Tag: Larry Zaroff
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Emily Dickinson’s mystifying in-sight
Larry ZaroffTony ChanPalo Alto, California, United States In “I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—,” Emily Dickinson manifests her mystifying insight into the physiology of the death of vision, going beyond death and living to talk about it (465).1 Remarkably, her poetic vision provides insights into the function of eyesight that parallels what is currently…
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Gregor goes to the doctor
Larry ZaroffPalo Alto, California, United States My clinic is far North in Acres, Montana, perversely, a small town near the Canadian border, where, in October, without permission the dark sneaks in early. My work here, after twenty-six years as a cardiac surgeon in Los Angeles, is the way I want it, a quiet general practice…
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Learning compassion – learning forgiveness
Larry ZaroffCalifornia, United States I once made a technical error that injured a patient. An error of commission. Distressed, I wrote to several cardiac surgeons with whom I was acquainted through training or practice. I asked if they had made similar mistakes and how they were dealing with their mistakes. Were they embarrassed, ashamed? Did…
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To mount a camel
Larry ZaroffStanford University, California For the West, Afghanistan is a country difficult to understand. Though largely Muslim, it is a society made up of multiple ethnic groups and classes, beset by ideological disagreements, with disconnected provinces that are unstable, unconquerable, and often anarchic. All Afghans are culturally mixed, yet are highly independent, believe strongly in…
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A death in the operating room
Larry ZaroffPalo Alto, California, United States Every death is replayed. As if the film were reversed, death would give back a pulse. But the clock is stubborn, unwilling to turn. The operating room is not a time machine. The dead need editing. We want to change things, even small things. Let the final scene play…
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Leonardo’s heart
Larry ZaroffPalo Alto, California, United States The surgeon comes to the operating room at seven a.m. for her eight o’clock mitral valve repair. A warm-up. Before any heart operation she always checks the elephants in the room. At that early hour, alone with her elephants, she feels closely connected to them, her better hands. An…