The Ultimate Responsibility

	The Ultimate Responsibility I wonder if Dr. Verghese, next Monday, will read one of the surgical scenes from Cutting for Stone. Some of them are extraordinary, with some jaw-dropping descriptions and surprises. In Mr. Banville's The Infinities, Petra, the disturbed daughter of the great, dying mathematician Adam Godley, is at work on a touchingly demented project--"her encyclopedia of human morbidity"--that seeks to describe all illness. But as Dr. Ghosh from Cutting for Stone comes to understand, describing illness is one thing, fighting it (surgically) is another; talking another's life in your hands in order to save it is "the ultimate responsibility." Of course, there is still another conundrum for these physicians or would-be physicians to solve. How do they cure themselves? The search for a cure, of one kind or another, is a quest that resonates through both books. Will Adam Godley emerge from his coma? How will the Surgeons Stone (father and son) put themselves back together? Attachment Posted on Wed, February 24, 2010 by Robert Cremins « Go Back No comments (Add your own) Add a New Comment Your Name: Your Email/URL (Optional): Your Comment: Enter the code you see below: Comment Guidelines: No HTML is allowed. Off-topic or inappropriate comments will be edited or deleted. Thanks.