surgery is ultimately controlled arrogance.

if you take responsibility for saving a life, then you have to take the blame for losing life

There's a strange, discordant pathology to the state of being stuck. Nobody who starts smoking plans to be hooked for life. Nobody who's obese secretly wants to stay that way. When a doctor or family member pleads with us to make lifesaving changes, we mean it when we say, 'I know, I know, I should, I will'. What's left unsaid is the killer caveat: 'Just not today'. Over the years, I have had more conversations like this with patients than I can count, so many that the phrase 'I know I should' has become a red flag - a sad predictor that I will probably one day crack open those patients' sternums in the operating room, trying to undo the damage that poor choices and unhealthy lifestyles have done to their hearts. Show less «

To [doctors] life is never static. Everything is either growing or dying. When you delay your diet until tomorrow or wait to quit smoking until your next birthday, you are choosing, in a day-to-day way, to follow the route of dying. Show less «