Overview

The science of surgical care has advanced further in the last 50 years than it has in all preceding years combined. Complicated procedures such as natural and artificial organ transplants, xenotransplants (organs transplanted from non-human animals), neurosurgery (brain surgery), coronary artery bypass surgery, laparoscopic surgery, and "laser" surgery were rare, if not completely unknown 50 years ago, but these procedures are becoming more commonplace today. As with many aspects of our lives, computers have also extended the practice of medicine into previously unknown territory. Indeed, through the use of the Internet, "telemedicine" has become not just a possibility but a probability: soon, surgeons will be able to operate on patients remotely via live "webcasts."

What is more, surgeries generally have become far less invasive, thus requiring in many cases little, if any, hospital stay. As...