The Naked Surgeon

Book excerpt: As a medical student, Samer Nashef was unofficially blacklisted when he started asking questions about the death rates of more senior surgeons. Since then, he has made his name challenging colleagues to be more open and accurate about the success of the procedures they perform. In The Naked Surgeon, Nashef unclothes his own profession, offering an unprecedented and often controversial view inside the operating theatre. He explains how surgeons can 'game' the system to make their results appear better; why the way a surgeon ties the knot in a single stitch could make a life-or-death difference; and why patients operated on the day before a surgeon goes on holiday are twice as likely to die than those operated on during that surgeon's first day back. Full of eye-opening revelations about the cardiac surgeon's craft,The Naked Surgeon is necessary reading for anybody considering medical intervention now, or in the future.