Healing Doctor

Chapter 785 Beating a Dog When It's Drowning

Ji Xiang looked at Dr. Meltz with a strange gaze.

"Young man, I haven't seen your surgery yet, so I can't acknowledge your talent for now. But judging from your diagnosis this time, I can clearly sense your inexperience and lack of basic clinical theory."

Dr. Meltz smiled slightly, without much reprimand, but with a touch of care.

This kind of invisible psychological manipulation has a greater impact on the mind, as Dr. Meltz clearly understands.

However, he did not want to stop there, because Dr. Meltz was worried that Ji Xiang was too young to understand.

"You need to work harder, read more books, and learn more. Don't mistake ignorance for individuality. Young people all like that, and my students are just like you, it's unbelievable."

"God forgives young people for making mistakes, so don't dwell too much on a single diagnostic error. However, I must tell you this: persisting in a wrong diagnosis is irresponsible to your profession."

Ji Xiang genuinely had no idea where Dr. Meltz's confidence came from.

Meng Qingfei tugged at Ji Xiang.

"Xiao Ji, come with me."

Meng Qingfei's voice was very soft, but Dr. Meltz noticed it and smiled, making an elegant gesture of invitation.

In his view, this was probably a senior doctor expressing dissatisfaction with Ji Xiang and wanting to find him somewhere secluded to teach him a lesson.

"Young man, go and listen to the advice of your senior doctors. Be humble. You're just causing more chaos in the ER."

"What did he say?" Meng Qingfei asked after leading Ji Xiang out of the emergency room, only half understanding what he was saying.

"He doesn't believe my judgment, he keeps saying I made a mistake in diagnosis and that I'm an irresponsible doctor," Ji Xiang said nonchalantly. "Professor Meng, have you contacted echocardiography?"

"I've contacted him," Meng Qingfei said as he walked toward the examination room. "You're really lucky. The doctor on duty for the emergency ultrasound today had something to do, so he asked a friend to cover for him. It just so happens to be the echocardiography doctor."

"Lucky," Ji Xiang scratched his head and looked at the luck value on the attribute panel.

It is indeed a very important attribute.

If you have the chance, you should definitely increase your luck attribute.

"Could you please prescribe the medication before you go?"

The patient's family members waiting in the consultation room said unhappily.

"They've all fainted over there." Meng Qingfei, unsurprised, gave a brief explanation before prescribing medication for the patient and asking, "Xiao Ji, why did you insist on having an ultrasound of your blood vessels and heart?"

"I suspect the patient was diagnosed with patent foramen ovale."

Meng Qingfei was stunned when he heard Ji Xiang's words.

Patent foramen ovale?

Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is the most common congenital heart defect in adults. The foramen ovale usually closes in the first year after birth. If the foramen ovale is still open in children older than 3 years, it is called patent foramen ovale. 20% to 25% of adults have incompletely closed foramen ovale.

"But patent foramen ovale is usually nothing to worry about. If it's particularly large... there won't be any neurological symptoms," Meng Qingfei said, frowning.

"Recent studies have shown a link between patent foramen ovale and syncope," said Ji Xiang, "but the specific mechanism is still undetermined."

"Can't you guys get your work done?! I'm waiting here for you to prescribe my medicine! My fever is 39°C, it's not your fault that I have a fever." The patient's family member scolded Meng Qingfei and Ji Xiang when Meng Qingfei's movements were a little slow.

Meng Qingfei chuckled, "Xiao Ji, you prescribe the medicine for him, I'll go check on the patient."

With a broad smile, Ji Xiang repeatedly bowed to the patient's family, expressing his apologies.

You can't hit someone who's smiling, so although the patient's family was unhappy, they didn't say much.

Ji Xiang was already used to this way of communicating, and he and Teacher Meng Qingfei were indeed much less efficient than an unmanned, intelligent hospital.

He didn't blame himself for it. Every era has its own rules. Why should he feel guilty about this? Ji Xiang wouldn't do something so pointless.

Ji Xiang's goal was to keep a smile on his face, calm the patient's family down, and prevent them from causing trouble.

Ji Xiang noticed out of the corner of his eye that Meng Qingfei didn't go to the emergency room, but instead headed straight for the duty room.

