Breakthrough! by Jim Murphy

Author:Jim Murphy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Dr. William Longmire assisted Blalock during the first blue baby operation even though he feared that the tiny patient might not tolerate anesthesia.

Blalock felt he wasn’t as prepared for this operation as he would have liked. He also knew that every phase of the procedure—from the diagnosis, to the operating conditions, to the postoperative care—was primitive at best. Others agreed with him in hindsight. Dr. William Stoney, a medical historian, noted, “This was an operation that was done before most of the technology to make it easier and safer was available.” Dr. Cooley was even more direct: “Many of us thought this operation was going to be a big disaster.”

Blalock knew that once he had agreed to perform the operation he had no choice but to move forward. Eileen was slowly dying, and the procedure was her only chance at survival. While his reasoning was accurate, it didn’t make him less anxious. He never recorded his thoughts, but another cardiac surgical researcher, Dr. Charles Bailey, may have captured something of Blalock’s emotional state: “You know that almost all the world is against it; you know that you have a great personal stake and might even lose your medical license if you persist. In fact, the thought crosses your mind that maybe you really are crazy. And yet you feel that it has to be done and it must be right.”

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