Uncertainty: A Surgeon’s Lessons on Making Hard Decisions in Unclear Situations
Living with uncertainty is hard, but living without it is unrealistic. A framework to face uncertainty can help.
Living with uncertainty is uncomfortable, but living without it is unrealistic.
To succeed in life, we must learn to coexist with uncertainty and thrive in its presence. It’s not easy or comfortable, but it is reality.
So here is what I have learned about dealing with uncertainty from one of the most uncertain careers: surgery.
This Isn’t Going to End Well
“This isn’t going to end well,” I told myself after I hung up the phone.
The Emergency Department had called me about a hemodynamically unstable 86-year-old woman who they were concerned needed surgery.
Operating on octagenarians is always risky, and operating on unstable ones is an order of magnitude more dangerous. People at the extremes of age have little physiological reserve, meaning it takes all their energy and health to get through a normal. Thus, they have nothing more to give when a big insult occurs.