He figured she was probably looking for a doctor online, Ji Xiang thought to himself.

I quickly prescribed the medication to the patient and sent him away. Then I prescribed a tetanus shot.

"Young man, is your teacher as dissatisfied with your diagnosis as I am?" Dr. Meltz stood at the door and said with a smile after seeing that Ji Xiang had some free time.

Ji Xiang found Dr. Meltz's golden hair extremely annoying.

"Humility, honesty, compassion, and courage—these are the basic qualities a doctor should possess..." Dr. Meltz continued rambling on.

"And you also want to evade insurance companies and get more opportunities for out-of-pocket medical treatment so that the number on your credit card keeps getting bigger and bigger, right?" Ji Xiang asked Dr. Meltz.

This question was like a knife, stabbing right into Dr. Meltz's heart.

His smile froze instantly, and his entire face stiffened.

"Dr. Meltz, this isn't your area of ​​expertise. My advice remains the same: you should call a specialist in the relevant field in Massachusetts to get the specifics."

After saying that, Ji Xiang's lips curled up. "You don't have a single friend in Massachusetts, do you? That's pathetic. You're so old, and you don't even have a friend."

"How is that possible!" Dr. Meltz clenched his fists and raised them angrily.

"Then go ask. You'll be ashamed of your ignorance after getting a professional answer, instead of standing here spouting useless nonsense to me. And if you don't make the call, you'll regret saying all this in 20 minutes."

Dr. Meltz stared blankly at Ji Xiang, unable to understand why this young man spoke to him with such confidence.

There are many talented young people at Harvard Medical School, and Lin Jiu is one of the more representative ones.

But at Ji Xiang's age, they were all inexperienced and naive. Who would dare to communicate with a senior doctor in such a forceful tone!

Perhaps... Dr. Meltz thought of a possibility!

In the mind of the young doctor in front of me, I am not a senior doctor, but an ordinary doctor who has come to learn and observe surgery.

Dr. Meltz was almost ignited by his own ideas.

Negative terms such as unruly, arrogant, and ignorant formed labels that were etched into Dr. Meltz's perception of Ji Xiang.

Dr. Meltz also had some doubts, but the electrocardiogram report dispelled his concerns.

It wasn't a heart attack at all, and given the patient's typical neurological symptoms, Dr. Meltz looked at Ji Xiang with a cold smile.

Let the facts speak for themselves.

"Excuse me." Meng Qingfei stepped aside and squeezed through the narrow space between Dr. Meltz and the door frame.

"Xiao Ji, get ready to watch the echocardiogram." Meng Qingfei no longer hesitated.

"You found it?"

"I just wrote a few lines online, not very detailed. I called my classmate. He said a few words to me, but I was in a rush and didn't hear clearly," Meng Qingfei said hurriedly. "Please wait a moment, there's emergency room for resuscitation."

Seeing that the patients waiting outside the consultation room didn't seem to be seriously ill, he gave them a brief instruction and quickly led Ji Xiang to the emergency room.

The ultrasound doctor has arrived.

"Old Meng, you're really getting more and more shrewd with age," the ultrasound doctor said while applying coupling gel to the patient. "Neurological symptoms are hard to associate with the heart, so it's only right to investigate. But how come you, an emergency room doctor, are so knowledgeable about these advanced topics?"

"Who am I!" Meng Qingfei proudly raised his head, showing no remorse or embarrassment whatsoever.

"Impressive, let me take a look." The ultrasound doctor began moving the probe across the patient's chest, near the heart.

His skill level was very high; he began positioning and measuring in less than a minute.

"A patent foramen ovale of 1.3 cm, you actually have one! Let me tell you, Lao Meng, you're lucky to have met me. Otherwise, the head doctor would have to be there during the day, and we'd have to do an ultrasound through the esophagus to make a diagnosis."

"Is it that difficult?"

"That's right, I'm very good!" The ultrasound doctor began taking notes. "Old Meng, remember to send me a copy of the patient's information."

"You're going to write a thesis?" Meng Qingfei's eyes lit up.

"Um."

"Forget it, with your skill level, you won't be able to publish anything for a year or two. I'll handle it, how about you be the second author?"

