Chapter 631: Please Come This Way
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“We have already found three suitable patients. When would Doctor Ling want to see them?” Xu Wen stood beside the glass wall and discussed things with Zuo Cidian.
The patient behind the glass wall was in a stable condition, and Xu Wen who was an associate chief physician did not really need to go and check on the patient. Truth be told, ever since the patient had agreed to be part of the teaching material of Beijing University Sixth Hospital, almost a hundred medical staff members checked on him every single day. There would definitely be no accidents as he was basically being watched round the clock.
Even though Zuo Cidian was not that adept when it came to making ward rounds, the moment they talked about Ling Ran’s surgery schedule, countless details immediately appeared in Zuo Cidian’s mind. He immediately asked, “Have all three of them signed the agreement yet?”
“Yes. We have made sure that they understand it being an experimental treatment.”
“In this case, I’ll ask Doctor Zhang Anmin to carry out some basic checkups. If they do indeed fulfill Doctor Ling’s requirements, we’ll start arranging for their surgeries. The patients understand all of this, right?” Even though Zuo Cidian did not know much about hepatectomy, he was good at making arrangements.
Xu Wen nodded. “We have explained everything. Since the Ling Hepatectomy Technique is suitable for people of old age with primary liver cancer, most hospitals would not recommend that they receive surgery. Since these patients really want the contrary, they were very willing to cooperate with us.”
“But they might not end up being chosen.”
“Yes, and they have a rough understanding of the situation.” Xu Wen shrugged. It was impossible for the patients to understand the situation completely as it was after all, related to their lives and deaths. But from another perspective, there was no point for patients whose cancer cells had spread or whose body was not healthy enough for hepatectomy to receive surgery in the first place.
Even though a lot of patients insisted that they might as well try everything possible since they were going to die anyway, those who had been doctors for a long time knew that no patient was ever truly resigned to the fact that he was going to die.
In hospitals, patients and their family members always believed in miracles, and doctors were the only ones who did not believe in miracles.
Every single maneuver could only be perfected after hours of practice. It was the same with every single surgical method, and this involved the passage of time, the hard work of doctors, and the sacrifice of patients. Dreams did not always have a foothold in reality.
As Zuo Cidian only started working in a tertiary Grade A hospital when he was over forty years old, his way of thinking and his style of doing things were not like those of ordinary doctors. He put more consideration into things too. He glanced at Xu Wen and specifically reminded Xu Wen, “Doctor Ling will be spending most of his time operating on patients, so we must take that into consideration and make all the necessary arrangements for him.”
“Definitely. Such mindset must be why Doctor Ling has achieved success at such a young age.” Xu Wen agreed immediately.
Zuo Cidian smiled. “Doctor Ling is definitely a lot more talented in the field of medicine compared to ordinary doctors too.”
“That’s for sure. Even when it comes to suturing patients, Doctor Ling is a lot more skillful than many doctors who have had years of practice.” Xu Wen gestured. “And Doctor Ling holds the needle holder like someone who had put in a thousand years of practice…”
Meng Shan could not take it anymore.
As he sat at the corner of the room, Meng Shan said begrudgingly to Old Hei, “Government hospitals nowadays are really going down the drain. Those bootlickers are really going all out. Seriously, Doctor Ling was not even anywhere near him. Is there really a need to flatter him to this extent?”
Old Hei shrugged. He was from a government hospital, and he too, wished that he could be a skilled bootlicker. Old Hei found it pretty ingenious for Xu Wen to be flattering Ling Ran behind Ling Ran’s back. Where was the sincerity in flattering other people right before their faces? With the advent of social media nowadays, someone might just upload a conversation of Xu Wen and Zuo Cidian to the internet, and Ling Ran would be able to see it.
The thought of this did make Old Hei tremble. Meng Shan did not have to worry so much, as he was no longer working in a government hospital. However, he still had to mingle with the doctors in Beijing…
“Well, Ling Ran is considered a pretty good surgeon as he knows how to perform hepatectomy in patients suffering from liver cancer. But is there really a need to flatter him to this extent?” Meng Shan muttered in annoyance. ‘These bootlickers are trying to increase their social value by flattering others. Such detestable creatures!’
Old Hei merely smiled.
“Let’s take some photographs. We can do some research when we get back.” After Meng Shan watched the video, he did not find any loopholes in Ling Ran’s maneuvers. But this did not mean that there were no loopholes to Ling Ran’s newly invented surgical method. Surgical methods without loopholes did not exist in the world. A person could always find flaws in one if he were to set his mind on it.
However, it was quite hard to find flaws in the Ling Ran’s Hepatectomy Technique. Meng Shan knew that he himself was incapable of it, and this was why he had enlisted outside help.
Old Hei was here to help anyway, so he hummed in agreement and said, “Go ahead and do that. I’ll go and check the reports.”
Meng Shan then whipped out his phone and took some pictures.
It was a very normal thing for doctors to take some pictures of patients so that they would remember the case was better. But Meng Shan spent such a long time doing so that he attracted other people’s attention.
Soon, a beautiful woman in modern office clothes walked over and handed them a name card with a smile. “Nice to meet you. I’m Young Liu, a pharmaceutical sales representative from Yunli Medical Company. If you would like to know more about the Ling Hepatectomy Technique, we have prepared more information in our meeting room. You can come with me…”
Meng Shan and Old Hei arched an eyebrow in unison.
Meng Shan said, “Did you guys organize a promotional event or something?”
“We’re mainly doing an introduction, as Beijing University Sixth Hospital has a lot of faith in the Ling Hepatectomy Technique. Yunli Medical Company is just working alongside Beijing University Sixth Hospital, Yun Hua Hospital, and Doctor Ling Ran. Hmm… please come this way.” The beautiful woman was quite a persuasive person, and she managed to get Meng Shan and Old Hei to head to the meeting room nearby.
