Dr. Religa & His Assistant after 23 Hour Long Heart Transplant Surgery
People say pictures speak a thousand words.
Today we are going to see and know more about one of the most iconic pictures of a doctor / his assistant next to the patient. You might have seen the picture before in social media.
This picture has been judged as one of the top 100 images published in the history of the magazine.
This picture is perhaps one of the most iconic images expressing so many points in one frame.
- The dedication, knowledge & hard work by doctors/health professionals.
- The will to serve and help humanity.
- The will to survive in the patient.
- The evolution of human race to something better.
In this picture you see Dr. Religa sitting next to the patient monitoring carefully the vital statistics of the patient after the heart transplant was completed. The surgery was undertaken by Dr. Religa and his assistant in a marathon 23-hour long duration. Once the operation was completed, the assistant was so tired that he dozed off at a corner.
Dr. Religa was monitoring the vital statistics very carefully. It was the first heart transplant surgery in Poland in the year 1985. The entire operation was done by 2 persons only. It speaks volumes about the dedication of health professionals.
And it was a happy ending. The patient survived and is alive and 88 years old. Read the article below to know about the story and the patient.
There is a great backdrop to this picture. Read the article below to know the story behind this iconic picture of a doctor
The Most Iconic Photo of a Doctor That Shocked the Whole World
Managing and healing the health of individuals is one of the most tiring & stressful jobs ever. It is also one of the most satisfying knowing that you are directly improving the life of patients and individuals who come to you with great expectations.
The Mexican Resident Who Initiated this trending by default
After a Mexican blog posted a picture of a medical resident sleeping behind a desk at a hospital in Monterrey, Mexico, and attacked her for not doing her job, doctors around the world leaped to her defense by posting pictures of themselves caught napping during some of their most grueling shifts. These images are going viral under the hashtag #YoTambienMeDormi (“I have also fallen asleep” in Spanish).
A blogger snapped these pics of a sleeping resident in Mexico at 3 a.m.
The blogger heavily criticized the resident doctor on her blog, and the blog/pics got viral. She stated on her blog in the capital – “The resident was sleeping while dozens of patients needed care. She also added that “doctors are obliged to do their work.”
She posted the pictures and blog without knowing the entire truth.
The truth as per the medical work records was that the resident had been on duty since last 19 hours. That included 12 working hours and 7 hours extra outside her duty time. She started her shift at 8 AM in the morning and worked non-stop till 3 AM the next day.
That is, to state again, 19 hours on a stretch!!!
After that, it was not humanly possible to go back to her home as she had the next shift at morning 9 AM. Due to sheer tiredness, she slept at the reception so that she can get ready tomorrow morning to attend the patients.
Without knowing this entire story, the blogger had criticized the medical resident on a public forum.
So, in support of the resident doctor, doctors from Mexico and all over the world started sharing pictures of themselves and other doctors, sleeping in the hospital dormitory after minimum 12 to 16 hours of duty.
See The Viral Pictures of Sleeping Doctors in the next slide.