Introduction: A Surgeon's Life
by Sanjay Annigeri, Olivia Battistoni, and Dylan Rasmussen
Statement of Argument:
Although the stigma surrounding Tourette Syndrome places undue social and professional barriers on individuals with the disorder, Dr. Bennett proves that these barriers can be overcome, and the stigma around Tourette's shattered, in his pursuit of surgery.Summary:
At the foot of the Rockies in a small town called Branford (Southeast British Columbia) lives Dr. Carl Bennett--a practicing surgeon with Tourette's syndrome. Dr. Bennett's Tourette’s began to appear when he was about seven, and like many individuals with the disorder, his childhood was marked by a desire to isolate himself (An Anthropologist on Mars, Sacks 85). Despite the significant social, professional, and personal barriers he struggled with throughout out his schooling, Dr. Bennett passionately pursued medicine across the North before finally settling in Branford, a place for which he is so affectionate that “‘[he] never want’[s] to leave it’” (Sacks 86).Following him through several days of patient rounds and a complex mastectomy, prominent neurologist Oliver Sacks sees a drastic shift in his own perception of the disorder and it’s more subtle qualities. Polite incredulity is quickly replaced with profound trust and amazement as Sacks becomes familiar with Dr. Bennett and his habits (Sacks 79, 105). Although providing only a glimpse into his life, Dr. Bennett demonstrates his remarkable ability to overcome the stigma surrounding Tourette syndrome in his pursuit of medicine. Through further analysis of the disorder itself, as well as Sacks’s recount of his time with Dr. Bennett, we will demonstrate that these social and professional barriers are created from a place of ignorance, and serve only to suppress an extraordinary group of individuals.
