When I do an operation, it's half a dozen people. When it goes beautifully, it's like a symphony, with everybody playing their part.

If I became just a brain in a jar - as long as I can communicate back and forth with people, that would be okay with me.

The evidence is that people who enter hospice don't have shorter lives. In many cases they are longer.

In every industrialized nation, the movement to reform health care has begun with stories about cruelty.

In one study, old people assigned to a geriatrics team stayed independent for far longer, and were admitted to the hospital less.

You want to ensure people can do it right 99 percent of time. When we have to fire one of our surgical trainees, it is never because they dont have the physical skills but because they dont have the moral skills - to practise and admit failure.

Man is fallible, but maybe men are less so.