Chapter 176: The special nature of doctors

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

“The patient felt dizzy, unwell, and vomited for three days before hospitalizing herself here. After a complete series of checkups, nothing was apparently wrong with her anywhere. Attending physician Hu Zengyang and I performed a detailed physical checkup for the patient together. We coincidentally discovered that when the patient lowers her head, the muscles near her C4 vertebrae will tense up and cause her dizziness and discomfort. According to these symptoms, the diagnosis is quite clear. The patient is suffering because her inferior longitudinal fasciculus has grown thicker.”

At a hospital, those with the best skills would be king. Although Zhang Fan said things in quite a roundabout manner, claiming coincidence and doing it together with Hu Zengyang, which gave face to everyone else, this was still a matter of who had more professional knowledge. Yet, having a good attitude would also be important.

After Zhang Fan finished explaining the process that led to his diagnosis, the new gastrointestinal director immediately objected due to wanting to cause trouble. “Don’t just spout rubbish. This patient doesn’t have the symptoms of oxygen deprivation in the brain. Her X-rays show that her cervical vertebrae aren’t abnormal in even the slightest. Do you really even understand this?”

“How can this be rubbish? The patient’s symptoms and condition both match the diagnosis of thickening of the inferior longitudinal fasciculus.” Zhang Fan didn’t know what was going on with the new gastrointestinal director. However, Zhang Fan would normally respect higher-ranking doctors, so he still spoke quite politely.

“Zhang Fan, rest assured in saying anything that you think. Gastrointestinal Director Chen is no longer a doctor at our hospital,” Superintendent Ouyang told Zhang Fan.

“Oh! This is actually quite simple. The patient’s inferior longitudinal fasciculus has moved slightly to the left compared to most people. She often works for long periods of time with her head lowered due to deskwork. Although this didn’t cause her cervical vertebrae to change form, her inferior longitudinal fasciculus has compensated by thickening itself. If this isn’t fixed for her in time, it’s likely that her cervical vertebrae will also become deformed in the future.”

“Your claims are utter garbage. The images don’t support this at all. What do you even understand? You think that it will thicken just because you said it thickened?” the gastrointestinal director retorted.

“First of all, there was no MRI scan performed on this patient’s neck. There was only an X-ray. You think that the inferior longitudinal fasciculus can be seen on an X-ray? How are we supposed to provide evidence if we can’t see it? Secondly, with only this small amount of thickening, it’s likely that someone like you won’t be able to detect it even if you had an MRI scan. That’s because you’re not knowledgeable enough.” Zhang Fan became angered since the gastrointestinal director was continually being so rude to him. Still, Zhang Fan’s words were absolutely correct. Only the best experts on the spine would be able to discern this thickening of the inferior longitudinal fasciculus.

“What a joke! What would a meager resident doctor like you understand?” The gastrointestinal director then went over to the patient, and claimed, “I’m the gastrointestinal director of Dee University Affiliated Hospital. I feel that your condition requires more advanced checkups, and I can help you contact Dee University Affiliated Hospital for the most advanced medical checkups around.”

As he said this, he felt that the patient would gratefully agree immediately as Dee University Affiliated Hospital was a provincial hospital which was renowned in the border province.

“Oh! There’s no need for that. Chasu City Hospital’s medical level is pretty good.” Zhang Fan’s first massage treatment for the patient had obviously been effective. The patient was no idiot. She knew better than anyone else if the treatment worked or not. That was why she instantly refused this whatever director’s recommendation without even hearing him out.

Superintendent Ouyang and the other Chasu City Hospital doctors all smiled when they heard this patient’s response. The patient was being far too great by causing the rebellious gastrointestinal director to lose face.

“Oh! Are you really certain? Your condition seems quite severe. You shouldn’t let things get any worse. You’ll really regret it if a minor problem becomes a major problem in the future!” Although the gastrointestinal director was unable to personally diagnose what was wrong with this patient, he could only continue with what he was already doing since he had burned bridges with Chasu City Hospital already.

“We also have every checkup that’s available at the provincial hospitals. We can give you more complete checkups in a bit!” the hospital administration director offered to the patient.