There was a buffet in the meeting room that was around four hundred square feet. A row of tables with food on them were lined up against the wall, and there were plenty of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. At the same time, there was a projector at the back of the room which projected information about the Ling Hepatectomy Technique on one of the walls.
There were all kinds of information laid out on the tables in the middle of the room. Meng Shan walked over and leafed through them. As expected, there were a lot of photographs and photocopied materials there, but most information that he wanted to know were merely presented in the form of written words.
Meng Shan immediately lost interest.
When the pharmaceutical sales representative from Yunli Medical Company saw the expressions on Meng Shan and Old Hei’s faces, she said with a smile, “The meeting room will be open until ten at night, and you can watch the videos and read through the information provided. You can also eat whatever you like. We have prepared gift packs with the information inside… Oh, by the way, can you guys fill in your personal details over here?”
“I’ll do it.” Old Hei went forward. After he filled in his own details, he filled in the details of another doctor from his department.
After Old Hei was done, Young Liu thanked him and continued with a smile. “Doctor Hei and Doctor Wang, please make yourselves at home. If you guys need anything, you can give me a call or talk to one of our staff members in a meeting room.”
She then flashed another smile and walked away.
Meng Shan stood there with a glum expression for a few seconds before pouring himself a glass of wine and downing all of it. He then said as he leafed through the information. “The Ling Hepatectomy Technique. Wow, such a grandiose name.”
“Well, if it comes to fruition, it will be no small feat.” Old Hei too, lowered his head and started leafing through the information. “Right now, we don’t know about the five year survival rate yet. However, patients of old age who did not use to be able to receive hepatectomy usually only get around another year to live. After surgery, they would at least get two extra years.”
“It doesn’t work this way.” Meng Shan was unwilling to admit defeat. “It’s risky to operate on patients whose liver function is in such a bad state, and even when the surgeries are a success, the patients might not even benefit much.”
Old Hei naturally did not bother arguing with him. They would find out the patients’ survival rate in a few years, anyway.
And the amount of time the patients lived after their surgeries and their survival rate would decide whether this technique became established.
This has always been the way with medical technology. Sometimes, techniques that stirred up a hype would die down in a few years. On the contrary, certain techniques in which people did not place much faith would suddenly become extremely popular after many years because of how many people those techniques saved.
In short, the results seen in patients made or broke a technique.
“Even a patient of mine asked about the Ling Hepatectomy Technique.” A group of doctors standing at the front of the meeting room were speaking rather loudly.
Meng Shan had an idea. He took a stack of information and walked over.
The doctors who were chatting did not know each other before this either. They were watching the video on the screen as they talked.
“The occurence of cancer becomes more likely with age, and the average human lifespan has increased. In the past, people would choose palliative treatment if they were to get cancer when they are seventy. Things are no longer the same nowadays.”
“Expectations have changed. Moreover, people in our country are richer now. Many senior citizens are not willing to spend a lot of money and put their family into debt just to get treated. But if they were from a rich family, they would want treatment.”
“Some of them have so much money that they can’t even finish them up before they die.” A doctor by the side laughed.
“There are also patients funded by the government.” The doctor who was the first one to speak chuckled and continued, “In my opinion, the patients who are treated with the Ling Hepatectomy Technique would live for at least five years after their surgeries. Everyone has the desire to live for as long as possible.”
Everyone nodded.
Even Meng Shan could not help but nod along. He then walked forward and tried to join the conversation. “So, this Ling Hepatectomy Technique really does have promotional value?”
“Don’t you think so?”
“Where is Doctor Ling?” Meng Shan smiled and said, “Don’t tell me that he is hiding at a time like this.”
“Doctor Ling is quite eccentric.” The doctor who was the first one to speak glanced at Meng Shan and scratched his head. “You look pretty familiar. Have we met before?”
“My surname is Wang, and I’m from Beijing Friendship University. I go to general surgery conferences all the time, so you might have met me in one of them before.” Meng Shan pretended to be Old Hei’s colleague. He then turned and said, “You mentioned that he’s eccentric?”
“Yeah. Do you know what he has been doing for the past few days? He has been carrying out debridement and suturing in the Emergency Department. When I saw this, I laughed my a*s off. He was even massaging patients, and a lot of middle-aged women who actively go for square dancing went to him for a massage.”
All the doctors laughed out loud.
Meng Shan had no choice but to pretend to laugh. “He sounds like a pretty weird person.”
“There’s something even weirder. As he worked in the Emergency Department, there were people who approached him to hire him for freelance surgery. The one who offered him the most money promised to pay him 50,000 RMB for each surgery.” The doctor extended his hand and waved. “But he refused the offer.”
“50,000 RMB for each surgery? That’s way too much! Nobody charges this much for a surgery.”
“Not many people in the world are capable of operating on senior citizens suffering from liver cancer. People are willing to pay any sum of money to live longer, anyway.”
“He really made it in life.”
Meng Shan felt a surge of annoyance. As Ling Ran was not even willing to carry out freelance surgery for 50,000 RMB per case, he reckoned that Ling Ran must be extremely hard to deal with.
As he was lost in his thoughts, Young Liu returned to the meeting room in her high heels, making loud clanking sounds against the floor.
“Good day, everyone. We have just confirmed the schedule for Doctor Ling’s next surgery. It will start at six in the morning tomorrow. I’ll paste the details on the wall.” As she spoke, she pasted a few pieces of paper that were covered with words on the wall.
All the doctors rushed forward and registered themselves as they grumbled about how early the surgery was.
