• Home
  • Practice Focus
    • Facial Plastic/Reconstructive
    • Head and Neck
    • Laryngology
    • Otology/Neurotology
    • Pediatric
    • Rhinology
    • Sleep Medicine
    • How I Do It
    • TRIO Best Practices
  • Business of Medicine
    • Health Policy
    • Legal Matters
    • Practice Management
    • Technology
    • AI
    • History of Otolaryngology
  • Literature Reviews
    • Facial Plastic/Reconstructive
    • Head and Neck
    • Laryngology
    • Otology/Neurotology
    • Pediatric
    • Rhinology
    • Sleep Medicine
  • Career
    • Medical Education
    • Professional Development
    • Resident Focus
  • ENT Perspectives
    • ENT Expressions
    • Everyday Ethics
    • From TRIO
    • The Great Debate
    • Letter From the Editor
    • Rx: Wellness
    • The Voice
    • Viewpoint
    • SUO Corner
  • TRIO Resources
    • Triological Society
    • The Laryngoscope
    • Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology
    • TRIO Combined Sections Meetings
    • COSM
    • Related Otolaryngology Events
  • Search

When Should Aging Surgeons Stop Operating?

by Karen Appold • August 7, 2018

  • Tweet
  • Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
Print-Friendly Version

Harold C. Pillsbury III, MDHarold C. Pillsbury III, MD, Thomas J. Dark Distinguished Professor and emeritus chair of otolaryngology/head and neck surgery at University of North Carolina (UNC) and executive director of The Children’s Cochlear Implant Center at UNC in Chapel Hill, who is 70 years old, also recently decided to scale back his work. He stepped down as department chair, but will still perform otological surgeries. “I didn’t make this decision because I can’t perform surgeries, but because I have a certain sense that if a complication would occur, that colleagues and patients will think I was too old to do it,” he said. He will now work as a part-time professor at the clinic, and will refer neurotological surgeries to his junior colleagues.

You Might Also Like

  • Letter from the Editor: Making the Decision to Stop Operating
  • Experts Discuss Approaches to Aging Cases
  • Triological Society and American College of Surgeons Grants Support Otolaryngology Careers
  • Age of Surgeons May Raise Ethical Concerns over Memory Lapses
Explore This Issue
August 2018

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 | Single Page

Filed Under: Features, Home Slider Tagged With: aging, career, physician burnout, physician wellnessIssue: August 2018

You Might Also Like:

  • Letter from the Editor: Making the Decision to Stop Operating
  • Experts Discuss Approaches to Aging Cases
  • Triological Society and American College of Surgeons Grants Support Otolaryngology Careers
  • Age of Surgeons May Raise Ethical Concerns over Memory Lapses

The Triological SocietyENTtoday is a publication of The Triological Society.

Polls

Where should ENT publications draw the line on authors' use of generative AI?

View Results

Loading ...
  • Polls Archive

Top Articles for Residents

  • Rhinology’s Persistent Gender Gap
  • The Example We Set: Thoughts on the End of Residency Training
  • Is the SLOR in Otolaryngology Residency Applications Contributing to Rural Disparities?
  • Applications Open for Resident Members of the ENTtoday Editorial Board: Deadline Extended
  • A Resident’s View of AI in Otolaryngology
  • Popular this Week
  • Most Popular
  • Most Recent
    • The Dramatic Rise in Tongue Tie and Lip Tie Treatment
    • Empty Nose Syndrome: Physiological, Psychological, or Perhaps a Little of Both?
    • History of the Cochlear Implant
    • Rating Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Severity: How Do Two Common Instruments Compare?
    • From Genes to Hearing: What Otolaryngologists Need to Know About Gene Therapy for Hearing Loss
    • The Dramatic Rise in Tongue Tie and Lip Tie Treatment
    • Rating Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Severity: How Do Two Common Instruments Compare?
    • Is Middle Ear Pressure Affected by Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Use?
    • Otolaryngologists Are Still Debating the Effectiveness of Tongue Tie Treatment
    • Complications for When Physicians Change a Maiden Name
    • ENTs Urged to Look Beyond Refractory Sinus Disease for Underlying Immune Deficiency
    • When a “Blocked Ear” Isn’t Obstructive ETD
    • What Does It Mean to Be Written by a Human?
    • Reevaluating the CMS 90-Day CPAP Adherence Requirement: Persistent Use Among Early Nonadherent Patients
    • Vocal Outcomes After COVR in Porcine Bilateral Vocal Fold Resection

Follow Us

  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • The Triological Society
  • The Laryngoscope
  • Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Cookies

Wiley

Copyright © 2026 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved, including rights for text and data mining and training of artificial technologies or similar technologies. ISSN 1559-4939