Dr med. Morris Beshay, FRCS, FEBTS

As head physician of the Clinic for Thoracic Surgery at the Evangelisches Klinikum Bethel in Bielefeld, Dr Morris Beshay, FRCS, FEBTS is one of the acknowledged specialists for the entire diagnostic and surgical spectrum of diseases and injuries of the lungs and chest. This includes all aspects involving the chest wall, pleura and also the mediastinum and diaphragm. Dr Beshay has made a name for himself far beyond the region in the treatment of lung cancer – not least through the use of state-of-the-art precision assistance by video and robots, which support him in complex minimally invasive operations.

Modern care that is competent in every detail, where people are the focus and where they feel in the best hands with sensitive, first-class trained contact persons – it was following this claim that Dr Morris Beshay assumed his post as head physician of thoracic surgery in Bielefeld. This is ideal for a hospital that not only sees itself as a central centre of maximum care in the entire region – but is also one of the most important and thus leading healthcare facilities in the whole of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Dr Morris Beshay has been the head of thoracic surgery at Bielefeld-Bethel since 2015. Even then, his experience was vast: He had been a lung surgeon at the EvKB for almost ten years to the day. As Managing Director Dr Rainer Norden stated at the time: “We didn’t think twice about filling the position of head physician and didn't even advertise it” – because: “I’ve have rarely experienced anyone so positively rated, both professionally and personally.”

Bethel Lung Centre: national reputation

Dr Beshay, who had already played a leading role in the founding and development of the Bethel Lung Centre, immediately made the continuation of this institution a top priority. No wonder, then, that word of the outstanding medical class of the Lung Centre spread far beyond the region in a very short time: A renowned specialist institution with a catchment area well beyond the region offers operations in the chest area at the highest international level here.

It’s above all the high level of expertise of the head physician that makes not only the Lung Centre, but the entire Clinic for Thoracic Surgery special. Because the specialist's treatment spectrum is extremely broad. As an experienced expert in thoracic surgery who has been awarded the title of Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh (FRCS) and Fellow of the European Board of Thoracic Surgery (FEBTS), his medical focus is primarily on operations to remove tumours and metastases – which he is able to do with remarkable success. He has also gained an outstanding reputation when it comes to all kinds of injuries to the lungs and bronchi.

Range of expertise: Malformations of the thorax

The correction of malformations of the thorax is also one of his main areas of expertise – such as when a funnel chest needs to be treated. Dr Morris Beshay can draw on the clinic's innovative equipment: The Evangelisches Klinikum Bethel – which is one of the founding institutions of the University Hospital OWL of the University of Bielefeld, newly established in 2019 – has always attached great importance to treating people from the region at the highest level. All this using state-of-the-art equipment, such as a laser specially developed for lung tissue.

For certain operations, Dr Beshay is able to utilise the latest generation of robotic precision surgery – the DaVinci surgical system – considered the most innovative form of forward-looking precision surgery. With this surgical system – with which Dr Beshay is familiar like only a few advanced surgeons – the specialist transfers every single one of his finger movements to the surgical instruments in the thorax with high precision in the finest detail, whereby the excellent range of movement of the instruments in the smallest space corresponds to his expertise.

With the DaVinci surgical system, Dr Beshay is supported by a high-resolution three-dimensional image of the inside of the body, which can be continuously enlarged. This enables him to recognise even the finest nerve bundles and smallest vessels and to operate with the corresponding precision and gentleness. In fact, some interventions are only possible in a minimally invasive form thanks to this innovation in cutting-edge medicine.

DaVinci operations: Masters of minimally invasive precision surgery

For the patients of Dr Morris Beshay, this minimally invasive precision surgery not only has the advantage that operations are performed with such precision as was hardly conceivable just a few years ago. Modern keyhole surgery also means that postoperative recovery is very fast and associated with less pain – simply because of the particularly small skin incisions. This also shortens inpatient stays at the Bielefeld hospital. And of course there are hardly any scars: This means the cosmetic result is more than satisfactory too.

As a maximum care facility, the hospital in Bielefeld is always geared to every type of treatment. The modern mission statement also includes the fact that international cutting-edge medicine is only possible if all areas are optimally interlinked. The interdisciplinary approach of the hospital also suits Dr Beshay – for example at the Bethel Lung Centre. This renowned institution – which Dr Beshay was involved in founding back in 2006 – is largely supported by the Department of Thoracic Surgery and its director, though not alone: The Lung Centre is run jointly with the Department of Internal Medicine, Pneumology and Intensive Care Medicine and thus has two strong pillars.

Interdisciplinary claim: outstanding care all-round

Dr Morris Beshay turned his attention to the lungs very early on – even during his studies he was fascinated by the fact that we inhale and exhale more than thousands of litres of air every day – and that today in particular, special environmental influences are increasingly putting a strain on our respiratory organs. Especially in a field that deals with several of the most dangerous clinical pictures of all, the high professional competence of a medical team is vitally important.

When Dr Beshay came to Bielefeld in 2005 after working at the Royal College in Edinburgh and at the university hospitals in Zurich and Bern, this step was also linked to his plan to establish an interdisciplinary lung centre here, where proven specialists from different disciplines work hand in hand to provide top-class care for all types of lung diseases and injuries to the respiratory organs. This is exactly what the Lung Centre is all about: It’s here where internists and surgeons contribute their expertise and jointly treat diseases of the lungs and all chest organs at the highest level.

The two disciplines complement each other ideally. Thanks to interdisciplinary cooperation, the centre is not only ideally equipped to deal with all diseases of the respiratory and thoracic organs, the mutual coordination succeeds with perfect smoothness – so patients can rely on the very best quality of treatment. Specialists from the fields of oncology, pneumology, radiation oncology and radiology as well as pathology also attend the weekly interdisciplinary tumour conference.

Quality control: international top results

The tremendous supra-regional importance that the EvKB Lung Centre in Bethel already had shortly after its foundation can be proven. This is also thanks to the fact that comprehensive quality control is not only carried out internally, but also externally: Anyone who has been operated on at the Bethel Lung Centre or the Clinic for Thoracic Surgery is interviewed anonymously by an independent, doctor-initiated quality assurance organisation (AQC) in Switzerland. Dr Beshay deliberately sought this comparison – also because he knew that the clinic achieves extremely good results in an international comparison.

Good results, a top-class reputation and as many satisfied patients as possible – Dr Morris Beshay’s demands remain high. Of course, it’s also important to him that he can rely on everyone in his competent team. This not only applies to experienced doctors – but also the surgical assistant, respiratory therapists and excellently trained nursing staff alike. Dr Beshay’s multidisciplinary approach also includes the fact that his patients can take advantage of the services offered by physiotherapists and psycho-oncologists, if need be. Other services such as social counselling and pastoral care are also on the programme in Bielefeld.