The Story of the Surgeon Who Operated on Himself

The Story of the Surgeon Who Operated on Himself

Normally, whenever a person feels unwell and suffers from a disease ,they immediately go to a doctor for treatment because he knows that doctor will treat me well. But if the doctor himself becomes ill and suffer from such a painful disease and disorder that without surgery can not be recovered and there is no other doctor available to treat him, then he may have no choice but to treat himself,because life is very beautiful and beauty of life based on good and sound health .Treating oneself is understandable to some extent—but a doctor performing surgery on himself might sound unbelievable and a miracle even like an exaggeration. However, in reality, such an extraordinary and marvelous event did take place in the past when a surgeon operated on himself to save his own life.

This incident dates back to 1960, when Russia sent a 12-member expedition team to Antarctica under extremely harsh weather conditions. The environmental condition were so harsh and extreme but the purpose of the mission was to conduct research and establish a base camp in Antarctica. It was a one-year expedition. The team had traveled for 300 days by ship to reach their destination, and once there, it was impossible for another team to arrive and retrieve them before a year had passed.

Among the members of this team was Dr. Leonid Rogozov, who had been included as the expedition’s physician. The 27-year-old doctor initially began experiencing fatigue and weakness due to the severe Antarctic climate because in such harsh condition life is so tough and challenging .but well over time, his heath condition worsened and developed into severe pain on the right side of his abdomen, along with vomiting. Dr. Rogozov quickly realized that these symptoms were indicative of appendicitis—a condition that requires surgical intervention as the only effective treatment.

But the pressing question was: who would perform the surgery? Dr. Leonid was the only doctor among the 12 members of the team. In order to save his life, he made a decision that remains unmatched in history—he decided to operate on himself.

He selected two members of the team to assist him during the operation. To perform the surgery, he positioned a mirror in front of him so that he could see what he was doing. Normally, patients are put under complete anesthesia before surgery. However, since he had to operate on himself, full anesthesia was not possible. Therefore, Dr. Leonid chose to administer only local anesthesia, numbing the area where the incision would be made.

After injecting the anesthetic, he began by cutting through the upper layer of his abdomen and then proceeded to the deeper layers. This led to significant bleeding. One of the greatest challenges he faced while operating using a mirror was the confusion between left and right. Additionally, the severe pain forced him to pause several times during the procedure to rest. His assistants handed him the surgical instruments and ensured proper lighting throughout the operation.

After some time, the most critical stage arrived—locating and removing the infected appendix from among the intestines. When Dr. Leonid finally removed the appendix, he discovered that its lower portion had turned black and was on the verge of rupturing. His timely and courageous decision had undoubtedly saved his life.

The final step—suturing the incision with the help of his assistants—was also extremely challenging. Nevertheless, he successfully completed it. After nearly two hours of intense effort, Dr. Leonid Rogozov accomplished what seemed impossible and etched his name into history by performing his own life-saving surgery.