"Wow, Lao Meng, you're getting more and more generous!" The ultrasound doctor didn't insist; what clinician wants to write a paper?

Moreover, Meng Qingfei has published two SCI papers in the last six months, and those are SCI papers!

"Xiao Ji, you write it." Meng Qingfei pushed the task directly to Ji Xiang.

"Ah, okay!" Ji Xiang agreed without hesitation. "Publish it in the Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery."

The ultrasound doctor was somewhat disappointed. While recording the data, he asked, "Which shoddy journal is it? Lao Meng, you should submit an SCI paper to me."

"What are you thinking about?" Meng Qingfei said. "The Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery is the second most influential journal in cardiothoracic surgery."

"Impact factor!" The ultrasound doctor's hair almost stood on end.

"It was something like five, but I forgot the exact number."

The ultrasound doctor paused for a moment, but then seemed to remember something and handed his notes to Ji Xiang with both hands.

"You must be Dr. Xiao Ji! I haven't watched the show, and I've never met you before. I'm so sorry."

"Teacher, you're too kind." Ji Xiang said politely, but his attitude was genuinely polite.

"Tsk tsk, if you wrote it, the paper would definitely be fine." The ultrasound doctor patted Ji Xiang on the shoulder with a smile.

The emergency room doctor was getting impatient. "What are you two talking about? The patient is still..."

"The neurological symptoms caused by patent foramen ovale will usually subside on their own within 1-2 hours, and there are no long-term effects," Ji Xiang explained. "Then you can send him to the cardiac surgery or cardiology department for surgery. There's no use in rushing him; let's wait and see."

"Let's send it in a loop," Meng Qingfei concluded directly.

Ji Xiang wasn't interested in where the patient was sent. He looked up and glanced around, and saw Dr. Meltz standing in the corner, staring blankly at the images on the echocardiogram machine.

"Dr. Meltz, this is the confirmed diagnosis you mentioned." Ji Xiang walked over and waved the echocardiogram report in front of Dr. Meltz as if he were waving an electrocardiogram.

Dr. Meltz stared blankly.

Ji Xiang knew that their training was very rigorous, even harsh, and that Dr. Meltz would definitely be able to understand the echocardiogram images.

"Humility is a virtue," Ji Xiang said jokingly. "I hope you have friends in Massachusetts who have already told you the real diagnosis."

"This is impossible," Dr. Meltz murmured.

"Should I trust the echocardiogram images, or the cross-disciplinary diagnosis of a sports medicine doctor? Dr. Meltz, what would you choose?" Ji Xiang continued sarcastically.

Dr. Meltz was moved to tears.

The knight fell the moment he charged forward, unsurprisingly collapsing before the Great Demon King.

At this moment, the Great Demon King, shrouded in black aura, stood on the knight's head, showing off his martial arts skills.

And I am the unlucky one who fell before the Great Demon King.

Dr. Meltz listened to Ji Xiang's sarcasm while staring blankly at the image of the patent foramen ovale on the machine.

The machine was turned off, and the ultrasound doctor pushed it away, not forgetting to exchange a few jokes with Ji Xiang and Meng Qingfei before leaving.

"Dr. Meltz, humility is a virtue. I think you should keep it in your heart, not just talk about it. Mistaking ignorance for personality isn't something only young people do. But God forgives the young, as for an old man like you, it depends on God's mood."

Ji Xiang hadn't forgotten Dr. Meltz, and as he left the emergency room, he threw out another sentence.

"!!!" Dr. Merz was completely dumbfounded, and almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Little Ji, you don't seem to be very polite to Dr. Meltz."

Back in the surgical clinic, Meng Qingfei asked with a smile.

"Yes, Dr. Lin Jiu applied for a professorship at Massachusetts General Hospital, but Dr. Meltz voted against it."

Meng Qingfei covered his head.

These kinds of annoying things happen everywhere.

However, Dr. Meltz relentlessly pursued Lin Jiuze, traveling all the way from Massachusetts General Hospital to the Second Affiliated Hospital to "hunt him down."

No wonder Little Gil had such a strong opinion about Dr. Meltz.

