Overview

When I was an intern in 1988, I asked a senior resident for some direction in treating a complicated patient. His advice was simply, “Do the right thing.” Those four hopeful albeit ambiguous words have stayed with me my entire career. Most people would make the assumption that “doing the right thing” is imperative for a surgeon, arises from years of training, and is critical because our actions can be life-saving. Nevertheless, in “Do the Right Thing: A Surgeon’s Approach to Life”, I express my belief that the ability to do the right thing is intrinsic in all of us. We all possess the innate desire, talents, and compassion to make a positive difference in another person’s life, in a community, and even in the world. I present examples from my career and personal life (both the good and the bad) and extrapolate from those to demonstrate that we all possess an amazing ability – when presented with an opportunity to help someone, when given a choice to make a difference, particularly when it may be easier to just walk away, we will choose to do the right thing.