On injuring the common bile duct:
There are two cardinal sins, in my estimation, for the general surgeon. The first, the sine qua non of a surgical screw-up, is injuring the common bile duct. Nailing the bowel with a suture while closing an abdominal incision is the other. Each tends to bespeak carelessness, and I’m sorry to say I’ve done both. Only once each, thank God, in what I’d conservatively estimate to have been around ten thousand operations (not all, of course, subject to those particular errors.)
