Piedmont Atlanta cardiac surgeon performs 13 open heart procedures in Ethiopia

At the Marcus Tower of Piedmont Atlanta Hospital on Labor Day, Dr. Jim Kauten had pre-op all to himself.

A few moments of quiet time to look back on his most recent operations, halfway around the world.

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“I felt it was more of an obligation as opposed to feeling good about it,” Dr. Kauten said.

Dr. Kauten is a cardiac surgeon.

He just returned from a 14-day medical mission trip to Ethiopia, where 6,000 patients are on a waiting list for cardiac procedures.

“They have four surgeons in Ethiopia. Just four,” Dr. Kauten said.

Dr. Kauten was part of a 16-person medical team—most of them from metro Atlanta—that performed 91 surgeries.

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Dr. Kauten himself performed 13 open-heart surgeries. The nonprofit Hear Attack Ethiopia organized the mission, with most of the procedures at a hospital called Cardiac Center Ethiopia.

One of Dr. Kauten’s colleagues in the operating room was Mesfin Dollar from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Dollar was born in Ethiopia, and as a teenager was a heart patient who underwent two surgeries. His surgeon was Dr. Kauten.

The good doctor says this medical mission won’t be his last.

“I’m happy I went and I’m going to continue to do that. I just feel that at this stage of my career, this is what I need to be doing,” Dr. Kauten said.

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