CONFESSIONS OF A BRAIN SURGEON

Henry Marsh was one of Britain’s top brain surgeons, operating on thousands of patients over a 40-year career. After retiring, Henry received his own life-threatening diagnosis – advanced prostate cancer. This shift from doctor to patient has given Henry a new perspective on life and death and his ground-breaking career. Now, as he awaits his own medical results, Henry is facing his past, to learn lessons that he can pass on to the next generation of surgeons. As he is grapples with the cases of patients who died in his care, a chance encounter leads to a meeting with a family who have blamed Henry for the death of their son for almost three decades. He also explores the impact his work had on those closest to him, revealing the huge emotional and personal challenges of a job where every day came with life and death decisions. Having pioneered a controversial technique to remove tumours from patients’ brains whilst they were still awake, Henry admits how easy it was to become arrogant as a brain surgeon. Looking back, he can see there were times when he thought he was a surgical ‘superhero’ but now stresses the importance of recognising and sharing your own mistakes. Featuring unseen personal archive from throughout Henry’s life and career, this film also sees Henry travelling the world to talk to the upcoming doctors, who he hopes to help by being honest about his own experiences.