Chapter 144: The Hard-Hearted and The Soft-Hearted
The next morning, Old Chief Physician Pan brought along for his ward round Zheng Ren, Su Yun and Yang Lei to check the two patients who had undergone surgery yesterday in the ICU.
The blood pressure of Old Man Tang, whose diastolic pressure had been undetectable upon admission yesterday, had normalized and was currently stable. The blood tests conducted this morning showed that the hemoglobin had increased to a low normal level and coagulation remained unchanged, but there was a mild derangement noted in both liver and kidney functions.
However, these subtle changes were insignificant to the doctors.
Meanwhile, the middle-aged man with a ruptured spleen was eager to leave the ICU.
The unceasing monotonous sounds of ventilators and various monitors could easily drive a person insane.
Content and proud, Old Chief Physician Pan chatted with ICU Chief Qian for a while and made arrangements for the patients’ transfers before leading his ‘soldiers’ out of the ICU.
In the hospital, only the skillful could earn others’ reverence.
The emergency wards gradually became established following Zheng Ren’s arrival, which greatly satisfied Old Chief Physician Pan.
Even so, that did not stop him from demanding more manpower, greater budget allocation and policy implementations from hospital management.
After the ward round in the emergency observation unit, