When the Air Hits Your Brain: Tales from Neurosurgery

by Frank T. Vertosick Jr.

“Look at him, he’s decerebrate, he’ll be dead soon. We’ll wait an hour or so and stop back.” “What neurosurgery residency did you train in, my learned friend? Decerebration from posterior fossa lesions isn’t as ominous as you think. Our New York friend could be eating eggs for breakfast by tomorrow.” “Eating osmolyte through an NG tube, you mean. I know a brain-dead guy when I see one, and I have a lady in hepatic failure downstairs.” “Is this a Monty Python skit or something? He isn’t dead yet and you can’t have him. So kiss off.” The large group flowed from the room. We removed the man’s tumor that night and he walked out of the hospital a week later. The donor pool was reduced by one, but this particular patient didn’t seem to mind. Two years passed before his tumor claimed him for real.

Oof, that ending.