The Knife’s Edge: The Heart and Mind of a Cardiac Surgeon

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right now Im mired in mamahood and while I do push myself out of my zone of comfy all the time–it’s not in that/your kind of way these days. Although Professor Stephen Westaby was born with the necessary coordination and manual dexterity, it was a head trauma sustained during university that gifted him the qualities of an exceptional heart surgeon: qualities that are frequently associated with psychopathy. His thirty-five-year career has been characterised by fearlessness and ruthless ambition; leaving empathy at the hospital door as thousands of patients put their lives in his hands. His stories as a failed good father, fears when he himself becomes a patient and the anger at the limitation of the NHS as a health provider are interesting to read.

The Knife’s Edge: The Heart and Mind of a Cardiac Surgeon The Knife’s Edge: The Heart and Mind of a Cardiac Surgeon

Regardless, this was an excellent book and I've recommended it to several people and hope I get to meet Professor Westaby in the coming years as I'm now keeping my out for him at TedX lectures and the like. A moral and practical conundrum. A little baby is dying but would fully recover if her heart valves were replaced. There is no bed for her. A child is brought in with a crushed skull and brain dead and will not be ventilated so there will be a bed for the baby whose operation has been put off twice already. Inching across a mile of loose boulders in pursuit of a beautiful summit is an experience worth having. Dr Westaby practised heart surgery in Britain and elsewhere for over 40 years. This is a tell-all book of his growth as a person and as a cardiac surgeon. It is written in 2019, fairly recent. He retired at the age of 68.I am needing a good push- myself- out- of -my -comfort- zone adventure. I am hoping that the next couple of weeks plans will produce that. Bummer about not making it to the summit, but at least you experienced what everyone had been talking about. You make it look easy. With his battle cry of “bugger protocol” and his renaming of medical directors as “the Stasi”, Westaby comes across as the bloke you’d want on your side in the fight to stay alive.’ Guardian Books of the Year

Walking the Knife’s Edge — This One Short Life Walking the Knife’s Edge — This One Short Life

We crested the saddle just as the warm sunshine hit the ridgeline and took in the spectacular view in front of us. Hiking Capitol Peak i will probably never get to hike the way you do, so thank you for sharing this entire journey!!! sooo amazing! Hmm I think moving is always pushing out of my comfort zone, so a couple months ago! Although the author repeats throughout the book how surgeons cannot inherently allow themselves to feel empathy for their patients (or they would never get past their first death), there are plenty of examples whereby the authors obvious care for his patient is shown. Autobiography of only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats" Some compassion for the sufferers and a slight change in administrative mindset can avoid many dangers, fears and risks to the ‘precious’ life. Suffering is never a good sight to witness, whether by patients’ families or their surgeons.

Raw and moving... the writing is thrilling. Fragile Lives is a frank and absorbing memoir by a man who has done about as much good to his fellow human beings as it is possible to do in one lifetime.’– The Times, Book of the Week His career has been characterized by fearlessness and ruthless ambition; leaving empathy at the hospital door as thousands of patients put their lives in his hands. For us heart surgeons, the inevitable cost of failure is death and in The Knife’s Edge, the author reflects on the unique mindset of those who are drawn to this exhilarating profession. The book is wholly believable and has an unmistakable feeling of authenticity. Dr Westaby admits his failures and vulnerability. He candidly states that he failed both his primary and final fellowship on first sitting. The manner of writing is racy, raw and moving and pulls no punches. With his battle cry of “bugger protocol,” Westaby is critical of the NHS system. He derides the naming of patients as “customers” by the NHS. Besides being a gifted surgeon, he is also a natural writer. The book succeeds on many levels: political battle cry, chronicle of bloody feats, history of modern cardiology, and a tribute to patients and a paean to surgery. Cardiac surgery is depicted in unflinching blood and gore.

The Knife’s Edge: The Heart and Mind of a Cardiac Surgeon

Graduating in 1966, Dr Westaby found a system which was just developing and gave scope for innovation in surgery. He took full advantage of this.His exasperation of “clueless” nurses was a little unnerving as well. As the husband of a nurse, I would have expected to see some more emphasis on the nurses role both in theatres and in the precarious aftercare and critical hours following surgery. Professor Westaby operated on my son when he was 12 years old. He saved my sons life as he was extremely poorly with a heart condition called Severe Aortic Stenosis. It was a really difficult time for my son and all of us but I am so very grateful to this amazing man. He personally rang me after my sons operation to tell me that it had been a success and that my son was going to be ok, the relief was immense. There's so much things happened behind closed door that we didn't know or will never know unless it is told. Same goes to the operation theatre. And the NHS itself. So many political, money thingy and selfishness involved that stained the quality of the healthcare workers there.

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Reply Be Prepared! That's the Message to Hikers Bagging 14ers as a Fourth Person This Year Dies on a Colorado Peak - SnowBrains at And as with every NHS book I have ever read the author complains about the way its managed, how it’s structure can do a lot of harm to the patient as well as the doctor. Right off the bat, we made an error in route finding that would haunt us for the rest of the morning. We began to traverse across the ridge but got hung up for a brief moment where the trail seemed to disappear. We pondered our options for a few minutes, but chose the path we had seen a climbing team take in front of us. This trail meant we would continue with class III-IV climbing for most of the morning, which was slow but lots of fun. Trust” approached me about joining them for an episode to chat about this past summer’s trip up Capitol Peak. I’ll be honest; at first, I was totally nervous! Why in the world would they want to have me […]Both sides of the Edge have a sheer vertical drop with tons of exposure. Many climbers will just grab the top of the ridge and smear their feet below, but even that is a little sketchy: if you miss a hold, you’re looking at a good 2,000 foot drop! Good physical and mental stamina to stand on your feet for long hours and to deal with stress-related with Surgeries Not sure where to reserve a spot? It all depends on which hiking route you plan to take. You can access the Helon Taylor and Chimney Pond trails from the Roaring Brook Campground, the Abol Trail from the Abol Campground, and the Hunt Trail from the Katahdin Stream Campground. Westaby argues that self-doubt is not good for surgeons. But then, as Westaby repeatedly points out, heart surgery is not for sissies, even if the NHS is encouraging a less macho approach—or, as he prefers to call it—“touchy-feely stuff.” After all, for a cardiac surgeon, empathy is “a huge mistake.” As per the author, the best of them (naturally including himself) should see their work as “an emotionless, technical exercise, comparable with lifting the bonnet of an automobile and repairing the engine.” Westaby’s machismo will not be to everyone’s taste, especially given his liberal use of cuss words and his habit of prefacing the job titles of female colleagues with the word “lady”—as in “lady radiographer” or “lady professor.”