DO NO HARM POST 2

Life is the Goal

The Highs and Lows of Operating on the Human Brain

 


In my last post about Do No Harm, I asked you what your price would be for brain surgery. For Dr. Henry Marsh, life is always his goal. He would rather have his patient be healthy, and potentially dealing with a side effect such as numbness on one side of the face, but ALIVE. 

In all of Dr. Marsh's cases, he cares about life but also has to think about the quality of the lives he saves. Dr. Marsh experienced this firsthand when he experienced a retinal detachment and had to undergo surgery.

  • Retinal Detachment- the retina peels off of the eyeball, resulting in (at worst) blindness

After surgery, he experienced a brief period where he lost his vision, but had a new-found respect for being able to live an otherwise healthy life. In my own way, I could relate to Dr. Marsh and how he felt after his recovery. Having undergone a massive operation myself and living with an otherwise silent illness, I love just being able to live life. As a physician (hopefully one day), I hope I am able to relate to patients will to want to live.

  • Silent illness- a disease that produces no clinically obvious signs or symptoms

 

 Healthcare Industry

Quality of life also extends into healthcare administration. Dr. Marsh touched on the fact that hospitals often do not have the capacity to care for all of the patients. Furthermore, many doctors lose their passion for saving lives because of the politics behind the healthcare industry. Although Do No Harm is based on British healthcare, I think we can all relate to these problems with the COVID-19 epidemic. We constantly hear about physician burn-out and that hospitals do not have enough beds to take in patients. Dr. Marsh questions why it is so difficult for people to get the help we all deserve and need.

I think this will always be a problem within medicine because so many social factors lead into people's health and access to healthy lifestyles. Something Dr. Marsh has done is take frequent trips to Ukraine. He treats patients with severe brain tumors and complications that do not have access to proper facilities and surgery.

 I challenge you all to think about how the healthcare system can improve? Will there ever be substantial change? In every medical journal or book on medicine that I have read, healthcare access always seems to be the biggest underlying problem. We all can start with trying to take the best care of ourselves as possible. 

 

Comments

  1. Angelica @ My Meal PlannerFebruary 17, 2022 at 12:12 AM

    Hi Zoe,

    I am taking a neuropsychology class right now, and I feel like everything you mentioned here could be part of what I'm learning haha. Reading about what retinal detachment is definitely made me shudder though. Anyway, Dr. Marsh has an interesting view on how to treat his patients. I feel like there are some people who would prefer to stay alive with an ailment, while others would rather pass on earlier to avoid the extra complications. I wonder what percentage of people is on each side? I truly hope that the healthcare system will go through a huge reset soon though, because right now, it's an absolute mess. How can we take care of ourselves if our foundations come from a broken system?

    Angelica

    ReplyDelete
  2. elanfahFebruary 17, 2022 at 10:44 AM

    Hi Zoe,

    Thanks for sharing a little about Do No Harm. I don't know much about the healthcare industry, however, I do always hear that the biggest issue with it is the fact that it's not accessible a lot of the time. I thought it was very helpful of you to share the definitions of retinal detachment and silent illness because I had no idea what each of them meant before. Overall, the way you described the book makes it seem like a great read and I'll definitely look into reading it.

    Elan

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jack PerezFebruary 17, 2022 at 5:17 PM

    Thanks for sharing Zoe. I enjoyed your post a lot, especially how much it made me think. The healthcare industry is honestly a scary thing to look at in whole. The fact that political and social factors sometimes stand in the way of a person simply trying to become healthy again is a frightening thought. I agree that COVID-19 has definitely opened up people's' eyes about the problems within the healthcare system and hopefully this pandemic will bring at least one positive thing in the name of healthcare: reform.

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownFebruary 18, 2022 at 3:21 PM

    Hi Zoe,

    I like how you related this book to your own personal experience. I imagine that a book written by a neurosurgeon would be bland and science-based, but you make me believe Do No Harm was about humanity more than anything else. It's also nice that Dr. Marsh wants his patients to survive his surgeries, which is a trait that I look for in a doctor. Overall, I think you wrote an amazing post about where surgery and humanity/life collide.

    -Ellie

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousFebruary 18, 2022 at 4:44 PM

    Hi Zoe!
    I really enjoyed your post and hearing that you had a personal connection to your book. Everyone in my family is in the medical field, so I enjoy reading about it from other perspectives, as well. I also liked how you brought up access and equity in the healthcare system because I think it is an increasingly present issue. What do you think needs to happen for there to be substantial change in the industry?

    - Samantha

    ReplyDelete
  6. Leon Hua 340February 19, 2022 at 10:44 PM

    Hi Zoe,

    Really cool post for an interesting-sounding memoir. I think that there's a lot of value for you to have read this memoir while also having undergone a massive operation in your past. The fact that you're thinking about all this gives me a lot of faith in your ability as a prospective physician. To answer your questions about improving the health care system, I really have no suggestions or even the background necessary to offer such improvements. But after reading the post, I'm inspired to read the memoir and possibly keep that question in mind as I go about my career, actively thinking about how to change something that affects and benefits so many.

    -Leon

    ReplyDelete
  7. Lesley 340February 21, 2022 at 4:14 PM

    Hi Zoe,

    I think the reason I never went into healthcare, other than my dislike for blood, is the responsibility of saving lives. I have a lot of respect for those in the field. I'm glad you where able to resonate with this book. I think those are my favorite moment of reading. I think the thing about taking care of ourselves is that society has made it easier, cheaper, and more accessible to make choices that negatively impact our health. A lot of things in the western society are tied to economy instead of humanity.

    Best,

    Lesley

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousFebruary 21, 2022 at 4:38 PM

    Hi Zoe,

    This book sounds really interesting! Hearing doctor's discuss the gravity of their work and the responsibility they take on is always impressive. Honestly, it's something I didn't even consider for a long time. It's one of the most stressful and important jobs, and even still it seems like they don't get enough praise. Your post talked about the doctor become the patient at one point, which reminded me of the book "When Breath Becomes Air." Not sure if you've ever read it, but it definitely grapples with some heavy themes aligned with the medical world.

    Kevin

    ReplyDelete
  9. Francesca LewisFebruary 22, 2022 at 4:43 PM

    Hi Zoe,

    I enjoyed reading your blog post on Do Not Harm, especially the call to action at the end. The health care inefficiency and shortages are something me and my siblings were recently talking about (specifically related to COVID-19 care), and can quickly become daunting to think about because of how widespread the issues are and how important health care is. While I don't currently have an answer to how we can improve, I know how essential it is that we find a solution soon. I also enjoyed Dr. Marsh's stance on living with side affects but alive, as I know that's sometimes a point of disagreement for patients undergoing serious treatments and surgeries.

    - Francesca

    ReplyDelete

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