The Prisoner and the Presidential Candidate

This was not the typical operating room scene. Yes, I was there, having made the incision to expose the facial fracture that the patient had sustained in a basketball game. I was in the process of fitting the titanium plates to the fractured bones, contouring the plates to bring the cheek fragments into their original position. Sure, my usual OR team was there – my resident, the nursing staff, and the anesthesiologists. Sounds like a usual case.

But also in OR Three stood two armed correction officers, wearing white jumpsuits over their blue uniforms. They were close enough to the patient to be in the same position a nursing student observer might stand. They had escorted the patient into the operating room, and even though the patient was asleep under general anesthesia, they stood by in anticipation of his eventual emergence from surgical sleep.

We finished the case. The patient was awakened and transferred to the recovery room. When he had recovered from anesthesia, and still very sedated, he was handcuffed and escorted by the two officers back to the infirmary at the prison.

How Could I Help Someone Like That?

The question that of course came to many people’s minds, and was voiced by some that day, was, “How can you help someone like that?” Although the guards were very tight-lipped about this prisoner, we certainly knew that he lived at a maximum-security facility, was considered dangerous, and was a flight risk. The injury had been sustained while he was playing basketball in the prison yard, but whether this was from two head colliding while going for a rebound, or a fight over a foul call, none of us knew. We did not know his crime, because we would never ask, and the guards would never tell.

What we do know in these situations is that there is a person who needs our help. As medical providers, we cannot be judgmental. We cannot be biased, when it comes to taking care of someone. If such ideas do come into our heads (and they do, since we are, of course, human), we must suspend them and do the task at hand. I have taken care of gang members, criminals, and other people whose acts I cannot condone. But I take care of them because, at that moment, they are my patients, and I have a responsibility and a desire to give them the best care I can.

In those moments, it is the disease that is reprehensible.

The injury is reprehensible, not the person.

Obligation Means Focusing on the Task at Hand

This may seem difficult, counter-intuitive, and perhaps impossible. But, in fact, it is easy to do the task at hand when we remain focused on our obligation. In this case, the obligation is to improve that person’s medical condition. It is not my job to judge, or to say, ”Let him die, or let her suffer with this injury, as they are criminals, and dangers to society.”

I am not the judge/jury/executioner. Perhaps some see my mandate to treat everyone who comes to me, regardless of worthiness, as a burden, but I see it as the commitment I have made.

Presidential Candidates Should Do No Less

Now, interestingly, I was reminded of the prisoner’s surgery while watching the presidential debates. As I was watching our two leading candidates attack each other over emails, videos, servers, and tax issues, a thought came to mind – What is the task at hand? Isn’t the task to help us, the American people, decide who is the best person for the job, which some see as the most important job in the world: the president of the United States?

In the operating room with the prisoner, I asked, “What size plate is going to fit the defect?” I did not say, “This man is the dregs of society and does not deserve a plate.” During the debate, I wanted to ask, “What are you going to do about medical care for my patients?” I know what Hillary Clinton thinks about Donald Trump ’s video, and I know what Donald Trump thinks about Hilary Clinton’s emails.

“Let’s measure the bone thickness to see what screws will fit best in this plate.” A simple question in the OR as I begin to secure the plates. “Mr. Trump, we’ve heard your plans regarding immigration. This country has had so many advances due to the work of people who were, or whose parents were, immigrants. Can you comment on that?” “Secretary Clinton, we know you would not send all Muslims out of the United States, or build a wall between the United States and Mexico. There are people concerned about national security and view that as an immigration issue. Can you outline your national security plan?”

Remember my patient being escorted out by the guards? He was still sedated, in a wheelchair, with handcuffs on his wrists and shackles on his ankle. He went back to the prison infirmary, and I never saw him again. In spite of whatever he had done and whatever kind of person he was or is, I was concerned about his health. I wanted to make sure his wounds healed and that his fractures were stable. I was concerned about the issues.

We the People

This is what I want from our presidential candidates. We know they have baggage and negatives. We know it is hard to suspend our judgment on walls, videos, email servers, and foundation funds. And I realize that whatever my patients crime was had no bearing on my ability to repair his fracture. Yet, what these candidates have done or said does get translated into what we believe their trustworthiness, their leadership skills, and their abilities under pressure to be.

But I strongly believe that we have to ask them, nay, demand from them that they coherently and cohesively address the issues. I want them to suspend the rhetoric, the derogatory comments, and the personal attacks, and instead tell us what they are going to do for OUR country.

We are the American public, proud of our diversity, our resolve, and our voice in deciding who our next president will be. We deserve presidential candidates who will stop judging each other, and we should demand that they focus on the most important people in this election We the People.

My book, Do the Right Thing: A Surgeons Approach To Life is now available on Amazon ! Read an excerpt here .

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