TOW #4 - IRB - Do No Harm By Henry Marsh

In Henry Marsh’s book Do No Harm, Marsh tells of the highlights and downfalls of his profession as a neurosurgeon. Henry Marsh is a well-known brain surgeon in Britain.  He has worked with other neurosurgeons internationally and has gained credibility through his successful work.  Marsh’s audience is mainly upcoming or current neurosurgeons.  He includes complex vocabulary that other neurosurgeons would understand like “trigeminal nerve” (Marsh 99) and “intraparenchymal bleeding” (Marsh 123).  Most of these words are used without defining, which means Marsh assumes his audience understands.  Although the general audience is medical professionals, from another point of view, this book can be directed to the general public.  With the rise of technology in medicine and new advancements every day, Marsh tells people who may not be educated in medicine how doctors can make mistakes and not everything is perfect.  Marsh uses anecdotes and descriptive language to show his audience how valuable life is and how dangerous and unpredictable surgery can be.  One story that Marsh tells is about the unpredictability of some surgeries: the brain sometimes “suddenly swells and arterial blood shoots upwards, turning the operative site into a rapidly rising whirlpool of angry, swirling red blood, through which you struggle desperately to get down the aneurysm” (Marsh 28).  It is impossible to predict how a brain surgery can go and Marsh describes the panic that sets in when realizes someone’s life can go from perfect to a disaster in a second.  Readers get a grasp of how delicate their lives are.  In addition to anecdotes, Marsh uses detailed descriptions to show how “elegant, delicate, dangerous” (Marsh 14) surgery can be.  One example of this is when he described the work of another surgeon; “he caught the aneurysm, trapped it, and obliterated it with a glittering, spring-loaded titanium clip, saving the patient’s life” (Marsh 14).  Descriptions like this make surgery sound very artful and delicate, many readers feel emotions like gratitude for surgeons who performs these tasks every day.  Marsh’s use of anecdotes and descriptions are very effective in showing his audience that life is valuable and unpredictable.