The Anatomy of Deception - Lawrence Goldstone [110]
“You must understand, Ephraim,” interjected the Professor, as Halsted took a sip of tea, “that the innovations Dr. Halsted employed at first made him an object of ridicule. He was, after all, only twenty-eight years old. Soon, however, the results inspired many to copy his methods while arousing the enmity and jealousy of others.”
Having seen Burleigh operate, I did not need to be persuaded of that.
Halsted waited until he was certain that the Professor had finished before speaking again. “By 1884, I was at the peak of my profession. I had perfected radical mastectomy, a technique that bears my name and has saved the lives of hundreds of women. I also developed techniques for emergency transfusion and saline infusion as a treatment for shock. I was teaching anatomy to private students, was an attending physician at four hospitals, and was engaged to perform surgery for private patients who paid up to ten thousand dollars for my services.”
Ten thousand dollars? I almost asked Halsted to stop to confirm that stupendous figure, but he was continuing as if he had said “ten dollars.”
“I was also, although it is difficult to comprehend now, considered one of the leading bon vivants in New York, accepted and valued in the highest society. Then, Dr. Carroll, I read an article that changed my life. Karl Koller, a German ophthalmologist, had introduced a solution of cocaine, an alkaloid of Erythroxylum coca, to his own eye, and then pricked it with pins but felt no pain. He had successfully anesthetized the cornea and conjunctiva. Koller, like Mikulicz, saw only the narrow applications of his finding, but I knew at once that he had discovered that cocaine could block individual nerves. It was potentially one of the most important discoveries of the century. As you know, at the time, surgeons had to choose between chloroform and ether. Ether was safe, but unreliable. Anesthetized patients had been known to get up off the operating table and walk away. Chloroform was more reliable, but extremely hazardous. Cocaine seemed to hold promise of both safety and reliability and so I felt I needed to test it at once. I recruited a like-minded colleague at Roosevelt Hospital and we injected ourselves with a solution of the drug.
“Before I continue, it is important to point out that Hall and I were correct. Nerve blocking was possible and cocaine was a correct agent to achieve the result. But, as you know, there were other results as well. I continued my experiments and within months, I had become addicted.
“I hope for the sake of your soul, Dr. Carroll, that you never have to cope with addiction. It is not, as portrayed in dime novels, a fall from Grace brought on by weak character or a plunge into sin—it is a far more insidious phenomenon that comes on gradually, soundlessly, invisibly. The poor wretch who is afflicted is the last to know and, by the time he does know, the vise has clamped shut and he is doomed.
“We all pass through adolescence, believing that we are in control of our destinies, that life is an exercise in free will. If one’s will is sufficiently strong, there are virtually no obstacles that cannot be overcome.” A wry smile passed across his face. “I know I believed so.
“At Yale, I became a superb athlete despite a lack of stature. Although I received what might best be described as mediocre grades, after I purchased a copy of Gray’s Anatomy in my senior year and decided to become a physician, once again, by dedicating myself to the goal, I made it so. My career was testament to the power of will and the drive to succeed. And success fathered success. What’s more, my achievements were not simply such that they brought me personal wealth or fame—I was saving lives, many lives. If there was a formula as to how one should lead one’s life, I had found it, or so it seemed.
“Imagine then, Dr. Carroll, if you will, the shock when I realized that not only