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Surgeon keeps working through heart attack

An Italian surgeon continued operating on his patient despite suffering a heart attack during the procedure.

Dr. Claudio Vitale of Naples was halfway through removing a brain tumour when he noticed the effects of the attack, but realised that his patient would not survive if he left to seek medical assistance for himself.

“I couldn’t leave him at such a delicate moment,” said Vitale, who underwent his own operation to clear an artery after he was finished with the surgery. “I’m not a hero, I only did my duty.”

“I’ll have a week off and then I hope they’ll let me get back to work,” he said.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .