Path of Medicine With a System

Chapter 263: The patient’s life or death doesn’t matter!

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

Sandstorms in northwestern China during spring would truly be ferocious. Sand would fly everywhere in the sky. If the wind was on a stronger scale, then flying rocks would also be included. If you could see even five meters in such a dark sandstorm, that would be considered excellent visibility. It was also said that sandstorms which started near Beijing would fly all the way over the sea to Korea and Japan. That was how powerful these sandstorms were!

Since it would be impossible to rely on expert doctors from a major city, then the hiking group could only rely on Chasu City Hospital! The Hong Kong businessman was from a powerful business family stretching back for many generations. Normally, someone with his financial status should have been just like a king. However, his family had a poor opinion of China back in the day, and focused only on following England. But in the end, England became weaker, and China became ever stronger. The government basically ignored this Hong Kong family, which mean that they wouldn’t be considered important! So, although the Hong Kong businessman was really rich, here in mainland China, he was just like any other rich person.

If this businessman was from some other rich and powerful family instead, expert doctors probably would have come over even if it was raining swords down from the sky. That was just how things were in China. Still, the local businessman had quite some influence as well. He used his connections to contact Superintendent Ouyang.

For this type of matter, the hospital didn’t need to hold a hospital-wide meeting. It wasn’t like treating this patient was a direct order from the government higher-ups. Superintendent Ouyang wouldn’t so easily make things into a major affair. She sent out an ambulance and emergency doctor, and then had the hospital administration director contact expert doctors from general surgery, proctology, urology, orthopedic surgery, cardiology, and respiratory departments.

“Superintendent Ouyang, should I notify Zhang Fan?” Superintendent Ouyang’s command had been to notify the expert doctors, but did Zhang Fan count as an expert doctor? He was really hard to classify. His official job title was still a really low-ranking resident doctor in rotation, yet his medical skills were amazing. He really was ridiculous.

“Yes, of course summon him over! Are you just going to let him have free time to go work at other hospitals?” Superintendent Ouyang answered without even raising her head. She was giving face already by not mentioning Zhang Fan’s hospital!

“Okay!” The hospital administration director chuckled as he left Superintendent Ouyang’s office.

In Chasu City Hospital, Zhang Fan was mostly renowned for orthopedic surgery, proctology, and liver tumor removal surgery. Although he was highly skilled at all other types of surgery as well, he hadn’t gotten a chance to show off his skills in other areas yet, so nobody knew about his skills. This was because he had yet to have a chance to perform highly difficult surgeries in other fields.

He was renowned in orthopedic surgery, proctology, and liver surgery because he already had such accomplishments. How was a doctor’s reputation supposed to spread? It wouldn’t be due to their patients. Very few patients would actually understand much about medicine. It would be the hospital’s other doctors and nurses who would spread a doctor’s reputation. No matter how large or what type of hospital it was, it would always be the same regarding this.

Clinical doctors were different from those in other professions. Especially when it came to surgeons, they would have to possess actual skills. Things were slightly easier in internal medicine as perhaps you could gain some reputation by writing theses or researching a certain topic, but in surgery, reputation could only be gained through accomplishments.

Only surgical accomplishments would matter for surgeons. Writing 500 theses wouldn’t possibly compare to being able to perform one type of highly difficult surgery. Someone who wrote 500 theses could only be considered a scholar, not an expert surgeon.

China’s expert surgeons who flew all over the country due to high demand were all those who had showed their experience and techniques within their department first, and then became renowned in their hospital. None of them had relied on theses to become famous. If they were at a good enough hospital capable of helping them reach greater heights, then people from elsewhere would start inviting the expert doctor. So, any surgeon’s reputation would have to rely on those in the medical field to help support them.

Maybe the department director at a provincial Class A hospital wouldn’t be capable of performing certain highly difficult surgeries, but the director would still be a highly skilled observer. How good the invited expert doctor was at the surgery would be easy to discern. If the invited expert doctor wasn’t good enough, then nobody would want to invite them again in the future. There were only a few expert surgeons who were considered good enough to be invited to fly all over the country. Every doctor from provincial level downwards would also soon learn if an expert surgeon wasn’t skilled enough!

Zhang Fan had his accomplishments. If medical fields were organized into factions, then Zhang Fan had already conquered the factions of orthopedic surgery, proctology, and liver tumor removal surgery.

If things were based on Zhang Fan’s level of support, he actually had more support from the proctology department than the orthopedic surgery or general surgery department. First of all, orthopedic surgery and general surgery were both major departments at all hospitals. Sometimes, the directors of these departments would be even more powerful than a vice superintendent.

Since these departments were powerful, there would also be more talented individuals and greater competition. Although these doctors all recognized Zhang Fan’s talent, that didn’t mean that they supported him. There could only be one director of each department. The lower-ranking doctors wouldn’t have any hope of becoming a director if Zhang Fan was around. So, in the general surgery and orthopedic surgery departments, only the directors really liked Zhang Fan. Meanwhile, things were the opposite in the proctology department. During Zhang Fan’s two weeks there, he had gained the loyalty of all the proctologists in the department!

The proctology director had cut his vacation short and hurriedly returned to his department. Since he really lacked money due to having just gotten married, he started severely reducing the lower-ranking proctologists’ money again! Thus, the proctology department’s situation was reversed from the general surgery department and orthopedic surgery department’s situation. The proctology director was highly on guard against Zhang Fan, while the lower-ranking proctologists all supported Zhang Fan!

