CHAPTER 207: 207 A FARCE

"Oh my goodness, you guys are finally back." When Wang Chao saw Liu Banxia and Wei Yuan, he reacted as if he were seeing his own family.

"How did they manage to torture you into this state?" Liu Banxia asked with a laugh.

"It’s just too stressful. Without Doctor Wang’s help, I wouldn’t have known what to do. People coming in for alcohol intoxication and fights, and they all happened to come after you guys left," Wang Chao said gloomily.

Liu Banxia chuckled and patted his shoulder. "You’ll get used to it after a few times. I think you managed quite well. The surgery on that patient just now was quite successful; now, everything depends on his recovery."

"Ah... that air-conditioning installer? His family is in a rather tough situation. His wife stays at home looking after their child, who just turned three. The young man has only been in this line of work for less than two years. I think he’s an outsourced worker, and he doesn’t even have insurance," Wang Chao sighed.

"That will be a tough negotiation; compensating him won’t be easy," Liu Banxia said.

"If he gets through the ICU without any complications, that could save some money. Even so, it will likely cost over one hundred thousand yuan, and who knows how many days he’ll have to stay in the ICU."

This is a challenging issue in society today. Many trades seem to pay well, but that’s only if no accidents occur.

Take delivery guys, for instance. Many of them are also outsourced. We understand their hardships, but they also often speed recklessly on the roads.

As for today’s air-conditioning installer, it’s hard to even consider how he’ll live in the future, or even if he’ll survive this. His current situation is truly precarious.

When I came out of the operating room earlier, I also saw his family. They are also migrant workers in Binhai City. This accident has really plunged the whole family into an abyss.

But in the hospital, situations like these are far too common. Illnesses don’t care if your family is wealthy or poor; when they find you, there’s no escaping.

How many people in the outpatient clinic are diagnosed with cancer but are unable to afford the treatment? How many families have spent a fortune on treatment only to end up losing both their loved one and their money? There are just too many such instances.

"President Liu, why do I feel something is off with Dr. Wei since he came back?" Wang Chao asked curiously.

"He hasn’t quite snapped out of the surgery mode yet. In fact, I’m quite excited. This kind of surgery is so different from routine ones; my adrenaline was pumping like crazy throughout the entire procedure," Liu Banxia said with a laugh.

This wasn’t a lie, nor was he trying to provoke Wang Chao; he himself was genuinely thrilled.

In today’s rescue of the air-conditioning installer, I wouldn’t say I performed a great service, but I definitely played the part I was supposed to. It’s a good thing I decisively spent 5 points on agility; otherwise, under those circumstances, I really would have struggled to reach the external iliac artery.

Because there were too many branching vessels in the patient’s abdominal cavity, and the surgical field was so poor. It wasn’t like palpating with such clarity when there are no foreign objects present in the abdominal cavity.

Not to mention, after finishing the surgery, I received so much encouragement from many doctors I didn’t even know—an honor I’d never experienced during my entire time at the Second Hospital.

A doctor’s happiness is quite simple, isn’t it? Seeing their monthly salary makes them happy, receiving thanks from patients makes them happy, and being accepted and recognized by their colleagues makes them equally happy.

"Ah... I’ve got to double my efforts, or else you guys will leave me far behind," Wang Chao sighed. This was somewhat of a sore point for him; the gap between himself and Liu Banxia was growing ever wider. Even though they had a good relationship, he couldn’t help but feel competitive. How much has Liu Banxia grown? If I were to sum it up in four words, it would be ’out of my league.’ If it had been like this when he first arrived at the Second Hospital, it would have been understandable. But this gap had developed in less than a month.

"Take it easy. Don’t rush. All you need to do is be well-prepared in advance," Liu Banxia comforted him.

"In the future, our Emergency Department will never be short of surgeries. When patients come in for routine surgeries, I’ll assign as many as I can to you."

"You need to learn more about anatomy. Today, you witnessed Director Zhou’s true skill. In less than half a minute, the patient’s spleen was removed. And that was after he’d already been operating for several hours today; I can’t even imagine it."

"Is that true? I’ve heard that Director Zhou is very skilled, but I didn’t realize he was that excellent," Wang Chao said in surprise.

"Yes, our level is still too low. We can perform surgeries, but whether we can do them well is another story. There aren’t that many patients who can afford to wait for you to slowly dissect. My maneuvers today were far too slow," Wei Yuan also chimed in.

As they were talking, noisy voices came from outside, and several people rushed into the waiting hall. It was the family that Liu Banxia had once had a conflict with.

"What? You want to make trouble again?" Liu Banxia stepped forward.

"We’re not here to make trouble; we just want an explanation. Our relative can’t just die in your hospital for nothing," one of them said.

