How long can a surgeon expect to work in his career?
Generally speaking, a surgeon can expect to work up until 75 but that is the outer rim of performance. Due to decreased endurance, reaction times, and ability to adapt and apply new techniques immediately, performing surgery beyond 75 in a hospital setting is considered impractical. That doesn’t mean that you cannot continue your practise outside the hospital to a later age. Consider being required to perform a triple bypass heart operation at 75 years old on a patient that may have complications. This could take 10-14 hours in the operating room. The human body at that age is not capable of that endurance.
