a debate developed at Harvard that brought together not only doctors but also lawyers, philosophers and representatives of different faiths, as the aim was to find a definition of death that took into account the ethical concerns and the context at a given point in history. Since the Harvard guidelines, death is certified when all vital brain functions have irreversibly ceased."

"In the USA, I have always refused to perform transplants from altruistic donors, although such transplants were carried out, albeit rarely, at the centres I have managed. On the other hand, I have always supported, performed and encouraged transplants from living donors with whom there is an emotional bond. I am not convinced that it is right to subject someone who is not related to the recipient to the risk of surgery. I wouldn't go so far as to ban them, but I'm not convinced that they are an ethical approach or a solution to the appallingly long waiting lists, especially for kidney transplants."

"Therefore, the new definition of death was not merely the result of a discussion between scientists; above all, it was the first shared bioethical statement to have a tangible impact worldwide. Indeed, brain death formed the basis for the development of transplant medicine as we know it today; it enabled organ donation and harvesting from donors whose hearts were still beating. And it is thanks to that work that, today, tens of thousands of organ transplants are performed worldwide each year, and that, thanks to this treatment, countless patients who would otherwise be facing certain death are saved. Therefore, the definition of death is based on scientific certainties that there is no reason to question. Moreover, it is clear that if a doctor had the slightest doubt about a person's death, they would never proceed with organ harvesting."

"While it is true that, in the US, one person dies every minute due to a shortage of organs for transplantation and that the country needs to find a solution to this pressing issue, it is also essential to safeguard the rights and wishes of individuals who, while still mentally competent, have considered the sensitive question of how they wish to be cared for (or not cared for) in the final stages of their lives and how they wish their body to be disposed of. The new measures have received enthusiastic support from a large part of the US transplant community, despite bioethics experts warning of the risk that the law could turn individuals who would not have wished to do so into organ donors, force certain family members to accept decisions they do not agree with, and even encourage doctors not to administer certain medications to terminally ill patients for fear of damaging the quality of organs that would otherwise be available for harvesting and transplantation. These concerns may be exaggerated, but they are entirely legitimate. For decades, efforts have been made to close the gap between organ demand and supply, but this does not mean that we should not proceed with the utmost caution. It may seem obvious to point out a fundamental principle, but we must always bear in mind that it is not acceptable to place more value on one life than on another – in this case, on the life of a man or woman on the transplant waiting list than on the life of a person who is nearing the end of their life on an intensive care unit. We must act with caution, demonstrating that the ultimate concern is always, and only, the respect and health of citizens, at whatever stage of life they are, at whatever age, and in whatever situation."

"I said that five years ago, the then mayor, (Gianni Alemanno) , ran for office with a campaign focused on the issue of security. He had a vision of a film, the 'sheriff mayor' film, but it turned into a different film, the 'all talk and no action' sheriff film."

"Some people currently argue that the definition of death should be revised in light of the technological innovations that have transformed the world of medicine. Personally, I believe that the way in which the end of life is defined is scientifically correct. More importantly, however, I believe that if anyone has doubts, they should raise them in the appropriate forums and present the scientific arguments that support their position to everyone. Otherwise, suggesting that an individual who has hitherto been defined as dead is no longer dead is an irresponsible act that risks jeopardising the opportunity to save hundreds of thousands of lives through post-mortem organ donation, a generous act motivated solely by a sense of solidarity between human beings."

"The well-informed surgeon must not consider it an unnecessary condescension to occupy himself with cares which the vulgar consider too minute and unimportant, but which, if neglected and forgotten, so often entail the most disastrous results."

"He was an excellent observer and a great worker, who knew how to adopt and adapt others' ideas very practically."

"There are not many places in this world that take your education and training as seriously as this university. It achieves excellence, because it cares."

"Collectively, we learn today to make tomorrow a better place for us and for everyone across the world."

"I see no mileage at all in being average. We owe it to the patients that we treat to be the best that we can be,” continued Professor Wood, who also told graduates that they needed to contribute to the body of knowledge in their fields."

"I’ve learned to take time to enjoy the small moments in life. The little smiles or gurgles from my baby, Olivia, can make my entire day. It’s important to find those kinds of moments at work, in your marriage or with your friends. It’s all about the small things in life."

"I will always be thankful for Dr seta for using his experience and for allowing and trusting me during my initiation in the field of surgery."

"I usually wake up with the baby between 4 and 5 a.m. I feed her and I try to sneak in a ½ hour nap before I have to get up. I get ready to go to the hospital by around 7 a.m. I either go directly to the operating room or I see patients in the office. Some days I get called in to Fox to talk about a breaking news story or study."

"There was a need for a national to continue neurosurgery services in the country so I joined so the could train me further."

"Don’t wait for permission — make your place, and then open the door for others."

"Some of the challenges I have faced have been in getting trained in pediatric surgery and in pediatric surgical oncology. When I applied to be a pediatric surgery fellow, I did not match the first time, second time or third time because there were no other Black pediatric surgeons. I am the first board-certified U.S. Black female pediatric surgeon. This was a huge hurdle to overcome. It was challenging at first, but I love my profession now."

"Surgeons deserve all the necessary resources to do the work we love. As passionate as we were in 2022, the ACS will be even more vocal in 2023 in advocating and lobbying for fair and equitable funding for our profession, and we will propose new ways to assess the value of a surgeon that reflect our contributions to the healthcare system."

