Hunting consultation: the great heart surgeon Vladimir Podzolkov turns 85
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A good fairy tale in real life
My colleague, the wonderful journalist Olga Boguslavskaya, twenty years ago did material for the anniversary of the pediatric cardiac surgeon Vladimir Petrovich Podzolkov, who that day, as usual, had to undergo several operations. Impressed by what she saw – the children were being prepared for the most complex surgical interventions – the next day she called the hero of her essay and asked how the operations went. Podzolkov replied: “We woke up and smiled.”
I didn’t know Vladimir Petrovich then, but Olga’s story was imprinted in my memory primarily with this phrase from some good fairy tale – only in real life, although Academician Podzolkov’s scalpel really works wonders.
We were introduced by surgeon Andrei Seltsovsky, who at one time operated on Valery Kharlamov himself. Andrei Petrovich at that time was the Minister of Moscow Health Care, and there were legends about his tough temper and toughness, but he introduced his colleague Podzolkov almost with admiration: “Heart surgeon from God.” Later I learned that all over the world, to this day, operations are performed “according to Podzolkov,” and in the nineties, the largest American holding recognized him as “Person of the Year.” But when I once undertook to interview Vladimir Petrovich, I almost suffered a fiasco: Deputy Director of the Bakulev Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery Podzolkov, whose incredible modesty can compete with his genius as a cardiac surgeon, preferred to speak about his colleagues, whom he highly values, but spoke more about himself than with restraint, limiting oneself to a few words.
One of his colleagues once tried to provoke Vladimir Petrovich, in other words, to throw him off balance, by asking: “They say that you should be treated by an old therapist, but operated on by a young surgeon?” But Vladimir Petrovich answered with characteristic equanimity: “Age does not matter. Professionalism makes the difference.” I remember asking him: “Where is the line between the profession of a pediatric cardiac surgeon and the courage of a doctor who must look parents straight in the eyes when the question is about the life and death of their child?” He answered, as usual, slowly, habitually weighing every word: “I must always be completely honest with my parents, explaining the difficulties of the upcoming major operation and talking about the risks that will be faced. The most important thing is that my parents and I are allies, since there is no turning back. I’m not a supporter of predicting the percentage of a successful outcome, sometimes we ourselves don’t always know them…” he paused and added. “But, believe me, most operations end successfully.”
The parents of Vladimir Petrovich himself are doctors, and his father headed the Krasnoyarsk Medical Institute for 34 years and was a legendary figure in Siberia. And the future academician himself entered the Moscow residency from the banks of the Yenisei on assignment, defended his dissertation under the guidance of the greatest cardiac surgeon Vladimir Ivanovich Burakovsky, after whom the specialized institute is named. In his book, Burakovsky wrote: “Having become the director of the institute in 1966, I was forced to transfer some of my previous functions into the hands of my employees. Needless to say, I was looking for faithful and reliable hands. These are the hands of V.P. Podzolkov, a born surgeon and widely erudite researcher.”
Like a true Siberian, Vladimir Petrovich was fond of fishing and hunting from childhood, he even had the opportunity to hunt a bear. Although there was a curious incident that Alexey Leonov, who was the first to go into outer space, recalled: “I invited academicians Podzolkov and Buziashvili to hunt,” said the cosmonaut. “There were experienced shooters with us, but I asked them not to shoot if the beast came towards Volodya and Yura. And just imagine, the elk came out to them, stood there and left. For my part, I “got” him. I come running and see the following picture: academicians are enthusiastically drawing something with branches in the snow, some medical diagrams… They ask me: “Don’t tell anyone.” I tell them: “No, I’ll tell everyone. It would be nice to fall asleep while hunting, but then they held a consultation…”
Vladimir Petrovich’s colleague and friend, the outstanding cardiac surgeon David Ioseliani, told me: “You know, Peter, there are people you want to emulate. And one of these is a wonderful cardiac surgeon and person, academician Vladimir Petrovich Podzolkov. We have been friends with him for many decades, and all these years I have admired him. As a brilliant cardiac surgeon and scientist, a citizen with a capital C, he is the standard of modesty and goodwill. Sometimes this modesty plays to the detriment of his image, and yet he does not betray himself. You will never hear words of praise from him in connection with a successful operation or an article written that has a great resonance. We can talk a lot about his professional and civic qualities, but he himself will never say anything about it, it seems to me, even at gunpoint. And today, on his anniversary day, it is especially necessary to say heartfelt words in his honor. Of course, I wish dear Vladimir Petrovich good health and happiness, so that he will bring joy to us, friends, and his patients.”
And for Vladimir Petrovich himself, I’ll add, perhaps, the most important thing – so that in the morning he can say the phrase about his little patients: “They woke up and smiled.”
Newspaper headline:
Consilium on the hunt
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