The patient and her husband became rather confused. ‘What’s going on? Why are so many doctors fighting over us?’ The husband and wife exchanged glances, and could both tell that the other was rather perplexed.

They were now somewhat shaken by the director’s words. They were just ordinary people who had never been viewed with such great importance before. They were getting a little scared.

“How do you feel right now? Maybe we should go to Raptor City after all?” the husband doubtingly asked his wife.

“I don’t know!” The patient no longer had any confidence.

“You see, don’t be misled by the doctors here. You really should go to Dee University Affiliated Hospital in Raptor City.” The rebellious gastrointestinal director felt really proud of himself for being able to suppress an entire hospital all by himself!

Actually, this wasn’t because he was amazing or anything like that. This was simply the issue of competition between higher-level hospitals and lower-level hospitals in China. This was something that the Chinese medical field truly felt a headache about. Patients no longer trusted in the lower-level hospitals. Anyone who had even a slightly more serious illness would go to visit a provincial hospital, or even go to Beijing or Shanghai. The end result was that the largest and best hospitals in China were completely overcrowded and busy with performing the most basic work, which caused dissatisfaction to both patients and the doctors there.

[Author’s note: Whose fault is all this? This author doesn’t know!]

“It’s fine if you want to go to a higher-level hospital as they’re more professional. I won’t force you to get treated here. However, let’s just say this. How many times on average do you vomit per day since you started feeling unwell?” Zhang Fan didn’t try to stop the patient from going to another hospital, since he felt this would only make the patient more suspicious if he did so.

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“About 20 or more times per day!” the patient answered after she thought about it.

“Right now, there’s two methods available to verify the diagnosis. The first is to immediately have an MRI scan done on your neck. But, even if we do this, I think that a certain person wouldn’t be able to understand it. Although that person was previously a doctor from a higher-level hospital, I bet that person couldn’t handle things there anymore, so he came here instead to just make do.”

The gastrointestinal director wanted to respond to this insult, but Zhang Fan didn’t give him a chance as he continued, “The second might take a little more time, but it will be a really good way to verify it. It’s currently three p.m. right now. With your average amount of vomiting, that means you’ll vomit approximately once per hour. Let’s time things starting right now. If you vomit before ten p.m. tonight, I’ll personally pay for your trip to Raptor City.”

Zhang Fan was absolutely confident in himself. He had grinded with his System for two years already. What use would that have been if he couldn’t have at least this much confidence now? He might as well quit being a doctor if he couldn’t be confident about this! Since this director had been so directly rude to him several times already, calling his diagnosis rubbish, Zhang Fan no longer treated him politely or tried to give him any face.

The patient was now really confused about what was going on. However, she did know one thing: that Zhang Fan’s treatment for her had really been effective.

“How about we wait for two days? If I still keep vomiting after two days, let’s go to Raptor City then,” the patient told her husband.

“How can you possibly wait around when you’re sick! Are you educated or not!?” The gastrointestinal director wasn’t being careful with his words any more due to his anger. Well, of course he would be impatient for the patient to leave Chasu City Hospital. It would be completely different for him if he was fired from here vs. suppressing the entire hospital on his way out. He could no longer return to the provincial hospital after quitting his job there to come here. If his reputation became completely ruined, how was he supposed to survive at his next job at Chasu City Chinese Medicine Hospital?

“Hey! Just who do you think you are? Did I invite you to come treat me? Just what is your job? Who’s your leader? Do you have any class? What the hell, you think you’re educated just because you’re wearing a doctor’s coat? You look more like a cook to me!”

The patient was quite angry now as well. She had been really annoyed over the past few days due to all her vomiting. Now, someone was laughing at her for not having an education? This really was a sore point for her as she only had a high school education. In the current day and age, even undergraduate college students weren’t considered that valuable anymore. She already felt rather inferior at her workplace due to only having a high school education. Now, even a doctor was laughing at her when she came to get treated? Of course she wouldn’t be able to stand for this!

Ordinary people wouldn’t be able to stand up to a middle-aged woman who exploded in anger. The gastrointestinal director’s face went yellow from being called a cook instead of a doctor in front of everyone like this.

