But throughout history, there have been risk-taking, don't-give-a-shit doctors who were part Rambo, part MacGyver and part House (specifically, the crazy part of House).

When you go to the doctor, you usually just assume the person probing your colon or manhandling your boobs is a perfectly sane, highly educated individual. Otherwise you wouldn't let him get so intimate with your inside parts.

5 Robert Liston: Speed Surgeon

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In the world prior to the 20th century, every wound was a potential case of gangrene. The only cure was to amputate the gangrenous limb, which sucked even more than you'd think, as this was also a world without anesthesia. Pain management was nothing more than a swig of whiskey and a knock on the head with a hammer, Tweety Bird style.

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While the patient was just told to quit whining by the now inebriated doctor.

So in those days, a merciful surgery was a fast surgery. When the gangrene fairy hit your house and the leg had to come off, the best you could hope for was a surgeon with sharp instruments, a lightning-quick hand and careful precision.

Robert Liston had the first two.

The Badassery:

Liston could amputate your whole leg in less than three minutes -- skin, bone, muscle, tendon, right through. When every second is filled with excruciating pain and blood loss, that speed had to have made Liston seem like an angel of mercy. Though speed comes at a price.

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"I came here to perform surgery and I don't much care upon who."

The Insanity:

Let's imagine it's 1820 and your leg has turned so green people think you're a quarter Hulk. You've taken your whiskey and hear your doctor walk in the door. Then you hear your audience walk in the room, followed by the booming, confident voice of the doctor demanding, "Gentlemen -- time me!" Suddenly, your lifesaving procedure is now performance art for Robert "The Flash" Liston. Which was probably pretty nerve wracking for everyone involved, considering he was known to swing his scalpel a bit this way and that in the heat of the moment. Sure, he was able to amputate a leg in 150 seconds, but he occasionally took the patient's testicles as well. Just cut them right off.