ABSTRACT
The seemingly simple Hippocratic injunction "First, do no harm" has never been all that simple. Hospitals are filled with varieties of knives and poisons. Every time a medication is prescribed, there is potential for an unintended side effect. In surgery, collateral damage is inherent. External tissues must be cut to allow internal access so that a diseased organ may be removed, or some other manipulation may be performed to return the patient to better health. Harm must be done in order to attain the greater good. Since 1980, however, medical technology and techniques have been developed that have significantly reduced the damage to healthy tissue required in surgery; as a whole, these advances are known as minimally invasive surgery. The "First, do no harm" principle seemingly has been maximized by the reduction in incision size common to these procedures. Patients are out of the hospital and back to normal activity within days of a gallbladder removal, because they do not need to wait for incisions in abdominal muscles to heal.