"Xiao Ji, this is the first time I've seen you so hostile towards a doctor. Speaking of which, you're really not being polite. What level of 'Zu'an' are you?" Meng Qingfei said with a smile.

"It's alright, not too hostile."

Meng Qingfei recalled Ji Xiang's past.

This young man seems to have a very easy-going temperament, but he can be quite sharp when he encounters injustice.

But it has nothing to do with me.

When Meng Qingfei recalled Dr. Meltz, perhaps out of affection for the doctor, he also found Dr. Meltz very annoying.

"Is there a problem with the thesis?" Meng Qingfei asked.

"Probably not, I wrote it myself." Ji Xiang asked with a smile, "Professor Meng, do you want to list me as the first author or...?"

Meng Qingfei laughed heartily, "Of course I'll sell it!"

Xiao Ji is so understanding. Meng Qingfei has lost interest in publishing articles, and he's reached an age where he doesn't want to advance further, nor does he have the opportunity. So he's more interested in selling the first authorship.

"Xiao Ji, we'll split the profits in half."

Ji Xiang thought for a moment, then said, "Okay."

Meng Qingfei was slightly taken aback, but then laughed even more heartily, "Come on, let's go have a smoke."

There aren't many patients right now, but after everyone finishes eating and goes home or to nightclubs, there will be more car accidents and fights.

Ji Xiang followed Meng Qingfei to the duty room and saw Dr. Meltz standing in the corridor in a daze, but he didn't press Dr. Meltz for answers.

There will be plenty of opportunities to kick a man when he's down, as long as Dr. Meltz doesn't give up on making trouble for Lin Jiuze.

Upon arriving at the duty room, Meng Qingfei tossed a cigarette to Ji Xiang.

"I really don't know what that foreign doctor was thinking," Meng Qingfei said, lighting a cigarette and taking a happy puff. "He thought he had a diagnosis just because he had an electrocardiogram."

"There aren't many cases of headaches and neurological symptoms caused by patent foramen ovale, so he probably didn't expect it. After all, the medical community hasn't given a clear explanation yet; it's just speculation," Ji Xiang gave a fairly fair assessment.

But that wasn't what Meng Qingfei was talking about.

"I have a classmate who returned to his hometown after graduation and became the chief of hepatobiliary surgery in less than 10 years."

"But working so hard left me with a host of health problems. I was constantly in the emergency room for surgery and rarely ate breakfast, so it was no surprise that I developed cholecystitis."

"One day he suddenly experienced pain in his upper right abdomen. He had an ultrasound done, which showed mild gallbladder inflammation. He also had an electrocardiogram, which showed nothing wrong. We asked the nurse to prepare his medication, and he received it intravenously in the head doctor's office."

"The IV drip was administered quickly, and the nurse left after removing the needle and seeing that he was alright. He didn't go home until very late, and his family kept calling him but no one answered. Later, the nurse received a call from his family and cautiously went to the director's office to take a look."

Ji Xiang didn't prick up his ears; he had already guessed the ending.

"The person has been dead for three hours. It was a heart attack." Meng Qingfei sighed. "Tell me, not even 40 years old. What a pity."

"Is the ECG normal?"

"Hmm." Seeing that Ji Xiang was on the right track and directly asked about his meaning, Meng Qingfei had an idea. He had originally planned to tell Ji Xiang, but now he changed his mind. "Little Ji, let me test you. Tell me what's going on."

"In chronological order, he probably had a regular 12-lead ECG at that time. In this case, it is necessary to add a posterior wall and right heart ECG, that is, an 18-lead ECG."

"!!!" Meng Qingfei was stunned for a moment before giving a thumbs up.

"Xiao Ji, you even know that!"

"Hehe." Ji Xiang scratched his head. He had only heard it from the system NPC in the system's operating room.

"That's why electrocardiograms can sometimes be problematic; it's always better to be cautious."

Ji Xiang knew that Teacher Meng Qingfei was telling him about the problems he encountered in his clinical practice, so he took it very seriously.

"A few years ago, I met a college student, a junior at our medical university. He came in the middle of the night, saying he had a terrible toothache. The internist prescribed him Xinhuang tablets."

"Speaking of which, Xinhuang tablets are really effective for some toothaches. I always feel that there are pain-relieving ingredients in them."