"If you want an explanation, you can go to the hospital authorities. If you want to sue, then sue. If you cause a disturbance in the Emergency Department, the police can take you away. Do you understand?" Liu Banxia said with a smile.

"Who are you trying to scare? Our relative died here, so we must pay our respects here," another one spoke up.

"Do you genuinely not understand, or what? Is this how you’re supposed to conduct a medical dispute? That won’t work," Liu Banxia said seriously.

"Causing a disturbance here will delay patient treatment, and you will be held as third-party responsible for all ensuing consequences. This is the Emergency Department; it’s different from the inpatient department."

"And let me tell you in advance, since all three of you are here: I’ve already contacted my lawyer. They should be filing a lawsuit directly with the court tomorrow."

"If you’re here for treatment, go register now. If you’re here to stir up trouble, you better think carefully about whether you’re prepared to bear the legal responsibilities that could follow."

Liu Banxia’s words left the people somewhat dazed. This wasn’t the outcome they had anticipated. They had even brought a portrait of the deceased and offerings, but now they were unsure whether they should set them up.

"Wang Chao, who’s the officer on duty upstairs today? If anyone is still causing trouble here in five minutes, call the officers upstairs directly." Liu Banxia glanced at them, tossed out the sentence, and then sat down to the side.

"I want to speak to the person in charge," the first man who spoke said.

"Hello, how may I assist you?" Liu Banxia walked back and asked seriously.

"Not you, I want to speak to someone who’s in charge," the man said, quite annoyed.

"I am the person in charge. If you want to speak to a higher authority, you’ll need to come back tomorrow," Liu Banxia said, looking at him calmly.

"I initially felt quite sympathetic towards you. After all, seeing someone so healthy just pass away like that is tragic. But haven’t you considered why this happened?"

"The deceased is still in our hospital’s morgue. If you think our medical practice was negligent, why not invite a forensic pathologist to investigate? Are you really seeking justice for your deceased family member, or just trying to extort money from the hospital?"

"Go ahead, take pictures. Feel free to post them online. Here’s my employee badge. I have a clear conscience about what I’ve done, and I’m not afraid of what you might say online."

"If you still don’t understand the consequences of delaying treatment for necrotizing fasciitis, ask someone who knows, or even look it up online. This is a society governed by law. Don’t think you can take advantage of every situation."

The people looked at each other, gave Liu Banxia a fierce glare, and then left.

"Oh my, they just left? Just like that? Are they kidding?" Wang Chao exclaimed, surprised.

"It’s because their consciences were bothering them. Our admission process was flawless, and they probably know it too. They just wanted to take advantage and extort some money, just like a staged accident scam," Liu Banxia said nonchalantly.

"Banxia, not bad at all. You’re finally starting to carry yourself like a leader," Zhou Li said as she walked over.

"Sister Li, stop teasing me. I truly intend to sue them. Director Zhou is also very resolute regarding the deceased patient," Liu Banxia said, smiling.

Everyone assumed that would be the end of it. After all, with Liu Banxia’s ’righteous’ persuasion, those people had ’seen the light’ and retreated. So, that should have been it, right?

But what was the actual situation? They truly didn’t intend to just accept it like that.

The first wave consisted of a few men. More than an hour later, several women arrived. As soon as they entered, they started wailing. Who knows where they managed to summon so many tears from.

This incident was tricky to handle, and Liu Banxia had no choice but to call the police.

By the time these few people were finally escorted out, it was already the middle of the night. Liu Banxia felt that handling them was more exhausting than performing surgery.

It was all a farce. It’s unclear whether they genuinely didn’t understand the law or hoped that their persistent harassment would result in compensation.

"I really don’t get it. What’s wrong with people these days? They’re so desperate for money they’ve gone mad. You guys should take a break first; I’ll hold the fort here," Wang Chao said.

"Alright, then we won’t be polite. If you can’t handle it, call me. There’s a lot to do tomorrow as well," Liu Banxia nodded, smiling.

Currently, work in the Emergency Department isn’t actually that tiring. Even if the number of admitted patients has increased recently, many are just under observation and can be discharged the next day if nothing is wrong.

Otherwise, if there were truly some critically ill patients, could you even dream of resting at night? You’d be constantly rushing to the wards.

When he lay down in bed, he should have fallen asleep quickly, but now he was wide awake. The images from today’s emergency surgery kept replaying in his head. Although they were two completely unrelated patients, they formed a stark contrast in his mind. The family of the patient rescued today—his relatives would borrow from all over to cover the medical expenses. Yet, the other family, to extort money from the hospital, didn’t hesitate to stage one farce after another.