Die Once Live Twice (37 page)

I read journal articles published by William Halsted to understand his research and radical mastectomy surgery.
The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery
was my source for information on Marius Smith-Petersen. A monograph on techniques and instruments used for amputations in the Civil War was my source for the Stonewall Jackson operation. My friend Doctor Joe Oliver described for me the gynecological techniques necessary to save Marion’s life when she had the traumatic abortion. The description of the flight of Howard Florey, Ernest Chain, and Dennis Heatley is based on factual accounts of the event, although we do not know who the pilots of their plane actually were.

The conversations of real people in this novel are fictional. The inner thoughts and actions of doctors during operations and treatments of patients are created from my experience and the experience of my many doctor friends. I hope these scenes will allow the reader to experience the stress, joys, and anguish of being a doctor.

The history of medicine did not stop with World War II or penicillin. In fact, its most exciting new treatments were developed after World War II and into the 1980s. Penicillin opened the way for discovery of treatments for adult-acquired heart disease, cancer, and arthritis; for stubborn viral diseases such as polio, measles, and mumps; for the growth of pharmaceutical companies, which developed psychiatric drugs and multiple antibiotics; and for devices for orthopedic and cardiac operations, even cataracts. These new discoveries made the business of medicine profitable and drew politicians to become involved in providing access for all citizens to these new treatments. But that is a story for another book.