No Minor Patients

Been reading blog updates from Dr. David Lauter, a surgeon on his first MSF assignment (Doctors Without Borders). After his first week he recounted about the 25 operations he has done. 18 of these were considered minor/medium operations in the US (13 cases of incision and drainage of abscesses, 2 groin hernia repairs, 2 skin grafting and 1 orthopedic manipulation under GA). He recounted that these are operations that a young surgeon doesn't dream of doing particularly because these aren't glamorous or challenging (at least he didn't when he was young, and I must admit nor did I). Then he went on writing about those "minor" surgeries. To read more about Dr. Lauter's update please check it out here. He ended his update with these words:

"That sums up my 13 minor operations for the week. When a surgeon is disinterested or nonchalant about doing a “minor” operation, he/she should think of the famous quote by Stanislavsky “Remember: there are no small parts, only small actors” as a metaphor for our trade. Although not terribly glamorous, the good that will come from these operations to our 13 patients and their families is major. Maybe the saying for surgery could go “Remember: there are minor operations but there are no minor patients”.