Surgeonsblog contains the reflections of a retired surgeon on interesting patients and cases. This post shows how his early career could have been derailed:

At this stage I wasn’t getting many referrals for major cases. So I was pleased one day within shouting distance of the previous events to see my office schedule included a lady with gallstones. Working though the patients preceding her — lumps and bumps — I looked forward to the upcoming visit. She was still sitting in my waiting room when, according to the receptionist, she began slowly to lean forward and rolled onto the carpet, dead. As the EMTs wheeled the body away, I thought I could see lettering on their backs: Stay away from Schwab….Stay away from Schwab….Stay away from Schwab.

It occurred to me later it could have been worse. The lady had had a workup before she was referred: a healthy 70 year-old. I might well have scheduled her operation and watched the event occur in the OR. Fragile as I was, it could have been the last straw. The gods, I decided, didn’t have it in for me after all: they let me go on with my career. But I’m not sure how they felt about that poor lady.