When Dr. Allen Gabriel looked up and saw Dr. Patrick Maxwell standing across the operating table from him on Wednesday, things had come full circle.
And then, when Maxwell took a retractor from Gabriel during the surgery last week to free up
Gabriel’s hands and give his shoulders a rest, Gabriel had to pause and reflect on what was
happening inside the operating room at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center in Vancouver.
“Do you realize you‘re doing what I used to do for you?” Gabriel recalled telling Maxwell.
The genesis for Gabriel‘s observation stretches back to when the now 46–year-old Vancouver
plastic surgeon was a 34–year–old fellow training under Maxwell in Nashville, Tenn. Gabriel used to
assist Maxwell by holding his retractor, among many other things. Then last week, their positions
inverted temporarily, when Maxwell traveled to Vancouver to film surgery educational videos with
his mentee Gabriel, who trained under him from 2007 to 2008.
“The roles were completely reversed this time,” Gabriel said in a phone interview Thursday.
It was the first time Maxwell has filmed videos in Clark County, even though he and Gabriel have
collaborated on other videos, textbooks, papers and creating or refining innovative surgical
procedures.