Blood is the life-force of every human being (and other animals). When
it leaks out of our blood vessels, we die. When the aorta, the biggest
blood vessel in the body, bursts, death usually comes quickly but for a
lucky few it's not instantaneous. For them, survival is possible with
emergency surgery. When a blockage in a blood vessel stops the blood
from flowing, the deprived part of the body malfunctions and may decay
if an operation to relieve the blockage is not performed. When Peter
Harris first became a consultant vascular surgeon in the 1980s, the
operations were big and bloody. When he finished in 2012, scalpels and
saws had been largely superseded by bloodless needle-puncture procedures
guided by X-ray images on a television screen. The evolution of the
technology that made this possible is told primarily through the
experiences of patients and includes vivid and, at times, harrowing
descriptions of their operations and aftermath. Accounts of his own
trials and tribulations and the good times are set against the troubled
backdrop of the NHS starting in Broadgreen Hospital on the outskirts of
Liverpool in 1979 and ending at University College Hospital in London in
2012.
