A giant among men

I don't often dwell on obituaries, but this past weekend the chief trauma surgeon at Boston Medical Center, Dr. Erwin Hirsch, died in a boating accident. By all accounts, Dr. Hirsch was highly esteemed with a medical reach that extended far beyond Boston:

Dr. Hirsch, who was 72 when he drowned Friday in a boating accident in Rockport, Maine, "was iconic," Ullian said. "I cannot think of anybody at this medical center who was held in the same esteem that Erwin Hirsch was."

"He had an impact not only at the Boston Medical Center, but also on how trauma is practiced in the city and in the state as well - and in the country, it would not be unfair to say," said Dr. Peter A. Burke, chief of surgical critical care at Boston Medical Center. "He had a national reputation as a person with an enormous amount of experience. Trauma, unlike other specialties, is something that requires experience because no trauma is alike and you're always dealing with the unknown, really."

He's referred to in the article as a "rock star in the trauma community" which he would have laughed off, but clearly he was a modern-day American hero.