Fisher's rules: learning from the master himself

In my first year of neurology residency in New York, my consultant, Josh Torgovnick, gave me this paper (Fisher's rules), which has guided me since. 1 The author, Louis R Caplan, was C Miller Fisher's last fellow at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Caplan lists 17 rules that guided Dr Fisher's practice ( figure 1 ). In India, the Sanskrit term for master is 'guru'. It takes years of arduous training for the student finally to attain his guru's knowledge or skills, whether in the Holy Scriptures or in the mastery of a plucked string instrument. Yet in my first year of training I was handed pearls of wisdom and success condensed into two pages.