Healing Doctor

Chapter 733 Do Your Own Thing

Ji Xiang stood somewhat bewildered in front of the system NPC.

The system NPC looked at him kindly.

After a long pause, Ji Xiang finally asked, "Teacher, what should we do in this situation?"

"no way."

There was nothing that Ji Xiang could do; the seemingly omnipotent system NPC had given such an answer.

"I'm asking you, is there a cure for high blood pressure in modern medicine?" the system NPC asked.

Ji Xiang shook his head.

He quickly snapped out of his empathy, feeling as if he had been lured step by step toward the cliff.

Yes, the vast majority of diseases in clinical practice are incurable.

Why should I take it so seriously?

But the system NPC had a strange expression on his face. He scratched his head, which was kind of cute.

Ji Xiang was taken aback when he saw the system NPC with such an expression for the first time.

"In fact, many diseases have the potential to be cured."

"???"

The shift in the topic left Ji Xiang at a loss.

"It's just my feeling, but I don't have much evidence. You know, I'm a clinician, not a basic researcher," the system NPC said. "Come on, let's have a chat."

Upon arriving at the locker room, the system NPC took out the box of white Ganoderma lucidum that Ji Xiang had bought for him, took out a cigarette, hesitated for a few minutes, and then put the cigarette back in.

"Teacher, what do you mean by 'treatment'?"

"Imagine you are a major shareholder in a pharmaceutical company, and a researcher submits a report claiming to have discovered a possibility—that high blood pressure can be cured with oral medication. What would you do?"

Ji Xiang thought for a moment and understood what the system NPC meant.

The researchers have proposed a possibility, but it will require massive financial investment in the later stages. However, since it can cure high blood pressure, this drug will likely only be available for a few years at most. Once no one needs it anymore, it can be thrown into the trash.

Calling it a garbage dump is a bit of an exaggeration, but a significant price drop is inevitable because there is no demand.

If we only consider this from a profit-making perspective, then reducing the drug's effectiveness, so that it works when taken and causes relapse when stopped, requiring lifelong medication, would be in the best interest of pharmaceutical companies.

For example, medicine for treating tuberculosis, which was a terminal illness back then, is now extremely cheap.

Thinking about it!

Ji Xiang remained silent.

"I'm just stating a possibility; don't overthink it. We're just clinicians, like soldiers on the front lines. Whatever weapons the researchers at the weapons institute give us, we use them."

"Teacher, but..."

"Sigh, there are many things I can't think about too much." The system NPC smiled. "Don't even mention you, if it were me, I wouldn't be able to get many things done either. Behind every seemingly unreasonable thing, there are profound contradictions."

Ji Xiang nodded.

He recalled a few things his grandfather had mentioned to him, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

Just like an NPC in a system, even his own grandfather was helpless in many things.

"Doing what you can do well is already quite good," the system NPC said. "This empathy feature was added after a meeting and a vote. To be honest, such situations don't mean much to doctors, but I think it should exist."

Many years ago, Zhou Congwen met a patient who worked long hours to support his family. Suddenly one day, disaster struck when he was hit by a drunk driver who had been drinking all night.

"Multiple rib fractures on both sides, complicated by aortic dissection. Most importantly, neither party involved in the accident has money. The party at fault would rather be convicted than pay for the injured party's medical treatment."

As he spoke, the system NPC looked at Ji Xiang.

"The surgery shouldn't be difficult," Ji Xiang said.

During his experience of absorbing the life force of others, he learned cardiac surgery and interventional procedures from Zhou Congwen.

For Ji Xiang now, such surgery is indeed not difficult.

Unless there are special circumstances, such as elephant trunk surgery.

But even with the elephant trunk surgery, Ji Xiang is confident he can succeed.

"A single large frame costs over 100,000 yuan. When I first started working on this type of surgery, I often joked that getting a large frame was equivalent to driving a small car in."

Ji Xiang sighed.

He wasn't sensitive to money, and although he often heard people say similar things, he could never truly empathize with them.

What moved Ji Xiang the most was the scene of the student who had kidney stones, who tripped and fell while carrying delicious food from the school cafeteria, and then couldn't bear to throw the food away.

But he still lacks experience.

"Teacher, what happened next? What did Professor Zhou do?"

"The patient discharged himself/herself."

"!!!" Ji Xiang was stunned.

"We're just cogs in the machine, what can we do?" the system NPC said. "One of his junior doctors used his own money to pay for patients' hospital fees, but it was a drop in the ocean, and it could only be considered as doing his best."

"Therefore, you shouldn't overthink things; just save those you can and do your duty..."

The system NPC then rambled on for more than ten minutes.

Although Ji Xiang didn't dislike this kind of indoctrination, he couldn't listen to a single word of it.

He pretended to listen attentively to what the system NPC was saying, but his mind was elsewhere, and he didn't hear a single word.

After the system NPC finished rambling, Ji Xiang said goodbye and left.

Back in the emergency room and seeing Meng Qingfei, Ji Xiang felt like he was in a dream.

Even Meng Qingfei seemed unreal.

"Teacher Meng, has the patient gone into surgery yet?" Ji Xiang asked.

"If you say that, you'll definitely need surgery," Meng Qingfei said with a smile.

Ji Xiang looked at Meng Qingfei's smiling face with some confusion.

"Teacher Meng, what are you laughing at?"

"This patient is so troublesome, we need to get her out of here as soon as possible. Who knows why she went crazy? If she stays here, every minute will cause problems," Meng Qingfei said.

"???"

Ji Xiang could roughly understand Meng Qingfei's meaning, but he could not agree with or accept it.

Let me tell you a story.

"Um."

"I haven't been working for very long, and I still have a mentor to guide me. One day, my mentor and I encountered a similar patient, but I won't go into the details."

"His injury wasn't that serious, so he was kept in the emergency room for observation. The main problem was that all the extra beds in the orthopedics department were full, and he couldn't get a room there."

"Damn orthopedics!"

Meng Qingfei cursed.

"I got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, and the hallway was empty. I saw bloodstains on the floor, which startled me."

"It turned out that the patient who jumped from the building crawled to the treatment room, found a razor blade, and cut off the radial artery."

"..."

Ji Xiang remained silent.

"Later, because of this incident, my master was suspended from his job for three months."

"What does this have to do with the doctor?" Ji Xiang protested.

"Scapegoat, do you really think that so many people in the clinic are willing to shift the blame? Isn't it because the hospital leaders always try to pin the blame on the frontline medical staff when something goes wrong?"

Ji Xiang seemed to understand, but he wasn't in a hurry. He wrote down Meng Qingfei's words.

The two chatted for a while, then an appendicitis patient arrived, and Meng Qingfei sent Ji Xiang home to sleep.

(End of this chapter)