For the benefit of the sick. In his best ability and judgment. Dr. Zenko Hrynkiw lived up to the Hippocratic oath in the noblest way possible.
Dr. Hrynkiw is the only neurosurgeon at Trinity Medical Center in Birmingham, Alabama, and on Jan. 28 after a surgery in a nearby hospital, he got a call from the charge nurse informing him that he was needed for an emergency brain surgery.
The 62-year-old surgeon determined that the patient only had a 10 percent chance of survival due to brain bleed. With a snowstorm in full blast that day, the doctor's car or any other transportation for that matter was useless so he braved the sub-freezing weather and walked six miles from Brookwood Medical Center. Along the way, he had to stop for a while to rest and help some motorists stuck in the snow.
"He was dying. If he didn't have surgery, he would be dead. It's not going to happen on my watch," said Dr. Hrynkiw, who have had a liver transplant before.
"It was kind of a nice day for a walk. It was kind of a fun journey, unfortunately I had my slip-ons and my scrubs ... so I was not really geared for my adventure," said Dr. Hrynkiw.
The doctor's cellphone also had a fluctuating signal but he got a call while on his way back to Trinity that the patient had deteriorated further and went unconscious.
Steve Davis, the charge nurse, also contacted authorities to ask for assistance but they were unable to locate the neurosurgeon.
According to reports, he started walking 10:45 a.m. EST and reached the hospital doors at around 12:30 p.m. EST and asked for the location of the patient. Dr. Hrynkiw got an update about the patient, talked to the family of the patient, and went to the operating room.
After the surgery, the critically ill patient had a good prognosis.
While his heroic act to saving a dying patient made headlines across the globe, Dr. Hrynkiw saw it as just another day at the job.
To many, Dr. Zenko Hrynkiw could be a superhero but to some, his journey could have been a journey of redemption after all, a risk he takes daily in his medical practice. In 2011, a jury in Jefferson County awarded a $2.2 million damage to a certain Tom Trammell whom the doctor had operated on in 2005. A complicated lower back surgery gone bad might have been a nightmare lingering in the neurosurgeon's mind. Dr. Hrynkiw had appealed the case, but the Supreme Court of Alabama had affirmed the decision of the trial court.
