Do No Harm – Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery
By Henry Marsh
First up, I thought this book was fabulous, thought
provoking, moving and all those good blurb words that it thoroughly deserved,
but it should also come with a government health warning. Husband keeled over reading the
description of brain surgery in Saturday by Ian McEwan and I would be wary of
handing over this book to him as I would anticipate he would hit the ground
within seconds of reading the opening sentence, “I often have to cut into the
brain and it is something I hate doing.”
Henry Marsh looks back over his career as a Neurosurgeon and
in a series of individual chapters highlights the other side of surgery, the
part the patient never sees, the discussions, analysis, involvement, detachment
and skill of the surgeons. I found
his accounts mesmerising, he is very hard on himself, and includes many
examples of where things go wrong and the surgery results in distress or
tragedy for the patient, there is far less of the work he and his fellow
surgeons do every day to transform lives and restore hope. Having had quite a lot to do with
surgeons over the past couple of years, it certainly gave me some ideas about
questions to ask before surgery, but it also made me realise the off load there
is for a patient, or patient’s relative, in putting your trust in the doctors –
and correspondingly what a burden it is for them in shouldering that trust and
faith and expectation of a positive outcome.
I wouldn't say the NHS and changes over the last 20 years in public health in the UK get much of a positive write up from Henry Marsh and anecdotes of his run ins with senior management did make me laugh, albeit it with a note of hysteria in my laughter, and I think this book should be compulsory reading for all NHS management.
Do No Harm is a book that will stay on my shelves and I know I
will come back to it in future years for a refresher of Henry Marsh's humanity and honesty.
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