Think Before You Act
Don’t be bounced around.
“Don’t be bounced around, but submit every impulse to the claims of justice, and protect your clear conviction in every appearance.” - Marcus Aurelius
You see it early. Long before the scans, before the labs, before the consent forms are signed.
A patient walks in with a story that starts almost the same way every time. It didn’t seem serious. A fall brushed off. A cut rinsed at home. A swelling ignored because work couldn’t wait. A fever treated with borrowed antibiotics. A pain endured out of pride, fear, or the hope that tomorrow would somehow be different. By the time they reach the ward, the body has already paid interest on that delay. What could have been simple is now complicated. What could have healed fast and clean now needs force, steel, anesthesia, weeks of recovery.
Standing there as a surgeon, you learn a brutal lesson fast- most disasters are slowly accumulating their impetus at any given moment. Like interest, they’re compoun…
