Looking Down on the Operating Table from the Floor

To put it simply, I did not enjoy going to the hospital in Bonn to watch a coronary bypass surgery. I felt absolutely horrified that a procedure like that has to be performed to save an individual’s life, and I didn’t appreciate that I had to dehumanize the person on the operating table, so that I could stand and watch over the surgery. Yes, it was a huge learning experience for me, which is the reason why I stayed and watched, but I watched someone’s chest be sawed open and heart stop, so that the procedure could even begin. It absolutely horrifies me that a procedure like that has to be done to fix that issue, and I don’t ever want to be a medical doctor.

If anything, I want to be an individual who designs devices or methods, so such surgeries never like that have to be performed. The smell of bone burning in order to be broken and cut through was awful, and I would do anything to find some solution that would cause a patient to take a pill or other device that would unblock the valve of the patient, so that I would never have to think or see that procedure again.

I know some of the girls were really amazed and astounded at the surgeons’ work and all the surgeries they got to see, but the one that I saw was almost too much for me. I didn’t want to be a buzzkill to the others because I know many of the girls want to become doctors, but I believe that there is a better and more efficient method than placing someone under the knife. Although I appreciate all the time and effort these doctors go into saving these patients’ lives every single day, in my head they are just slicing up another individual.

I know as an engineer I still have much further to go before I can even tackle some of these problems, but I truly do believe that in the years to come engineers and biomedical researchers should look into ways that would either prevent the conditions that would eventually require the surgery or methods that would make sure that the condition that needs to be treated would not need to be treated through surgery.