You know, I've said so many times that when I die, if the Times has an obituary on me, the headline, to my great regret… of course, I'll be dead, will say, author of How We Die. Sherwin Nuland, author of How We Die. That's not my greatest accomplishment. My greatest accomplishment is my family. My second greatest accomplishment is what I have been able to do for sick, sick people for so much of my life, starting when I was a medical student on the wards. I actually do feel that there's something distinctive about my attitude towards sick people, growing out of my experience as a child, that is unique. And it's given me huge gratification. The relationships with patients, the sitting on the side of the bed and talking to patients instead of sitting in a chair or standing at the head of the bed. You know, all of these little things, all the time that I took in my office with patients, rather than rushing anything through. Those personal relationships…

I think in my whole surgical career, I've saved about three lives that other people might not have been able to save just as well. One of them was the woman with the splenic artery aneurism, so it's not that. But I think in my entire career, I've brought something to many, many patients that perhaps other people might not have been able to bring. So that's where I feel my greatest accomplishment has been. So, when that headline is going to say, over my obituary, author of How We Die, that's not what I really want to be remembered for. What I want to be remembered for by the people who knew me, and worked with me, was: be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.