Matthew J. Tormenti, MD, MBA, FAANS, FACS A couple years ago, a middle-age man arrived in the emergency room at St. Mary Medical Center, in Langhorne, suddenly paralyzed from his waist down. A blood clot was crushing his spinal cord. Given the circumstances, his mood was pretty lighthearted. I remember him saying something like, “Well, this sucks. I can’t move my legs.” I told him he needed to have surgery, and he needed it immediately. Right before we entered the operating room, his tone shifted.