The surgeon who finished brain surgery while having heart attack; said he is no hero
Dr.Claudio Vitale
Claudio Vitale was 59 years old when he performed the surgery that gained him quite a bit of media attention in the west. The reason was not the prominence of the surgery itself but the way he performed it. To be more precise, he did it while having a heart attack.
Vitale,a neurosurgeon in Naples was performing an operation to remove a tumour from a patient’s brain. As if such a procedure doesn’t bring challenges, some way into the surgery the doctor began to get chest pains.
And the pain didn’t look like it was going away. In fact, it only got worse. When the level of pain shot dramatically, his colleagues asked the doctor to get treatment even if it meant he would have to halt the procedure.
Judging it unwise to leave the patient at such a delicate stage of the operation, Vitale declined. He did take a blood test which made it clear that he was experiencing a heart problem. However, Vitale sought treatment only after the completion of the procedure.Half an hour after finishing the surgery, Vitale underwent an angioplasty procedure to treat the angina attack.
Both the patient and the doctor recuperated.
Later, in an interview to a newspaper, Vitale mentioned how he was only doing his duty and that he wasn’t a hero.
The Italian surgeon performed the surgery at Naple’s Cardarelli Hospital back in 2009. However, he will continue to remain relevant, inspiring doctors across the world with the brave dedication to his duty-something that makes him a hero in many eyes.
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