Richard Selzer has died. He was 87 years old.
Throughout his lifetime, Selzer established careers as both a surgeon and a published author. As a writer, he created essays, short stories, and memoirs. According to The Washington Post, he drew inspiration from practicing medicine for many of the stories that he wrote.
Here’s more from The New York Times: “He said that when he started writing fiction, in his 40s, he wanted to write medically based stories that ‘could only have been written by a doctor or surgeon, and yet it would tell a story of human interest.’ They were often based on his experiences, but with imaginative twists. One of his best-known stories, ‘Imelda,’ tells of a plastic surgeon who, after his 4-year-old patient dies, fixes her cleft lip so she will look prettier at the wake. ‘That happened,’ he said, ‘sort of.'”