读者文摘:医生拒绝发明盈利(2)（在线收听）

"Overnight, we went from taking out children's eyes to not taking out children's eyes."

“一夜之间，孩子的眼睛得以保留。”

OAC is now performed in 45 countries, where it allows doctors to save 95 percent of eyes afflicted with retinoblastoma.

如今，眼科动脉化疗技术(OAC)在45个国家投入使用，95%患有视网膜母细胞瘤的眼睛得以治疗。

But there's an aspect of OAC that Dr. Abramson doesn't talk about much, even though it is as inspirational as the technique itself.

但对于该技术的另一方面，艾布拉姆森医生并没有谈论太多，尽管它和技术本身一样鼓舞人心。

He won't make a dime off OAC, because he refused to patent it.

因为艾布拉姆森拒绝申请专利，所以他不会从中赚取利润。

Pursuing a patent, he feared, would have meant keeping the technique under wraps for a long period of time

他担心申请专利意味着很长一段时间内对技术保密，

while the paperwork was approved by the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office.

而文书得到了美国商标和专利局的批准。

In the meantime, untold numbers of children would have suffered and perhaps died.

与此同时，不计其数的儿童深受其害，甚至可能面临死亡。

Patent experts wouldn't venture a guess on exactly how much money Dr. Abramson left on the table by not patenting his procedure.

专利专家不会冒险猜测艾布拉姆森医生不申请专利的话到底还剩多少钱，

But, says Devon Herrick, a health-care economist at the National Center for Policy Analysis,

但是，国家政策分析中心的医疗经济学家德文·赫里克说，

"the purpose of a medical procedure patent is that it allows a doctor to profit by teaching others to perform the procedure."

“设置医疗程序专利的目的在于医生可以通过教别人做手术来盈利。”

By not patenting, Dr. Abramson chose to forgo those profits.

艾布拉姆森医生不申请专利，他选择放弃利润。

"I want people to know that when I endorse something, it's from my scientific heart, not because I had any financial benefit," he says.

他说：“我希望人们知道，当我支持某件事时，是出于科学考虑，而不是因为任何的经济利益。”

"And ultimately, our goal was to help children. Our driving force in this was not to make money."

“我们的最终目标是帮助儿童，不是为了赚钱。”