Viewpoint

The Hippocratic Oath meets the Hudson

FROM THE CHIEF MEDICAL EDITOR

Larry E. Patterson, MD

At this year’s ASCRS meeting, the highlight for me was the Outpatient Ophthalmic Surgery Society’s annual “Perspective” event. The group’s guest speaker was Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the pilot who six years ago smoothly landed an Airbus A320 on the Hudson River after Canada geese flew into both jet engines, shutting them down. All 155 passengers and crew aboard survived. As a pilot, I never dreamed I’d meet this famous man, much less spend several hours with him. I wrote a column when it happened, discussing how I used Capt. Sullenberger’s landing as an analogy to explain to a patient how I handled his surprise back side cataract tear that I encountered in surgery. (http://www.ophthalmologymanagement.com/articleviewer.aspx?articleID=102708)

Sully touched on themes of safety, quality, teamwork and especially leadership. In his book, “Making a Difference: Stories of vision and courage from America’s leaders” (William Morrow, 2012, page 107) he says, “The stories from proven leaders have added depth to my understanding of the nature of leadership. They helped me to see that ultimately, those who become true leaders inspire tremendous loyalty because they care, because they feel responsible for others, because they want others to succeed, and because they want to contribute to the common good, a cause beyond their own basic human needs.”

Sully’s vision applies brilliantly to our profession.

We must truly care — not just for our patients and staff, but also for ourselves. The adage, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care” is apt. Today’s working environment makes it difficult to care, but that’s all the more reason we need to, even when it means spending more time, energy and even money to affect systemic change.

Adopting an enduring commitment to the common good is vital. How? First, by assuming responsibility, both professional and personal. Whether we like it or not, our profession ranks at the top of the food chain, and we must respond accordingly. And the second way we commit to the common good is by abandoning our egos: encourage others to succeed, even if it means their successes will surpass ours.

But you already know this because you took the Hippocratic Oath to do no harm.

It turns out the Captain and I have something else in common. It so happens I too was involved in a successful landing of my aircraft after a bird strike. I’m happy to say the outcome was quite uneventful, both for myself and the plane. Not so much for the impacted sparrow. Or what was left of it. OM

A special note of appreciation from us at Ophthalmology Management to Dr. Kendall Donaldson, who provided her expertise and guidance for this issue on ocular surface disease. Thank you, Dr. Donaldson.