Daily Press

Got a couple of free hours this afternoon? Ever wondered what a lobectomy looks like (or what it is)? Online at 2 p.m. today, the curious can observe the "minimally invasive" surgery to remove a portion of one lung of a local cancer patient.

In some, Sentara's promotion of its live surgery webcast (at elicits a mildly queasy feeling, the result of mixing education with a voyeuristic kind of entertainment.

But there's something fascinating about the exposure of what's usually hidden from view.

What's the attraction of being able to follow a surgery in real time? Not knowing the outcome? The possibility of disaster? An opportunity to indulge our fascination with all things medical, in a setting other than TV sitcom or documentary? Or is it just a way to sell future patients on Sentara's offerings?

Perhaps it's simply the logical extension to lives lived increasingly in the public domain, from birth to death ---- literally. Reality TV meets medicine, as popularized by Katie Couric's groundbreaking on-screen colonoscopy. Little in the realm of human experience is out of bounds for observers, it seems.

Like Couric's procedure, Sentara's comes with a message: Take care of your body.

Nationwide, more than 213,000 new cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed in 2007. Smoking is responsible for 87 percent. The lesson, according to the American Cancer Society: Most lung cancer is preventable.

Perhaps Sentara is smart to shock smokers into awareness, because those numbers suggest that we're immune to the message unless it's delivered in a way that catches our attention ---- like live, on the operating table.

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