Carlos Val-Carreres: «Bullfighting surgery has taken away hours of sleep, but it has given me great satisfaction»

I want to show my gratitude to Vocento and ABC for having thought of me to collect, together with Dr.

Carlos Val-Carreres: «Bullfighting surgery has taken away hours of sleep, but it has given me great satisfaction»

I want to show my gratitude to Vocento and ABC for having thought of me to collect, together with Dr. García Padrós, on behalf of the Bullfighting Surgeons, the ABC Bullfighting Award in its twelfth edition. Likewise, my gratitude to all of you for attending this event and my most sincere congratulations to my admired José Antonio Morante for the well-deserved award he received, corresponding to last season.

I belong to a family of general surgeons with four generations of professional practice in Zaragoza, having as part of our work, the assistance to the wounded in the Plaza de Toros La Misericordia; Successively, over more than a hundred years, we have all operated in the infirmary of the old Zaragoza arena.

Personally, I am proud of two circumstances that have made my life easy; firstly, to be faithful to the teachings of my parents, and, secondly, to have the fortune to start a family with my wife Mª Pilar Rivera, the true soul of the house. We have had three children, Carlos, Mª Pilar and Antonio who, dedicated to Finance, Surgery and Law, succeed in their professions.

The treatment of bull horn injuries is an epitome of General Surgery, perfectly represented by the surgeons of the generation before mine. Good connoisseurs of the different anatomical territories, of approaches different from the conventional ones and of technical progress, in addition, they made law of the great surgical principles such as "Indicating is art, operating is technique", of phrases elevated to the category of sentences like that of the Gallic surgeon Léjars, "If in doubt, it is not" and, ultimately, they pondered Voltaire's aphorism, "The best is the enemy of the good", referring to this type of surgery.

But today, the surgeon alone can solve little. He must have a multidisciplinary surgical team that can deal with any contingency; whoever directs it must respond to when, how and where an injury caused by a bull's horn should be treated. This circumstance, fortunately, occurs in all bullrings in Spain.

Bullfighting Surgery has taken away hours of sleep but has also given me great satisfaction. I will point out two: being able to practice General Surgery extensively and feeling loved, in particular, by bullfighting professionals and injured fans and, in general, by the world of bullfighting that has always shown me its trust. To them and to the teams that attend the infirmaries of the bullrings, I dedicate my share of this award.

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