After making a casual remark, Meng Qingfei continued, "A few hours later, he was brought in for emergency treatment again due to cardiac arrest."

"Heart attack? At 20 years old?"

"Pretty much. Ever since that incident... there have been some rare cases of death due to myocardial infarction. Director Bai started requiring that no matter what kind of patient came in, they should be asked to have an electrocardiogram done."

"We've been scolded a lot for this."

"The patient's family probably doesn't understand."

"You definitely wouldn't understand. I have a toothache, and you insist on making me do an ECG. Isn't that the work of a heartless doctor?" Meng Qingfei said self-deprecatingly.

"Do it, or just sign it. It's better to go through the trouble and get a few scoldings than for the patient to die and have their family cause a scene," Ji Xiang said.

As he spoke, he recalled how in future hospitals, intelligent systems could perform electrocardiograms in a single package.

She didn't even know when she did it; she figured Shen Lang must have glanced at it, seen nothing was wrong, and then didn't tell her.

"That foreign doctor... hahaha." Meng Qingfei laughed as he spoke, "What's he doing here?"

"Who knows, they must have come to see Wenban Yama for surgery."

"Are you really coming?!"

"Teacher Meng, are you very familiar with Wenban Yama?" Ji Xiang asked.

"Yeah, I've been watching him play. These days, the NBA is all about betting, it's not very interesting anymore," Meng Qingfei said. "But Wenban Yama's path is similar to Yao Ming's. When he first entered the NBA, he was as thin as a stick, but later he built up muscle to improve his physical strength."

"Think about it, muscle can be built up, but the load is also huge," Meng Qingfei said, shaking his head. "What are the chances of going back to square one?"

"Teacher Meng, you care so much about Wenban Yama."

"I always felt it was a pity about Yao Ming back then," Meng Qingfei said. "If it weren't for injuries, or in today's small-ball era, Yao Ming could have achieved even better results. So watching Wenban Yama is almost the same as watching Yao Ming, almost like going back to 08 or 09."

"You understand what I mean, right?"

"I roughly understand." Ji Xiang smiled. "The surgery should be fine. I'll let you know when it's done."

"No, no, no," Meng Qingfei waved his hands repeatedly. "You're being too kind; I can't accept that. I'm already being generous by shamelessly trying to get some SCI articles."

"Teacher Meng, you're too kind." Ji Xiang thought to himself that he seemed to have a different understanding of Meng Qingfei.

I remember once, during a moment of profound empathy, I woke up from general anesthesia and called out Meng Qingfei's name.

Perhaps it's because he was my teacher in emergency medicine.

Ji Xiang vividly remembers an incident where Meng Qingfei saw a child going to the pediatric ward, and he kept pacing anxiously at the door.

You should know that the first thing Ji Xiang learned about Meng Qingfei was that a patient who had undergone RX plastic surgery had their stitches removed, and he refused to remove them regardless of whether the patient would complain, simply sending him away.

The contradictions in her personality highlight her charm.

"Let's not talk about that. Xiao Ji, I hope your surgery in Shanghai went well."

Speaking of Shanghai, Ji Xiang told Meng Qingfei about how he suddenly couldn't perform surgery.

Meng Qingfei listened with great interest.

"Ha, I didn't expect you to have this problem too, Xiao Ji!" Meng Qingfei's eyes lit up. "I've had it too!"

The two of them suddenly started communicating about not being able to perform surgery.

After hearing several examples from Meng Qingfei, Ji Xiang realized that the system NPC was not lying; similar cases were indeed not isolated incidents, but rather a relatively common phenomenon.

It's just like an illness; some people have mild cases, while others have severe ones.

"Xiao Ji, awesome!" Meng Qingfei said, giving a thumbs up with his eyes shining brightly.

"what?"

This awesome statement stunned Ji Xiang.

"The sooner this happens, the greater the future progress will be. You understand what I mean, right?" Meng Qingfei rubbed his hands together as he spoke. Before Ji Xiang could speak, he added, "It's what you call the dimensional barrier. You broke through the dimensional barrier this time, and you've only been a sorcerer for a short time!"

"..."

"ox!!!"

(End of this chapter)