David Nott

Lately, I heard very interesting podcast about a surgeon, David Nott. He is a very popular surgeon and is the top London vascular surgeon. He works in three different hospitals and he has three different surgeon specialistations. For about twenty years he has worked in conflict zones around the world, for example in Kongo, Afganistan or Syria. Medical professionals have been present in his family for years.  His mother is a nurse and his father is an orthopaedic surgeon. David says that he wanted be a pilot but his father told him that he had to become. Although he felt pressure, his father helped him to become a doctor.

He talks about his first job in a conflict zone, it was during the Sarajevo conflict. Everything was new, he did not understand why for example the place where people save life was demolished. He mentions  a situation when he was operating and was very focused and in one moment he realised that he was alone in the operating theatre. Everybody had left the operating theatre because they were terrified and did not want to die.

David talks about the working conditions in conflict zones. In conditions when bombs explode he must be very concentrated because he is operating at the same time and wants to save life. It is very difficult when there are a lot of injured people around and he hears shots next door.  All emotions are very intensive and raise adrenaline level. He started working twenty years ago and over the years he has understood that life is precious and important.

Additionally, he talks about the Palestinian conflict when  he was working there in 2014. He was working in a big hospital in Gaza city and was preparing one girl for an  operation. Suddenly, his friend told him that everybody had to leave the  hospital because in five minutes it would blow up. David couldn’t leave the girl. He didn’t have a family and was prepared to die. He and one person stayed in the hospital, the operation was a success and  the hospital did not blow.

The journalist goes on  to talk about posttraumatic stress. David confesses that he had this period in life and needed three months to get over it. In relation to this period in his life he talks about lunch with the Queen. She knew that David had recently come back from a conflict zone and concluded that he had a problem. David did not know what to say about work and in that moment the Queen suggested feeding her dogs and  during the twenty minutes of lunch they fed dogs. For him it was amazing. He knew that it this manner  the Queen wanted to help him.

The next topic is David’s family. David talks about his wife, Ellie and says that it was love at first sight. His wife is very understanding towards him and knows that working in hard conditions is part of his life. Also, they have a daughter, Molly. Ellie and David decided to set up an charity. The purpose was to train doctors. He is the chairman and his wife is a chief executive.