Synopsis

By the early 1970s, surgeons were riding the crest of a wave. But controversy and uncertainty surrounded one of the commonest operations in the surgeons' repertoire: radical mastectomy - the standard treatment for breast cancer.

Further Information

More clips from The Courage to Fail

1: Nerves of Steel | The Courage to Fail

BBC Two | 1987 | 48'04''

1830 - a smoke-filled room, crowded with spectators. Their eyes are fixed on a man, restrained on a wooden table, with a leg ravaged...

2: Into the Heart | The Courage to Fail

BBC Two | 1987 | 50'34''

Crippled children, blue and breathless with congenital heart disease, were sent home to die. Operating on the inside of the heart was...

4: A Gift of Life | The Courage to Fail

BBC Two | 1987 | 51'20''

Richard Herrick, a young man dying of kidney disease, is about to make medical history. Surgeons will save his life by transplanting ...

5: End of an Era | The Courage to Fail

BBC Two | 1987 | 48'59''

Christiaan Barnard became the most famous surgeon in the world by successfully transplanting a human heart. Yet so disastrous were the...