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Surgical Symphonies

MARA REINSTEIN J EWISH NEWS INTERN

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ool, clean air. People dressed in
sea-foam green. Lots of stainless
steel instruments. Somebody
passed out on a table. And reg-
gae music playing in the back-
ground.
A scene from your last trip to
the Cayman Islands, perhaps?
Try Dr. Jeffrey Altshuler's op-
erating room at Beaumont Hos-
pital in Royal Oak. Dr. Altshuler,
along with several doctors in the
area, prefer sound over silence
when performing surgeries.
It's not a party in there, but it

does, says Dr. Altshuler, liven
up the mood.
"Playing music really relaxes
the doctors," says Dr. Altshuler,
a cardiovascular surgeon. "And
it keeps me focused."
At Beaumont, a sound system
isn't provided, so doctors must
bring in their own CDs and
stereos (which must be approved
because of possible electrical
hazards). Usually, Dr. Altshuler
and his team vote by consensus
on what music will be played
during each operation.

"We play a little bit of every-
thing," says Dr. Altshuler. "Usu-
ally it's current music like
Cowboy Junkies or the Dave
Matthews Band. And when it's
nice outside, we put on the reg-
gae."
Not every operating room is
so egalitarian. Over at Sinai
Hospital in Detroit, doctors al-
ways know what's coming when
chief of surgery Eduardo Phillips
performs an operation — all
classical, all the time.
"It gives me great pleasure to

listen to Mozart, Tchaikovsky or
Beethoven," says Dr. Phillips.
"It's not only soothing, but it's
pretty, and I've always been a
fan."
And Dr. Phillips hopes that in
the process, his residents will be-
come fans, too. "It's a general ed-
ucation for them," he says. "I
encourage them to go to the [De-
troit Symphony Orchestra], and
I often quiz them on the selec-
tions we hear during a proce-
dure."
SYMPHONIES page 70

