Cheeseburger Pneumonia: .And Other Surgery Stories

Sociopaths, Cheeseburgers, and the 'See One, Do One, Teach One' Terror: Brutal Surgical Training of the 70s and 80s

"I wrote this book because the world I trained in has largely vanished. We were improvising at 3:00 AM with limited resources, learning the weight of a scalpel before the internet was there to guide us. It was brutal, it was funny, and it was the making of a surgeon."

Cheeseburger Pneumonia...And Other Surgery Stories offers candid insights into Dr. Anthony Rizzo's experiences during his medical school and residency training in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as his later career as a military and civilian surgeon. Rather than recounting his entire life story, Dr. Rizzo focuses on the unsupervised, often harsh medical training he endured, sharing shocking anecdotes about medical errors, the challenges of working in a male-dominated environment, and the ethical dilemmas he faced while treating patients.

The narrative begins with his very first surgery involving a bizarre rectal foreign object. It progresses to tackle complex cases and administrative conflicts, such as the requirement for mandatory open-chest cardiac massage during his residency. It also covers his service as an Air Force surgeon at locations such as the Azores.

Throughout the text, a clear contrast is evident between past and present medical practices, and Dr. Rizzo emphasizes the profound lessons learned from these difficult experiences.

The book contains graphic images of surgical procedures.