A neurosurgeon's six-mile trek, and more

last updated 8 January 2015

A neurosurgeon's six-mile trek

Last week’s punishing snowstorm in Birmingham, Ala., wasn’t enough to keep Dr. Zenko Hrynkiw from his duties. The 62-year-old neurosurgeon was working six miles away when Trinity Medical Center called to say that a patient there needed emergency brain surgery. Hrynkiw jumped in his car, but snarled traffic immobilized him. “I’m not getting anywhere in this,” he told a Trinity nurse. “I’m walking.” He trudged through the snow for two hours, then performed a successful operation. The patient was bound to die without surgery, Hrynkiw said, “and that’s not going to happen on my shift.”

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