“The pen is mightier than the sword “- Edward Buller-Lytton
Bulwer-Lytton made his famous statement in 1839 regarding the communications and power of the independent press, which if used correctly could be a more effective weapon than taking up arms in direct violence. It can also be interpreted that one can reach many more people with a pen than with a sword. In today's world this is particularly true with the number of PDAs and social media outlets that are available allowing one to reach huge numbers of people.
In my career as a surgeon, I've often wondered if this could be the case with the scalpel. Stated differently, can the pen become mightier than the scalpel? Can a surgeon actually reach out to and help more people outside the operating room and thus limit the pain and suffering in this world merely through his writings? I believe the answer is yes, and because of that I've begun my written crusade to make a bigger impact.
Knowing that I have helped thousands of people over the years as a cardiac surgeon has been incredibly rewarding for me personally and I do believe that along with my patients there are countless friends and family members out there that are incredibly grateful for my work. Saving a life with your own two hands or adding more years someone's life because of a rare skill set that you possess is a daunting feeling and one only known to those in our field. However, throughout my career I've been continually haunted, almost from day one, about the utility of being the one to pick up the pieces at the end of the line and never doing much to prevent the crash.
Early on, I believed it was the highest of callings to be that last hope and the one who actually knows what to do in order to turn that last hope into a second chance on life. Unfortunately, the same questions have continued to arise over and over again throughout my entire career, which are, "Isn't there a better way?" and "What would it take?"
Isn't there a better way help people then to meet them when they are desperate and in dire straits, way downstream and suffering from decades of poor lifestyle choices? Is the only way to help them to take them to an operating room, crack open their chest, and put them through hell and back with a three month recovery, if they're lucky? What would it take to truly help thousands of people or more avoid the perils of cardiac surgery?
As the years rolled on it became clear that in today's healthcare system I got paid a lot of money to ignore those questions. In fact, hospitals are completely conflicted on this topic. Although they say they are in the business of healthcare, they're really in the business is sick care. So by definition, if one of your products is open heart surgery you need to have a steady supply of sick heart patients in order for your business to thrive. So, it makes no sense to incentivize heart surgeons to help people avoid heart surgery. Does it?
I wish this was not true but if you examine the incentivization of today's specialists, it's very clear that volume of procedural work is king not prevention of disease and suffering. Bottom line, the system just wants sick people entering the hospital for heart surgery and mine, as the surgeon, is not to reason why.
Yes, these words are heresy and sacrilege and, within the hospital executive boardroom, they are considered the speakings of another disruptive physician iconoclast. I prefer to call it speaking truth to the currently deaf ears of authority. Thus we have designed an innovative clinic to break the current mold for those wanting to take control of their health and live a better, higher quality life.