ArthurBWilliamsMD

Summary

• I am a board certified general surgeon with an interest in robotic surgery as well as vascular access surgery for the VA health system. I also enjoy writing about surgery and medicine.

Ode to a little bile bag
Surgery to remove the gallbladder is a relatively late intervention. The first laparotomy was performed in 1807 in Danville, Kentucky, and surgeons like

An operative field of dreams
I am in a select crowd. I have been fortunate enough to help some special people in their time of pain and heartache and bewilderment, facing operation or cance

French Lessons: An alumnus draws solace from what he learned at Vanderbilt
By Dr. Arthur Williams, BA'90 When I was a child, we summered in Paris. We lounged on the left bank, not of the Seine, but of the Big Sandy, because this was no

A call schedule to fix the Supreme Court
Though pushed to the back-burner by the never-ending orange election drama, the Supreme Court, with its significant conservative majority earned against the run

Inside the mind of the surgeon writer [PODCAST]
Explore why this general surgeon wrote a novel, and how writing helps with the stresses that accompany a surgery career. What is his #1 tip for those interested
The Surgeon’s Obol
A novel about the rigors of surgical training through the eyes of a young intern, hoping to prove herself worthy of those that have “crossed over” before her.

The similarities between surgeons and bomber pilots
The patient I was certain I had screwed up on, is going home, with only an inconsequential bit of collateral damage, his bile leak controlled, just a trickle fr

What I Did with My Chainsaw Outside the OR
"Two thousand dollars!?" I sputtered. "To cut down one tree?" "Next month?" "Never mind. I'll do it myself," I blurted and hung up the phone. It's not like I wa

How a Fistula is Like a Marriage
An ode to the seemingly mundane AV Fistula

Excerpt from 'The Surgeon's Obol': A Look into the First Year of Surgical Intern
This is part of the Medical Humanities Series on Op-Med, which showcases creative work by our members. A digested excerpt from a work I wrote a few years ago.
The impact of technology on medicine
A thought experiment on where we are headed in surgery.