“If you dare to spout any more rubbish, I’ll sue you!” The patient then smiled at Zhang Fan. “I can feel for myself that I really do feel much better. Previously, I would always feel dizzy if I became even slightly emotional. That felt really good right now!” Not only was the gastrointestinal director really scared, even her husband had been really scared by her outburst just now!

“Just how did you cure her?” The gastrointestinal director still felt unwilling about all of this. He could now tell that the patient was truly feeling better. Just earlier this morning, she had still been obviously in a weak state. Yet, she now seemed so lively and energetic in her anger! She didn’t seem to be ill at all! The gastrointestinal director had really lost a lot of face!

Zhang Fan was about to speak up, but Superintendent Ouyang spoke first. “That’s a matter for our own hospital. There’s no need for you to concern yourself. Please leave now. I’ll send your paperwork over to human resources immediately!”

Superintendent Ouyang would never compromise with the gastrointestinal director even if this meant the collapse of the gastrointestinal department. She had an incredibly steely and uncompromising personality! He had overthought things. It now seemed likely that the gastrointestinal director wouldn’t be able to successfully go to his new job at Chasu City Chinese Medicine Hospital! Superintendent Ouyang wouldn’t be herself anymore if she was the type to compromise so easily.

Later in the superintendent’s office, Ouyang Hong pointed at the sofa across from her desk and told Zhang Fan, “Sit!”

Zhang Fan sat down and wanted to explain about the gifts from earlier, but Superintendent Ouyang waved her hand, indicating that it wasn’t necessary. “That’s only something minor, so I won’t say too much on it. However, you must know that you’re no longer just an ordinary doctor. Your progress definitely won’t stop here. How far you can go down this path in the future will depend on your own self-discipline. Right now, your skills only lack experience. If you can achieve self-discipline that others can’t, I believe that you’ll one day be at the top of China’s medical field.”

“Understood, Superintendent!” Zhang Fan didn’t intend on explaining anymore. He also understood what it was like for her. It wouldn’t be easy for the superintendent of a Class A hospital to pay so much attention to raising him. This hospital wouldn’t belong to her personally, either. Although skills made king at a hospital, it wasn’t like the hospital would be unable to function with one person less. Superintendent Ouyang was a woman who had successfully developed her cardiology department into a top three cardiology department in the entire border province despite the previous superintendent suppressing the internal medicine departments. She was definitely someone incredible!

To make a simple analogy, when Zhang Fan was the primary surgeon, if his surgical assistant didn’t follow him and had his own thoughts instead, it would become impossible to complete the surgery. The hospital was an organization with rules that needed to be followed.

The superintendent was giving him face by only scolding him a little. The superintendent could also completely stop a doctor from receiving any surgeries. The doctor wouldn’t be able to do anything about this. The doctor would also be unable to win any lawsuits against the superintendent for this. Any organization would always need to protect its own rules first. The rules couldn’t be changed just for the sake of one genius, unless the genius was capable of overturning the entire system. If you didn’t follow the rules, nobody would listen to you, and you would become isolated. People wouldn’t even trust you then. This was even more so the case for China’s medical system, which was mostly run by the government. If you were that amazing, just try to go against the system. What do you think would happen?

No matter how amazing you were, as long as you wanted to work for a system, no matter what else, you had to obey orders. If someone lectured you today, but you felt that you were amazing and quit your job as a doctor here, what about tomorrow then? What if you met an even stricter boss next time?

Yes, a doctor could go to a private hospital and earn lots and lots of money. However, for someone like Zhang Fan who had his System, money was no longer the most important. In the healthcare system, no matter how much of a genius or how amazing you were, it would be impossible to accomplish anything without an organization’s support. For instance, for cancer drugs, maybe Pfizer would suddenly declare one day that they wouldn’t sell to China anymore. Yes, China was a powerful country, but what would they be able to do about this?

The future medical system valued individualized difference more and more. However, such a goal and dream could only be realized at a national-scale organization. Without regards to whether you made a name for yourself or not, you would first have to be able to make it in this organization. If you couldn’t even succeed in this organization, how would you possibly be able to develop?

