But if he operates on the throat and kills the patient, or extirpates an internal organ and keeps the whole nation palpitating for days whilst the patient hovers in pain and fever between life and death, his fortune is made: every rich man who omits to call him in when the same symptoms appear in his household is held not to have done his utmost duty to the patient.
"The Doctor's Dilemma: Preface on Doctors"
George Bernard Shaw
If he believes that an organ is at best a useless survival, and that if he extirpates it the patient will be well and none the worse in a fortnight, whereas to await the natural cure would mean a month's illness, then he is clearly justified in recommending the operation even if the cure without operation is as certain as anything of the kind ever can be.
"The Doctor's Dilemma: Preface on Doctors"
George Bernard Shaw
Power gradually extirpates from the mind every humane and gentle virtue.
"The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. I. (of 12)"
Edmund Burke