The Doctor

“It is one of the most powerful impressions a doctor can experience, seeing a woman who is dying of internal bleeding, who is lifted, without a pulse, pale as a corpse, onto the operating table, then be out of immediate danger once more, with a calm, strong pulse and good colour, after an operation lasting around half an hour.” His patients love him: “Prof. Knaus was an outstanding, I almost want to say infallible, doctor, and an equally distinguished human being. For any question one had, one could turn to him, even if it did not relate to his field of work, and he would always have some advice to give. With his clear, matter-of-fact manner, he was no fan of idle talk, but he was never impatient and was always ready to help.” His ethics and philanthropy also make an impression on the operating room nurses: if ‘no more can be done’ for a patient, he spares her the operation. “Oh, let’s leave the poor thing be,” he says, and prescribes plenty of morphine.