Abstract :
For 15 years, Anis Baraka, MD, the chair of anesthesiology at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, slept most nights on a sofa in his office, Outside, civil war raged in the streets. Car bombs went off with disturbing regularity. Banks and businesses shut down, and once-beautifulbuildings housed snipers. Most of Dr. Baraka’s colleagues, including all the other department chairs at the university, departed Lebanon in the early stages of fighting, after the university had handed out termination letters that freed the staff to leave. Dr. Baraka’s wife and four children were spiritedaway to Egypt, his home country, never to return. (Fig. 1)
