Neurosurgeon Henry Marsh Reflects on the Agony of Error

at 10:00 AM
Save ArticleSave Article

Failed to save article

Please try again

This article is more than 7 years old.
Close up of Assistant handing tools to surgeon (Getty Images)

When a surgeon errs in a procedure, the doctor becomes "villain and perpetrator, or at best incompetent, no longer heroic and all powerful." So writes Dr. Henry Marsh in "Do No Harm," a meditation on his decades-long career as one of Britain's foremost brain surgeons. Marsh is a pioneer of "awake" brain cancer surgery, a procedure that helps limit damage to a patient's speech and motor functions. He'll talk about the art and science of neurosurgery and the fallibility of those who practice it.

Mentioned on air:

The Terrible Beauty of Brain Surgery (The New York Times Magazine)

Guests:

Henry Marsh, neurosurgeon, visiting scholar lecturer, University of California San Francisco; author of "Do No Harm"; subject of the 2007
documentary "The English Surgeon"

Sponsored