"It takes 10-14 hours, sometimes 20 hours. The longest operation I’ve done is 22 hours. That individual had over 2,000 tumors"

"My greatest satisfaction is being able to treat children all over the world for a disease that a few years ago, was considered hopeless."

"Even though I wasn’t sure of the effectiveness, I was sure that doing nothing wasn’t going to make anything better,"

"What will help you thrive are your relationships with the people who love and support you, who, without exception, want what is best for you,"

"Graduating was not just my accomplishment but ours."

"He was a man of very clear judgment, of ripe experience, of solid wisdom, and deservedly occupies a place as one of the greatest of French surgeons of the nineteenth century."

"Some of his suggestions with regard to operations were important advances in abdominal and pelvic surgery. He was, lastly, noted as a great teacher of surgery and a consummate operator."

"There is a moral as well as a physical character to all animal life, however humble it may be, enveloped indeed in obscurity, and with a mysterious solemnity, which must ever belong to the secrets of the Eternal. Let us then approach with caution the unknown character of the brute, as being an emanation from Himself; and treat with tenderness and respect the helpless creatures derived from such a source."

"Dr. Brown faced barriers because of her race and because of her gender. Yet she persisted and pursued her dreams as a surgeon, as a teacher, and as a legislator."

"Brown's determination, beliefs, and values helped her to break through barriers in other aspects of her life too."

"She had been told, You’re a girl, you’re Black, you’re poor, and it just can’t be done. But she persevered, and she succeeded."

"I tried to be...not hard, but durable."

"Her background and training as a surgeon, I believe, made her a courageous champion for children, civil rights, and reproductive rights."

"I was proud to be a role model, not because I have done so much, but to say to young people that it can be done."

"I will say this categorically — that you cannot change your sex. Your sex actually is there in every single cell in the body; you have a chromosomal sex, you have genetic sex, you have hormonal sex, you have... psychological brain sex."

"Neurosurgeons are not just brain surgeons, they are medically trained neurosurgical specialists who can also help patients suffering from back and neck pain as well as a host of other illnesses ranging from trigeminal neuralgia to head injury and Parkinson’s disease."

"That also enabled me to see beyond the immediate problems, to the bigger ones that hamper care in LMICs. In trauma, patients are still getting debilitating osteomyelitis because there is not enough saline to carry out a decent debridement (the process of removing unhealthy tissue from the body). Perhaps the surgical community needs to begin addressing upstream factors which make our surgical practice an impossible task."

"The resulting toll of road traffic crashes and injuries is a heavy cost on communities and countries. iRAP’s work on making roads safer for all road users will be key to the region’s efforts to reduce the crippling burden of unsafe roads."

"I welcome the opportunity to serve as a member of the iRAP Board to help make safer roads a reality in the African region. Many African countries combine young and burgeoning populations with rapid and poorly planned urbanisation and motorisation."

"While there might be a lot of pain and sacrifice, we certainly see joy as well. We save more patients than we lose, we get to help a lot of people, and that more than makes up for the bad times. In my field, ‘Accident & Emergency’, it is possible to see a patient turn around in a few minutes, and that makes it worth it."

"The cost of mismanaged medical services culminating in lives needlessly lost was always before me. It was more evident during my year as the Acting Head of the Accident & Emergency at Mulago National Referral Hospital. Frustrated at the many needless injuries, especially from road traffic crashes, I chose to take on trauma care and injury prevention as the focus of my career."

"Nigeria, like most developing countries, is greatly influenced by global health priorities and funding programmes, which tend to prioritise reducing mortality or ensuring survival rather than supporting or promoting well-being."

"Yes, hearing impairment is associated with superstitions in many communities, which feed into both. However, the major reason for the issue’s neglect and, so to speak, ‘invisibility’ is the fact that it is not associated with significant mortality."

"That’s right, I was born with mid-frequency hearing loss and struggled with inter-personal communication as a child without knowing what was wrong. In fact, I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 33 years old."

"One key finding was the contribution of severe neonatal jaundice to the incidence of hearing loss."

"Children living with disabilities need the support of a wide range of specialists, including paediatricians, psychologists, neurologists, audiologist and otorhinolaryngologists – to name just a few."

"t's always the elephant in the room. When you walk into a room, and you don't see anyone that looks like you, sometimes you don't know if you are welcome or not. Luckily, i am comfortable with situations where I am minority."

"But I am very clear about what my expertise is. It is also a sense of pressure and responsibility because I often feel that if a wrong decision is made, I am not speaking just for me, but for many."

"It is a new discipline in medicine which focuses on access to surgery and improving quality of care and outcomes. I like to describe it as the interface between surgical services and surgical systems."

"My research is working on improving perinatal outcomes and stillbirth auditing across Africa. In many countries, we don’t know what the real numbers are at the end of the day, so we have to start counting."

"More importantly though, the role of women in their societies can tell us a lot. Communities that protect their women seem to have better health outcomes."

"Some Physiologists will have it that the Stomach is a Mill;—others, that it is a fermenting Vat;—others, again, that it is a Stew-pan;—but in my view of the matter, it is neither a Mill, a fermenting Vat, nor a Stew-pan—but a STOMACH, gentlemen, a STOMACH."