Boston Memorial

Boston Memorial is the professional setting in which Ginger Weiss’s surgical training becomes practice: under George Hannaby’s demanding supervision, she assists in a wide range of procedures before taking the senior surgeon’s role in a major operation. The hospital marks both the rigor of her apprenticeship and the pressure of the responsibility she has spent years preparing to bear.

Residency and mentorship

After completing an additional two-year program in cardiovascular pathology at Stanford, Ginger moved East and joined the residency at Boston Memorial. She found a mentor in George Hannaby, the hospital’s chief of surgery, known for pioneering work in cardiovascular procedures. Ginger completed the first three-quarters of her two-year residency without a hitch, establishing the hospital as the setting for a sustained period of demanding clinical training.

Hannaby’s surgical service

Ginger worked exclusively with Hannaby, assisting in many of his procedures. The work ranged from aortal grafts and amputations to popliteal bypasses, embolectomies, portocaval shunts, thoracotomies, arteriograms, and the installation of temporary and permanent pacemakers. Hannaby watched her closely and corrected the smallest flaws in her skills and technique. Though his critiques could be severe, Ginger understood them as grounded in concern for patients; she welcomed his high standards rather than taking the criticism personally. His unqualified approval mattered to her as the culmination of this apprenticeship.

A first major operation

Boston Memorial is also where Ginger first assumes the senior surgeon’s role in a major, complicated procedure. The patient is Viola Fletcher, a fifty-eight-year-old elementary-school teacher, unconscious on the operating table, with Ginger responsible for the operation. Ginger’s years of education and accumulated hopes converge in this moment of professional responsibility. Her pride in how far she has come is inseparable from dread: the hospital setting makes visible both her achievement and the life placed in her hands.