In a medical sense I'm a prophet. But I'm not unique. I mean there are many prophets in many different vocations. I happen to be one of them, without sounding too egotistical I am a pioneer. I am doing pioneering stuff in neurosurgery. There is stuff that I'm doing that no-one else is doing.

I feel that I have a good enough social radar to tell good people from bad people.

Some staff doesn't work well under pressure. So I make sure that my staff is very comfortable. I've got a bad reputation for being quite callous when it comes to culling staff. They are selected personally by me. I socialize with all my staff and they know me well and I consider them friends and we travel overseas together.

Life to me is just so precious. I fail to see the wrong in keeping someone alive who's still got quality of life even if it's only for a few months.

The health dollar is very precious. When someone has such a bad condition as brain cancer, we know they're going to die and they're usually going to die within 12 months of diagnosis. They cost a lot of money to keep the patient alive for that period of time. Is it really worth it?

If I've operated on 8,000 brain tumours, if 7,999 patients were satisfied, if I'd done the right thing, if I have funded research like I have, if I've raised millions of dollars like I have, and yet there was one patient out there who was unhappy, I think it's a price that you pay. The good would overcome that one bit of bad.

In a medical sense I'm a prophet. But I'm not unique. I mean there are many prophets in many different vocations. I happen to be one of them, without sounding too egotistical I am a pioneer. I am doing pioneering stuff in neurosurgery. There is stuff that I'm doing that no-one else is doing.