When the ambulance met up with the hiking group’s cars, the group hurriedly transferred the Hong Kong businessman over to the ambulance. Although the ambulance wasn’t as expensive as the luxury cars in the group, the ambulance would have emergency treatment equipment! The ambulance then lit up its sirens! When emergency department Doctor Li saw the Hong Kong businessman’s injury, he didn’t dare to touch the injury!

The patient had already gone into a state of shock! The patient’s group included seven or eight luxury cars which were Jeep Wranglers, Mercedes Benzes, and so on. It seemed like the patient even had bodyguards. Doctor Li then turned to look at the patient’s bulging abdomen! Doctor Li gave the patient some cardiotherapy and oxygen therapy, without daring to do anything else.

To explain rather simply about emergency treatment, this would be a complex yet systematic treatment method. Time was often of the essence for patients in severe condition. This would really test a doctor’s foundational skills.

The emergency doctor would need to make certain decisions within a really short period of time. Oftentimes, it would be unclear what the proper treatment should be. Whether or not to use a certain medication, how much of it to use, and so on would be decisions that an emergency doctor would have to make, often in only 10 or so seconds. There wouldn’t be any time to slowly consider.

So, it would normally be attending physicians or even higher-ranked doctors who would be emergency doctors. Also, there was a problem with China’s overall medical system. The great majority of doctors wouldn’t dare to take or wouldn’t volunteer for the responsibility of being an emergency doctor.

For an illness, if the doctor didn’t have a guarantee, then an ordinary doctor wouldn’t dare to break away from standards to do anything else. If you saved the patient, it would be said that was what the doctor should have done in the first place. If the doctor couldn’t save the patient, then any nonstandard action or treatment would have to be discussed. Since medical lawsuits existed, maybe the doctor’s attempt to save the patient’s life would actually spell immense trouble for the doctor instead.

That was why most doctors, especially the younger doctors, would follow medical standardization as much as possible. These emergency doctors would only treat problems that they were certain they could treat. They wouldn’t treat anything that they weren’t certain about without lab results to back them up. No matter if the patient died or not, this would help the emergency doctor to avoid responsibility!

This was also because the courts mostly focused on evidence. The doctor said that the patient had coronary heart disease, so the doctor gave the patient some heart medication, but then the patient ended up dying. Without the support of an ultrasound or electrocardiogram, just how could the doctor declare that the patient had heart disease? Why did you think that you could use heart medication? Just based on the symptoms alone? That would be nothing more than a joke!

Doctor Li didn’t dare to do anything. He dared even less to touch a patient like this, who was obviously quite powerful and influential. His medical skills were limited, so this was all he could do. Anything more? Sorry, the patient would have to wait for a more skilled doctor! Honestly, this plight of the Chinese medical system was truly terrible! It was a tremendous pity for both patients and doctors! Just how had this problem come about in the first place?

When emergency doctors all felt that they should do as little as possible in order to avoid making mistakes, and that doing as much as they could would only end up in them being blamed, then that was the end of this entire job field! Special circumstances and special illnesses would require doctors to bravely use scientific methods to try and treat things. Not treating the patient would certainly end in death. Treating the patient might end in life, or it might end in death. But when certain people blocked off this path which might end in life, those people had truly harmed a tremendous number of others!

“Treat him!” a bodyguard viciously roared at Doctor Li.

“This is all I can do! I don’t dare to do anything else! I’ve never treated this specific situation before!” Emergency department Doctor Li became afraid. This wasn’t because he hadn’t learned enough in medical school! This was more a problem with Chinese society!

The bodyguard became so angry that he forcefully shoved Doctor Li, causing the latter’s head to crash into the car window. *Clang!* Doctor Li could only bear it! This was how difficult emergency doctors had it! Not only would they need to be experts in internal medicine and surgery, they would also need to know martial arts to defend themselves! Any emergency doctor who didn’t know martial arts would be in danger!

The emergency doctors could only bear with their situation! It was their own fault for becoming doctors! It was their own fault for not having the ability to save others! It was their own fault for joining this field!

The ambulance swiftly arrived at Chasu City Hospital. Superintendent Ouyang didn’t come to receive this patient. She wouldn’t personally receive any patient who wasn’t at a certain level. Otherwise, she would have to constantly receive patients, and wouldn’t be able to get any work done.

The patient was brought to the emergency department. Whoa! His injury really seemed quite cruel. The patient could only be laid on his side, with a nurse supporting him. Lying him flat on his face would run the risk of suffocation, and his injury was on his anus, so he could only be laid on his side.

The patient’s green hiking pants were now soaked in black streaks of blood all over, even down to the ankles. The wooden stake was as thick as a child’s arm, and was stuck deep inside the patient’s anus. Black streaks of blood were still constantly dripping down the wooden stake!

“Hurry! His blood pressure can’t be sensed any more! His pulse is constantly disappearing! His vein channels have already been opened, and cardiac stimulant has already been administered!” Doctor Li hurriedly shouted to the team of expert doctors waiting at the ready as he helped support the nurse as they hurriedly run with the patient. This was an emergency doctor! Doctor Li was actually a passable one!

The emergency treatment to save the patient began!