Psychic Orthopedics In Haiti

Orthopedic surgeons are tasked with repairing the architecture of our bodies, setting bones straight when they break and correcting injuries to muscles and joints. It doesn’t take a medical degree to know that, most of the time, those structures lie inside the skin. That means that one of the most important tools available to a modern orthopedic surgeon is the X-ray machine, allowing the surgeon to see the problem and form a plan of action before the patient is on the surgical table.

So how does an orthopedic surgeon work in a tent hospital on the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where the best X-ray device available is one normally used for dogs? You practice “psychic orthopedics,” said Rex Haydon, assistant professor of surgery at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Haydon was one of three surgeons who spoke about the challenges and rewards of aiding medical relief in Haiti in a special session of the Department of Surgery Grand Rounds at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

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