My father was a renowned neurosurgeon and the head of the Dept. of Neurosurgery at Vanderbilt for many years. He was friends with Dr. Davis and attended his funeral where he saw the President and Mrs. Reagan. Another one of Daddy’s friends was Dr. Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon in North Carolina. His son, also named Eben, and also a neurosurgeon, wrote the widely discussed book, Proof of Heaven, which dealt with his near-death experience.
I once knew and worked with a good number of neurosurgeons. As a group they are almost exclusively assholes. In fact the more prominent they are the greater likelihood of their being an asshole. Davis used to make a resident sit at the bedside of his post op patients overnight. I attended a AANS meeting where the President of the AANS gave his keynote speech promoting “Balance” in life and suggested spending more time with family. The asshole was on his third wife at the time. I could go on and on. I met Henry Schwartz once. His residents hated him with a passion. They called him “Black Henry”.
Fun fact about neurosurgeons no one knows. Almost every neurosurgeon in this country has been able to graduate residency, pass his boards exams, and obtain hospital accreditation without ever having seen even one neurosurgeon watch them do even a single procedure. I have actually seen guys finish the residency and literally try to do their first procedure (and kill the patient).