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he rang me up and asked if he could show me how well he was. Certainly, eighteen months after my hopeless forecast, he looked as well as any man of his age in Europe and showed no sign of cancer. Fortunately he was pleased about it and did not threaten to sue me for £6,000 damages. The surgeon who never does a severe operation has the fewest deaths, but he saves the fewest lives. The man who limits his operations on hypertension to a small group of young people who respond well to all tests has a wonderfully low death rate and high cure rate, but he passes bv all those who need help most. The surgeon who closes up a high proportion of his cancer laparotomies as " inoperable" and reserves his resection for the early growths can show a fine record on paper; how will he himself show up before the recording angel ? I personally suspect the man with huge figures and a negligible mortality of being a surgical spiv.One gastric surgeon surprised the world some years ago by recording 500 gastrectomies for ulcer with 0.6% mortality. Fine ! He then reached a total of 1,000 cases with a mortality of 0.6%. Grand ! A little later he popped up with 2,000 with a mortality of 0.6%. Marvellous ! He now has 3,000 with a mortality of 0.6%. Incredible; especially as the gastrectomies are all done under inhalation anaesthesia with open ether in a clinic where the science of anaesthesia is much where Morton left it. It is clear that to this man, a skilled surgeon, the figure of 0.6% is a symbol, a creed, a banner beneath which he goes into battle. It is his story, and he is going to stick to it. As for myself I shall leave him stuck. is brought into surgery by a love of his fellow men and a sincere wish to help them. As the years go by experience will increase that love and, if he uses it right, will make his power to help more effective. But he must leave it to others to judge in how far he has succeeded.

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