Recently, a surgical intervention called the Ilizarov procedure was conducted in Hyderabad for the purpose of enhancing height. What made this interesting and newsworthy was the fact that the individual in question was of a stature that was considered normal in his culture. In a very well-argued paper, Vishwanathan and Nimbalkar respond to press reports and an ongoing debate about whether this surgery should indeed have been performed and also, whether the individual's parents or family should have been part of the decision-making process.