Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Doctor, how’s my son?”
The moment they opened the door of the operating theater that led to the corridor, anxious family members of the patient immediately crowded over. The patient’s father, who was more than sixty years old, stood at the forefront. All his hair was white, and his face was covered in wrinkles. He basically looked like Zuo Cidian’s younger brother.
A few of the patient’s relatives who were busy chit-chatting also walked over with their hands clasped behind their backs. They surrounded the doctors and pretended to be concerned.
Song Shang took a deep breath. “We encountered a minor problem during the surgery…”
“Huh?”
“Why would there be a problem during the surgery?”
“Where’s my son? My son…” The sixty-year-old father walked toward the operating theater with his shoulders squared. Fortunately, Lu Wenbin who was at the doorway stood in his way and held him back.
“The patient is alright. Do you want to listen to what we have to say? If you don’t want to, we’ll just leave.” Song Shang was experienced in dealing with patients’ family members. He stopped the patient’s father from entering the operating theater without even moving.
Lu Wenbin exercised his hands. ‘This old man has pretty great strength.’
“Didn’t you guys encounter a problem?” The patient’s father was a little dizzy.
Song Shang said, “We have solved the problem. It happened mainly because your son’s blood vessels are too fragile due to the fact that he doesn’t take care of his health. His blood cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure are high, and he probably didn’t take these problems seriously…”
The patient’s family members were in a daze. They were a little shocked after they heard what Song Shang said.
Song Shang sighed and continued, “During the surgery, some of the patient’s blood vessels in the liver were ruptured. After we tried our best to save him and transfused a large amount of blood, his condition is stable now. But what happens in the next few days will still be very important. As long as he is able to push through the critical period, there shouldn’t be any major problem…”
“He’s still alive?” The hands of the patient’s father trembled.
“Yes, he’s alive,” Song Shang said amicably.
Doctors were usually pretty nice to family members of patients who were suffering from major illnesses.
Also, as the surgery did not go smoothly, Song Shang could not afford to be too arrogant or rude.
After Song Shang talked to the patients’ family members for a few minutes and reassured them, they slowly dispersed.
Song Shang could not help but breathe a sigh of relief. As he walked back to the Operating Area together with Lu Wenbin, he thanked the latter. “Thank you for your help just now, Doctor Lu. If you didn’t stop the patient’s father from entering the operating theater, we would have had to deal with a lot more trouble today.”
“It’s part of my job.” Lu Wenbin looked a little silly as he asked, “Since there was such a major hemorrhage during the surgery, the patient and his family members would probably still blame you guys at a later date, wouldn’t they?”
“They usually won’t,” Song Shang said rather patiently. “This is how things are in Chinese hospitals. As long as the patient doesn’t die, no matter what problem happens during the surgery, we would be able to explain things, and they would listen and calm down. But if the patient were to die in the operating theater, no matter what documents you sign and how you explain that you have not broken any rule, it would be useless… Hehe, you’re still young. You’ll understand after you encounter such a situation a few more times.”
Lu Wenbin smiled. It was not like he really did not understand what was going on. However, understanding could not beat experience.
“No matter what, it’s at least over now. I really have to thank Doctor Ling as well as you guys for this.” As Song Shang spoke, he turned the corner as he led Lu Wenbin into a supply room. He then passed Lu Wenbin an envelope. “This is our expression of gratitude. Doctor Lu, please pass this to Doctor Ling on my behalf.”
Lu Wenbin hesitated for a moment and asked, “Where is this money from?”
Hospitals had to pay doctors for freelance surgeries, and this was also considered a freelance surgery. Although Ling Ran did not have to travel for it, this fact remained unchanged.
However, unlike this, freelance surgery was not an urgent matter, and it was usually agreed beforehand that the patients would be paying for it. Patients who were not willing to pay for freelance surgeries would be asked to seek treatment somewhere else. Of course, if the hospital was looking to perform that particular surgical method, the department could bear the cost for the surgeries of patients who had financial difficulties.
However, things were not that easy when it came to asking a doctor to save the day.
Such a situation happened when a doctor thought that he could handle a surgery, but an unforeseen problem occurred. The patient’s life was in danger, and the patient, as well as his family members, could obviously not seek treatment elsewhere at that time. It might also lead to a lot of troubles if doctors were to talk to patients’ family members about paying other doctors to save the day in the middle of the surgery.
Even Lu Wenbin understood this, so Song Shang naturally knew this very well.
He did not bother to explain much. He said calmly, “Young Liu from our department paid this out of his pocket. He had just been promoted to attending physician last year and is still dependent on his monthly salary, so he can’t pay much.”
The moment Lu Wenbin heard this, he quickly said, “I can’t accept this money, then.”
