Ann Morris spoke to a variety of surgeons for the Observer Magazine of 17 July 1988 (‘Who should put the knife in?’), including general consultant surgeon Jerry Kirk, who said: ‘The character of surgeons has changed because the character of surgery has changed. It is no longer the blood and guts thing it once was.’
Terence English, a pioneer of heart transplant surgery, was ‘tall, imposing and softly spoken’, and ‘epitomises every patient’s idea of a surgeon’ with his coolness under pressure. The crux of it, he said, was that ‘the transplanted organ has to work perfectly at the end of the operation. It has got to take over the circulation immediately. There is no room for error.’
