Mortal Lessons: Notes on the Art of Surgery

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Summary: Must read for all medical professionals
Review: There is an innate beauty in the structure of the human body. The mystery of the intricate brain, the poetry of blood rushing through vessels, organs working together to keep the body working in unison. Dr. Richard Selzer's collection of essays Mortal Lessons: Notes on the Art of Surgery, captures the essence of a surgeons life from the most intimate of perspectives. Mortal Lessons is a thoughtful, introspective recollection of Selzer's own experiences as a surgeon. Commonly thought of as distant, unfeeling practitioners, Selzer humanizes the entire profession as he recounts patients, cases, fellow doctors, and the human body through years of practical experience. Selzer's gifted, conversational style of writing eases the horror of exploring the liver, 'belly', skin, and various elements of the human body through the eyes of the surgeon. But it is outside the operating theater that Selzer truly shines in this collection of essays. Perhaps the most touching episode of Mortal Lessons is the brief postoperative discussion which transpires between Selzer and a young couple, the wife of whom he has just left scarred for life. Selzer, traumatized by being forced to cut a nerve in the woman's cheek to remove a tumor, answers the couple's questions. 'Who are they, I ask myself, he and this wry mouth I have made, who gaze at and touch each other so generously, greedily? The young woman speaks. "Will my mouth always be like this?" she asks? "Yes," I say, "it will. It is because the nerve was cut." She nods and is silent. But the young man smiles. "I like it," he says. "It is kind of cute." All at once I know who he is. I and understand, and I lower my gaze. One is not bold in an encounter with a god. Unmindful, he bends to kiss her crooked mouth, and I so close I can see how he twists his own lips to accommodate to hers, to show her that their kiss still works. I remember that the gods appeared in ancient Greece as mortals, and I hold my breath and let the wonder in.' Selzer, page 46 The impact of Selzer's work is diminished as he reaches for the words and phrases in the section of the book titled "The Body". The essays become more clinical in their orientation and demeanor. Although it is intriguing to learn the structure of the liver, the storytelling loses the humanistic value that Selzer exhibits in other sections of the book, such as in the essay titled "Abortion." Straight forward but personal, Selzer recounts witnessing a late-term abortion. It is a procedure that Selzer has never contemplated previously and holds no apparent opinions about. But as we are taken into the operating suite, introduced to the patient, and walked through the process of the abortion, a picture develops in the readers eye that is difficult to dismiss. Sympathizing with Selzer, it is easy to believe that a murder has taken place between the sterile confines of the hospital walls. Mortal Lessons is an intelligent, well written book that appeals even to those outside the medical profession. And for those men and women just entering the medical profession, it is a must read guide on how to treat patients.