urgeons to mechanics.
“We are not highly trained technicians,” Nazarian told me. “We are physicians with responsibility for the health and well-being of our patients. We can get input from other clinicians, but ultimately the responsibility for determining medical readiness lies with us. That means that we have to examine all the data and studies available to us. Furthermore, you can’t help people by ignoring the reasons they want to go under the knife. With every patient, I exercise discretion as a professional and determine whether the procedure they are seeking is in their ultimate best interest.” The idea that surgeons should defer heavily to the prior assessments of clinicians struck Nazarian as wrong. “You can’t outsource your professional judgement to other clinicians. It’s your responsibility as the last in a chain of treatment to ensure you are doing what is best for the patient now and in the long term.”
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