A Physician Becomes the Patient
He spent a lifetime caring for patients. Then he became one.
About The Book
OnSurgery
On Surgery: A Physician Becomes the Patient is a candid and deeply personal look at medicine from both sides of the operating table. Drawing on more than three decades of medical practice, Scott Farrell, MD reflects on how physicians learn the craft of surgery, how judgment develops with experience, and why communication and informed consent matter just as much as technical skill.
What makes this book different is that Dr. Farrell does not write only as a physician. Over the years, he also became the patient, experiencing surgeries, hospital stays, medical tests, recovery, aging, and the uncertainty that comes with placing your health in someone else’s hands. Those experiences gave him a new understanding of vulnerability, trust, and the questions every patient deserves to have answered before making important healthcare decisions.
Through personal stories, professional insight, and moments of humor and self-reflection, On Surgery explores informed consent, surgical decision making, doctor-patient communication, recovery, preventive care, and the changing realities of modern healthcare. Farrell’s message is simple but powerful: good medicine is not only about treating a condition. It is also about listening to the person experiencing it.