Such organizations would be about grinding away people’s individual will, unless you were the head of such an organization. If you were unable to obey such an organization, then you could simply leave the public hospitals and go work at a private hospital or open up your own clinic! If you were the boss of your own clinic, you could set whatever hours you wanted, or even go to sleep instead of going to work. Nobody would care! So, in order to succeed in any organization, you would first have to be able to follow the rules. If Zhang Fan had really been such an ambitious type though, he wouldn’t have come to the border province in the first place. He would have instead gone to southern China!

Also, different leaders would have different philosophies for leading their organization. Superintendent Batu of Kuake City Hospital mostly led by offering benefits to his subordinates. This was because Kuake City Hospital was quite a small hospital. However, Chasu City Hospital was much larger, and had all sorts of people in it. Each leader would have their own individual style.

Superintendent Ouyang was a woman of steel. No matter what, she was now the superintendent. Reasonable or not, this was simply her management style. She preferred to use the stick first and then give a carrot. She would never let her subordinates completely relax. She wanted her subordinates to be obedient to her. This was simply her method. There was nothing right or wrong about it. There would only be methods useful or not when leading an organization.

“Okay! You have a good attitude. You’re still young and have a long path ahead of you. I’ve seen geniuses before, but how many geniuses will truly be able to shine brightly? That’s why right now, you not only need to keep improving your medical skills, you also need to establish a proper worldview. Read more classics by famous people. Although it might sound exaggerated, it might help you out. Also, the 10 excellent youths of Chasu City nominees have all been chosen. You’re the only one from the medical system. Remember not to lose what’s more important for the sake of something minor!” Superintendent Ouyang stood up for her final sentence.

“Understood, Superintendent!” Zhang Fan also stood up. He then ruined the serious atmosphere by asking, “Just what exactly is this award about?”

Superintendent Ouyang almost wanted to throw her teacup at him. “Glory! Do you understand? This is a great glory. It’s Chasu City Communist Party Committee, Chasu City Hospital, and the populace all giving you their recognition. Do you feel that this glory isn’t as important as some gift boxes of milk?” She was now being quite direct with him.

Zhang Fan immediately admitted his wrongs! The more economically developed a place was in China, the less influence the government would have. However, things were different in the border province. People here would have a strong sense of glory and discipline. If there was a major snowstorm, adults and children together would participate in sweeping snow off the streets. When the cotton was ready, all students from fourth graders all the way to college students would absolutely have to participate in cotton picking. They would need to pick a certain weight of cotton every day. Maybe some people would snort and say that this was foolish, so...

Then let’s talk about the militia here in the border province. No actual military troops could be allowed here within 500 kilometers of the border. There were only some armed police, but they wouldn’t be permitted to carry guns. This was the agreement that China had signed with the neighboring countries here. Actually, there would be plenty of dirty things between any country’s agreements. Whenever a major incident happened, what would happen if there weren’t enough military forces? Sending troops from other places wouldn’t do, as that would cause too much of a loss of face for China! China was still a major country of the world!

With one command, the border province would be filled with people wearing green military uniforms with no insignia and equipped with no gunpowder weapons. Everyone would instead be armed with shovels. They would arrive on the streets in large pickup trucks. It would be quite easy to suddenly summon an army of 100,000 or even several million with the Chinese population. If there really was war, the weapons would be issued to everyone. These people were normally farm workers or employees of various businesses. Normally, they would just be ordinary citizens. However, they would actually go participate in military training every year at a certain time. This was real military training with real bullets, where people would die each year!

The border province was a special place due to being on the border. Thus, obedience and discipline were enforced even more here. The hospitals would also really place great importance on discipline and doctors’ obedience. Discipline and obedience couldn’t be described as having class. Such concepts were products of powerful authority to begin with. However, it would be impossible for hospitals not to care about discipline and obedience. If such things weren’t cared about, then doctors would instantly start running away the moment that they encountered a plague!

Why did China still keep military hospitals around? These military hospitals were the final defense line for the Chinese citizens’ health, or for China itself! If there was a critical moment, the military hospital employees were willing to sacrifice themselves at any time! You’d better believe it! This wasn’t trying to be contradictory or anything like that. The doctor profession was far too special. If you couldn’t take even the slightest grievance, then you should quit immediately as a patient would easily anger you to death!