“It’s not like this money is for you.” Song Shang immediately grabbed Lu Wenbin’s hand to keep the envelope in his hands. He continued, “You’ve met this patient’s family members too, haven’t you? They’re from Bazhaixiang, so they can’t be that well off. So, I didn’t tell them about us asking Doctor Ling to save the day. The rule in our department is that whoever makes a mistake would have to pay…”
“Hang on while I make a call.” Lu Wenbin knew Ling Ran very well. He knew that at the moment, Ling Ran did not really care about making a few thousand RMB from a freelance surgery. He notified Song Shang and gave Ling Ran a call.
Song Shang did not stop Lu Wenbin and waited. After Lu Wenbin hung up, he passed the envelope back to Song Shang. Song Shang could not help but freeze. “He doesn’t want the money?”
“Doctor Ling said that he doesn’t want it.” Lu Wenbin shrugged and said, “Alright, I’ll have to leave now. Do keep an eye on the patient.”
After he said that, Lu Wenbin left in style. He felt that he was as cool as Arnold Schwarzenegger was in the Terminator.
Song Shang was in a daze. He was not shocked because the envelope was returned to him. Instead, he was shocked because of how Lu Wenbin treated the entire deal of returning the money to him as if it was natural.
From what Song Shang could remember, many renowned and excellent doctors from various hospitals were quite reluctant to receive payment after saving the day.
Of course, if they had agreed to a payment beforehand, things would be different. But when there was a situation similar to what just happened, those doctors would usually refuse payment.
However, this was because those doctors were extremely powerful and renowned, and they were not the same as ordinary doctors.
Comparatively, things would be different when it came to doctors who were not as renowned. Take an ordinary chief physician from a tertiary Gade A hospital who was not very renowned as an example. They would not refuse payment after saving the day. After all, they were not very famous, and it would be silly for them to refuse money that was given to them.
However, Song Shang could sense the kind of nonchalant that could usually only be found in excellent and renowned surgeons as he talked to Lu Wenbin. It was as though Lu Wenbin had encountered a situation like that countless times, and he was just like “I don’t feel like it today, you can take your money back and leave.”
In the emergency room, the atmosphere remained the same.
After saving the day, Ling Ran switched on his laptop again and continued to talk to Yu Yuan about research papers. Several doctors who had something to do were still going about their tasks, and the ones who were idle continued to pretend to be busy.
Ren Qi, who was of above-average weight, had hidden intentions as he sat in a seat beside the door. This way, Ling Ran would be able to see him. Moreover, it would be easier for him to get the chance to treat the next patient who came in.
The period of his in-service training was not long. Hence, compared to the permanent members of the Ling Treatment Group, his thirst for knowledge was greater.
A minibus drove over from the distance.
Before other people realized what was going on, Ren Qi quickly rose and walked out of the door to welcome the people in the minibus.
Soon after that, a few young people who were clad in large white coats got out of the minibus.
“Doctor Ling, we’re here to report for duty.” Qi Zao was the first one to get out of the minibus. As medical interns from Yun Hua University who were doing their internships in Yun Hua Hospital this year, Qi Zao and the others had not been given many training opportunities due to the natural disaster that happened in Bazhaixiang. Now that the situation was no longer as dire, after discussing for a while, the medical interns decided to head to the Bazhaixiang hospital branch.
The extroverted Qi Zao was holding a DSLR, and she looked like a woman of culture. She called out to Ling Ran even before she walked through the door.
However, she became a little quieter after she entered the emergency room. She first greeted all of the doctors. She then put down her stuff and grabbed a bottle of alcohol-based hand sanitizer. She stood before Ling Ran as she carefully washed her hands. She then said softly, “Doctor Ling, we’ll here to continue with our internship.”
Ling Ran nodded. He carried out his responsibility as the leader of the treatment group and looked around.
The Ling Treatment Group had nothing much to do today, which was rare for them. From Ling Ran’s perspective, this was one of the rare days where they basically had no work at all.
To doctors, the lack of patients meant the absence of work. Even the permanent members of the treatment group had no work on their plate, and now that there were four medical interns…
Ling Ran suddenly felt the weight of being the leader of a treatment group on his shoulders.
‘What should I do when there is no work to assign?’
“I’ll assign a mission to you guys.” Ling Ran sighed. He needed to make do with what he had.
Qi Zao and the other medical interns had barely settled down when they heard the word “mission”. They were lamenting their fate internally as they stood before Ling Ran.
But when they saw the look on Ling Ran’s face, even the most extroverted Qi Zao did not dare to object.
“You guys learned how to suture when you were in university, right?” Ling Ran asked.
“Yes.”
Ling Ran nodded and called Lu Wenbin over. “Go and buy twenty pomelos. Give five to each of them. You guys remove the flesh and suture the pomelo skin using the simple interrupted technique. Make sure that all the stitches are close together.”
“How close?” Qi Zhao whispered.
“The closer the better,” Ling Ran answered.
Qi Zao hummed in acknowledgment. She then asked in curiosity, “Why pomelos, though. Is there a reason for that?”
Ling Ran slowly said, “I like to eat pomelos.”
The eyes of several pharmaceutical sales representatives who were sitting in the corner lit up. They looked like robots who had just been switched on again.
