Do No Harm

Henry Marsh (English: Henry Thomas Marsh; born March 5, 1950) is a leading British neurosurgeon, professor, scientific director and founder of the International Center for Neurosurgery, consultant neurosurgeon, secretary of the Association of Neurosurgeons of the Royal College of Surgeons of the UK, and author of the book “Do No Harm. Stories of Life, Death, and Neurosurgery.”

Henry Marsh is rightfully considered one of the leading neurosurgeons in the UK. He began his education in Oxford, where he studied politics, philosophy, and economics at University College, and then entered University College London, where he obtained his degree in medicine.

Throughout his career, Henry Marsh has performed thousands of brain operations, trained more than one generation of experienced surgeons, tackled difficult tasks, and wasn’t afraid of professional challenges. For example, in the early 1990s he worked extensively with neurosurgeons across the post-Soviet space, primarily in Ukraine.

Apart from medicine itself, Henry Marsh has always been interested in how the environment of hospital buildings affects patients’ condition and the staff’s mood. He also repeatedly addressed the moral side of a doctor’s work. What is it really like to be a surgeon? What does it mean to know that your actions determine not only a patient’s life, but also their personality—the ability to think, create, grieve, and rejoice? The result of his reflections was an exciting, extremely candid, and piercing book “Do No Harm. Stories of Life, Death, and Neurosurgery.”

When we make mistakes or encounter someone else’s, we comfort ourselves with the phrase “To err is human.” But does that comfort the person who became a victim of someone else’s incompetence? And does it comfort the doctor who couldn’t help?

We want to believe that a doctor is infallible in their workplace. In the operating room, all-powerful, never tired, never feels bad, never gets irritated or distracted by random thoughts. But what is it really like to be a neurosurgeon? What does it mean to know that your actions depend not only on a patient’s life, but also on their personality—the ability to think and create, to grieve and rejoice?

At one point or another, every neurosurgeon inevitably asks these questions, because every operation carries immense risk. Henry Marsh, a globally known British neurosurgeon, pondered them throughout his entire career. And the outcome of his reflections is a thrilling, extremely candid, and piercing book, whose core idea can be summed up in two short words: “Do no harm.”