The surgeon who saved thousands of lives because brain damage changed his personality

Stephen Westaby has operated on more than 12,000 hearts and estimates that he saved 97% of his patients

Westaby, now 73, is also an innovative pioneer, internationally recognized for having helped develop and refine the use of heart pumps, artificial hearts and circulatory support technology to propel blood throughout the body.

However, he says, his professional career would have been very different had it not been for a blow he received when he was 18 years old.

Although he always had clear his vocation. Westaby knew what he wanted to dedicate his life to when a television show captivated him at 7 years old

After seeing a heart-lung machine in action on the then new BBC medical series "Your Life in Their Hands", he decided to become a heart surgeon.

The coup 

In 1968, "we went on tour playing rugby. One grey winter day we faced a team from Cornwall, who had very tough players and I got a blow to the head that fractured the front bone of my skull."

 "In the locker room I was seeing stars and instead of taking me to a hospital, those medical students took me to the pub. After several pints of beer and falling unconscious, I woke up the next day very sick."

 Now he was sent to the hospital. Not only would he miss out on the rugby tour but that could have been the end of his medical career.

 X-rays revealed a small crack in the front bone of the skull. 

"Head trauma affected the part of my brain responsible for critical reasoning and risk prevention. This explained my new lack of inhibition, my irritability and occasional aggression." 

"Tests from psychologists showed that I scored high on something called a 'psychopath personality inventory,' and the psychologist told me, 'Don't worry, most of the big achievers are psychopaths. Particularly the surgeons."

 "It was expected to return to normal when the swelling went down, but fortunately for me it wasn't."

 What the head injury did was take away the fear and inhibitions.