If Not You, then Who?
The following in an excerpt from an email message that Dr. Douglas Lundy, President of the Orthopaedic Trauma Association, shared with OTA members in an email on October 10, 2025
Dear OTA Members,
Many of us have heard the maxim “the days are long, but the years are short.” I am certain that nearly every busy trauma surgeon can agree with this statement. We often work to the point of exhaustion; taking expert care of the seemingly never-ending onslaught of injured patients. We pour our best into these broken people, and our very sense of being is often entangled with how well they recover, the relief from pain they experience, and the return to normalcy that they finally attain. The pressure from this obligation can wear down even those of us with the most grit. We toil day after endless day, and the years seem to fly by as we slowly improve in our craft and achieve a sense of excellence in our chosen profession. Under this enormous pressure, it is easy to lose the altruistic passion that once drew us to the “Trauma Life.”
Several weeks ago, I was honored to present at the Annual SIGN conference in Richland, Washington. SIGN Fracture Care came about from the incredible vision of founder, and first ever OTA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Lewis Zirkle, MD. As a US Army physician serving in the Vietnam War, Dr. Zirkle witnessed incredible human suffering from trauma, and he developed a passion to care for those most in need throughout the world. Recognizing the incredible global burden of disease from femoral shaft fractures, he developed the SIGN nail so that patients with these injuries could come out of traction and mobilize more quickly. In just 25 years, SIGN nails have been used to restore comfort and function to over 450,000 injured patients in some of the most challenged areas of the globe.
I have had the humbling privilege of serving injured patients in the developing world since my first trip to Mongolia in 2003. If you are feeling that you have lost your passion for our profession, I strongly urge you to participate in a short-term trip to a hospital in a low-income country. Words cannot overstate the incredible sense of purpose you will encounter while giving selflessly to another person who, without your help, would never receive expert care for their injuries. You will have an epiphany realizing that your years of singular focus to our craft has randomly enabled you to restore in another person, who had absolutely no chance of hope, the ability to live productively again. These patients now have the chance to care for their loved ones and resist the severe threats of poverty from overtaking their families. Your help made all the difference.
You may think I’m being hyperbolic, but in contrast to the communities where we live, many of these locations have absolutely no one who is able to help. The country of Malawi (in central Africa) has one trained surgeon per 400,000 people, and half of the 50 surgeons in the country are general surgeons. There is no one else who can contribute. Without your help, injured patients will needlessly suffer and many will die.
It is impossible to return unchanged from an experience such as this. You will regain your fire for orthopaedic trauma surgery and be renewed in your vigor for our profession. Society invests an incredible amount of resources training expert orthopaedic trauma surgeons, and we singularly devote our entire beings into refining these skills and talents. Losing a single surgeon from burnout is completely inexcusable. We must ensure that we as a profession are capable and protected so that we can persevere in the marathon laid out before us. I am convinced that the best way to attain this self-actualized sense of fulfillment is to compassionately devote ourselves to those most in need. Please consider my plea and seek out opportunities to use your skills to help those most in need. The opportunities are plentiful, and the first step is to just ask the question “where can I help?” (please see the various websites listed below). If not you, then who?
Sincerely,
Douglas W. Lundy, MD, FIOTA, FACS
OTA President