Movie Review: The English Surgeon: One Doctor’s Personal Mission to Save Lives in Ukraine 

Review by Gerti

This movie is a real rarity – an exciting documentary. “The English Surgeon” tells the story of neurosurgeon Henry Marsh, who recently penned a book ironically titled “Do No Harm”, which tells the story of his long career performing brain surgery in England and elsewhere. I call the title ironic, because much of the book in fact involves the harm he does patients, whether they live or die.

Those who have read the book will find the movie more interesting, as it shows us the doddering old man behind the stories. Marsh is a middle-aged fellow who likes to work with wood and take used medical equipment to his friend in the Ukraine. The drama only begins in the Ukraine, where Marsh has gone for 17 years, as we see how desperately that country and its citizens need the British cast-offs. Marsh takes part in clinic days in Kiev, where people line the hallways in order to sit for a few minutes before Marsh with their x-rays on a light box.

It is very affecting to see him tell patients their fate. Although we mostly follow the case of one young man named Marion who is able to get an operation and is saved, it is the other mini-cases which are heart-breaking. Marsh and his fellow doctor from the Ukraine, whom he calls Igor, debate whether to tell a 23-year-old beauty that she has only 2 years left to live, but first she will go blind. In the end, they send her to get her mother, so she doesn’t receive the terrible news alone.

Another scene of wrenching human tragedy involves a grandmother who brings the x-ray film of her grandchild, but the great English doctor has no hope for her. “What can we do?” she tearfully asks through a translator. Marsh says that they must prepare themselves that the child will die. It is too late. That is the real tragedy here – that many of these patients could have had a better prognosis, but the government-run process to get x-rayed and then see a doctor is so lengthy that their surgical window has closed. This peek at medicine in the former Soviet state is both fascinating and frightening at the same time.

In short, just as Marsh’s book is a terrifying glimpse at the limits of medicine, so is this look by filmmaker Geoffrey Smith at the efforts Marsh has made in the Ukraine. There are glimpses of the humanity of the Ukrainian people, as when Marsh and Igor visit the mother of a little girl who is now dead, but was wrecked by brain surgery. There is video of her before, a sweet and shy child with a large tumor on her face, and after surgery, where she is virtually helpless but yet alive. They visit her village, and her mother, friends and neighbors set out a spread of food and drink for them. It is obvious how deeply all of them are affected by the visit. But the most enduring picture is as Marsh sits alone by the child’s grave, with the gravestone a sculpture of her face. It is then that the viewer can truly see that Marsh regarded at least one patient as a real human being, and feels her loss deeply. This film will make you cry and give thanks that you are in the USA. 

Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery by Henry Marsh

Reviewed by Gerti

It is a popular misconception that the phrase "First do no harm" is a part of the Hippocratic Oath which doctor’s take. The phrase does not appear in the oath, but a similar phrase is found in “Epidemics”, Book I, of the Hippocratic school: "Practice two things in your dealings with disease: either help or do not harm the patient". The exact phrase is believed to have originated with 19th-century surgeon Thomas Inman, but it is used here as the ironic title of this memoir by neurosurgeon Henry Marsh. While “Do No Harm” tells the story of his career in brain surgery in England and elsewhere, I call the title ironic, because much of the book in fact involves the harm he does patients, whether they live or die.

For example, there is the time when he has an assistant start a surgery because it is an “easy” one with which the man is familiar, and after all, students need to learn. Dr. Marsh only comes in once it has been botched completely, and then realizes he should have been there to watch the procedure from the beginning. Nice realization for Marsh; death sentence for the patient.

Another time Marsh is visiting a long-term care facility for patients who are in comas or vegetable-like states and need constant care. These patients have ceramic name plates outside their doors (since they reside there for years) and Marsh notices with shame that at least 4 of the people housed there are former patients of his. He has “wrecked” them, to use the vernacular he says doctors use to describe a patient whose surgery has been left them debilitated.

The book is divided into sections, based on what type of tumor or symptoms the patient is having. Many are bleak with a poor prognosis, but there are some success stories as well. Marsh goes to the Ukraine to help doctors there with their neurological patients, and actually flies a few people to England to see their surgeries occur under the best conditions possible. This peek at medicine in the former Soviet state is both fascinating and frightening at the same time.

In short, much of the book is terrifying, as Marsh talks about how similar normal brain tissue is to diseased tissue, and explains the state of the NHS (National Healthcare System) in England, talking about a room with 20 patient beds in it, something we would never see here in modern US facilities. Enlightening also is how well Marsh himself is treated when he has a detached retina, since he has private insurance and can afford to go to a private healthcare facility. It made me understand why concierge medicine is so popular. The book “Do No Harm” is an inside look at brain surgery that I think few people will be able to stomach. Well written, but with bad outcome scenarios which are scary as hell.