内容简介

The Instant New York Times best seller!

Riveting. ... [Marsh] gives us an extraordinarily intimate, compassionate and sometimes frighte ning understanding of his vocation. - The New York Times

Shortlisted for both the Guardian First Book Prize and the Costa Book Award

Longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction

A Finalist for the Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize

A Finalist for the Wellcome Book Prize

A Financial Times Best Book of the Year

An Economist Best Book of the Year

What is it like to be a brain surgeon? How does it feel to hold someone's life in your hands, to cut into the stuff that creates thought, feeling, and reason? How do you live with the consequences of performing a potentially lifesaving operation when it all goes wrong?

In neurosurgery, more than in any other branch of medicine, the doctor's oath to "do no harm" holds a bitter irony. Operations on the brain carry grave risks. Every day, leading neurosurgeon Henry Marsh must make agonizing decisions, often in the face of great urgency and uncertainty.

If you believe that brain surgery is a precise and exquisite craft, practiced by calm and detached doctors, this gripping, brutally honest account will make you think again. With astonishing compassion and candor, Marsh reveals the fierce joy of operating, the profoundly moving triumphs, the harrowing disasters, the haunting regrets, and the moments of black humor that characterize a brain surgeon's life.

Do No Harm provides unforgettable insight into the countless human dramas that take place in a busy modern hospital. Above all, it is a lesson in the need for hope when faced with life's most difficult decisions.

作者简介

Henry Marsh studied medicine at the Royal Free Hospital in London, became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1984, and was ap pointed Consultant Neurosurgeon at Atkinson Morley's/St George's Hospital in London in 1987. He has been the subject of two major documentary films, Your Life in Their Hands, which won the Royal Television Society Gold Medal, and The English Su...

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精彩摘录

主治医生宁愿做100例手术，也不愿培养1名初级医生。如果遇到笨拙的实习生，培养难度可能要再增加100倍了。每一名医生心中都有一块墓地。每天都需要在紧急又不确定的情况下，做出生死抉择。作为神经外科医生，我在从业早期就学会了如何应对紧张与焦虑的情绪，这是每天工作的常态，无论如何都要坚持下去。外科医生必须要拥有钢铁般坚强的意志、狮子般强大的内心、女人般精巧的双手。（鹰眼、狮心、女人手）作为一名神经外科医生，患者完全康复、把我们忘却，我们就会有成就感。所有患者都会在手术成功之后立刻对我们表示感激，但是如果这种情绪一直持续下去，那就意味着潜在的疾病还没有被根治，他们担心将来某一天还会需要我们。患者认为自己必须恭敬地对待我们，仿佛我们都是瘟神，后者是他们命运中不可预测的因素。他们会给我们送礼物、寄贺卡，称我们为大英雄，有时甚至叫我们上帝。然而，当患者返回家中继续生活，再也不用与医生打交道的时候，我们的成就感才最终实现了最大化。如果患者能够理性思考，他就会询问医生曾做过几例同类手术，然后再考虑是否同意手术。在所有的手术中，如何平衡风险是一个严肃的问题，也是一项复杂的技术、一种经验、一种技巧，更是一种运气。医生的价值正是用他人的生命来衡量的。死亡并非最坏的结果。苏联生产枪炮火箭很在行，但在提供体面的医疗保健方面则无法恭维。拥有火箭的上沃尔特。苏联解体之后，乌克兰独立，其领导人与之前一样，但这个国家及其民众突然之间暴露于外部世界，直面东西欧国家医学领域业已形成的巨大鸿沟。这是一场紧张而忙碌的追逐、猎杀：医生蹑手蹑脚悄然进入患者大脑，接近动脉瘤，但千万不可惊动它。动脉瘤就藏在大脑内部。接下来是高潮部分：医生抓到了动脉瘤并将它困住，用一个闪闪发光、带有弹簧的钛金夹子把它夹除，从而挽救患者的生命。大脑的神秘程度可与夜晚的星空和宇宙比肩。最好把医学看作一门手艺，不要把它当...

——引自第1页

AsapracticalbrainsurgeonIhavealwyasfoundthephilosophyoftheso-called'Mind-BrainProblem'confusingandultimatelyawasteoftime.Ithasneverseemedaproblemotme,onlyasourceofawe,amazementandprofoundsurprisethatmyconsciousness,myverysenseofself,theselfwhichfeelsasfreeasair,whichwastryingtoreadthebookbutinsteadwaswatchingthecloudsthroughthehighwindows,theselfwhichisnowwritingthesewords,isinfacttheelectrochemicalchatterofonehundredbillionnervecells.Theauthorofthebookappearedequallyamazedbythe'Mind-BrainProblem',butasIstatedtoreadhislistofthories-functionalism,epiphenomenalism,emergentmaterialism,dualisticinteractionismorwasitinteractionisticdualism?-Iquicklydriftedofftoslee...

——引自第1703页