Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
One of Britain's top vascular surgeons, known for operating in war zones like Darfur, Syria, and Afghanistan.
On the island
Eight records
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:13Can you explain a little more about how proximity to death can make us feel more alive?
I mean I've been involved in many crises really where I've been operating in operating theatres and outside you can hear gunfire and you can hear the sounds of bombs dropping and you really have to concentrate on the patient that you're operating on. But it is the fact that it's so intense and it's so dangerous and it's so difficult gives you one, gives me anyway the most incredible adrenaline buzz. When I first started over 20 years ago, you know, I'd never experienced a war before and being involved in the middle of it all and also being very close to people that were being injured and next door to people that were being shot, you realise at the time that life is so precious and so important and to try and preserve it is a wonderful thing.
Presenter asks
3:02What does the surgically austere environment look like? What do you have and what don't you have?
Well, when you're working in the NHS, you've got CT scanners, MRI scanners, you've got groups of people that sit around meetings and discuss things called MDTs, multidisciplinary team meetings, and you've got massive amounts of laboratory assistance. But here, you're really on your own, and you really have to know how to deal with the patient themselves. You have to deal with every single injury, every single medical problem without a CT scan, without an MRI. And you go back to what you were taught to be as a doctor with a stethoscope, your own medical knowledge, and you have to make the right decision for that patient, knowing that, in fact, if you operate on this patient, you might use up all the blood that you have available to you. And the problem is that you won't have any more for anybody else. So it's making those very difficult decisions.
The keepsakes
The luxury
I'm gonna take my fishing rod with me'cause I'm gonna catch that elusive salmon which I've never caught.
Presenter asks
5:44Can you explain what happened when you found yourself operating on a fighter from so-called Islamic State in Syria in 2013?
Yes, I was in the hospital and our hospital was on the front line, probably about 100 metres from the front line, and you could hear gun fighting around. And suddenly, one of the patients started bleeding profusely and lost about a litre, two litres of blood from the chest rain. So we took him downstairs to the operating theatre. And I was with one of my Syrian colleagues, another surgeon, who hadn't done that much thoracic surgery. And as we did an operation called a thoracotomy, suddenly the door flew open and six fighters came in, all with their AK-47s. And the Syrian surgeon looked at me and said, just don't say anything.
Presenter asks
7:25Do you care who you operate on?
I don't care who I operate upon. You know, I think I think to that person, maybe, you know, I'd saved his life, maybe he might have changed his mind about things. And so, you know, we're all human beings.
Presenter asks
10:02What is it about you that has wanted to work in three distinct types of surgery at three big London hospitals?
Well, I do it because it's important for me to keep all the plates spinning. That if I go abroad, for example, and they'll turn around to me and say, well, are you a general surgeon? Well, I am actually because I work in this hospital. And are you a vascular surgeon? Well, I am actually because I work in this hospital. And I've still got so much enthusiasm for surgery. I still love learning new things, new techniques, new operations. I love teaching it to people. I love people suddenly realising, gosh, I can do this.
Presenter asks
15:13What advice did your parents give you about becoming a doctor?
Well, I really wanted to be a pilot, to be really honest with you. And dad said, no, no, no, no, you're not. You're going to be a doctor, you know. So there was a lot of pressure on me for doing that. ... Oh no, he did the right thing. He used to chase me upstairs to work. I would he would sit outside my room, and he'd come into my room and sit there and watch me studying. He was determined I was going to become a doctor determined.
“I didn't say a single word. I was shaking the whole way through and I tried to physically control myself as this was going on.”
“I don't care who I operate upon.”
“I do suffer, there's no doubt about it. It takes me about three months to get over a mission sometimes. And sometimes I'm very angry and and and that's part of the post-traumatic stress. But I think more recently I I've suffered severely when I came back in 2014, almost psychotic um post-traumatic stress.”
“I would never have done that had I not thought I was going to die.”
“If I don't go, those patients will die, whereas if I stay here, I'm not hugely one hundred percent required, whereas there I am, and that's the difference.”