Driving through rural New Mexico, Martinez stopped at a critical access hospital where a teenager’s septic elbow joint had eroded the distal humerus. With no specialist on staff, she borrowed general surgery tools and performed an emergency debridement and external fixation, saving the arm.
A steel beam crushed a worker’s forearm. Multiple surgeons recommended amputation. Martinez performed a 14-hour free fibula flap reconstruction, realigning the radius and ulna in what she calls “the hardest line of bone work of my career.” The patient regained 80% grip strength. doctor+adventures+missy+martinez+in+the+line+of+boner+work
Unlike fictional medical dramas that sensationalize romance and rare diseases, Martinez’s real adventures highlight a crisis in American trauma care: the shortage of orthopedic trauma surgeons willing to work “in the line of bone work” — i.e., the irregular hours, high malpractice risk, and physical toll of heavy reduction and sawing. Driving through rural New Mexico, Martinez stopped at
She advocates for: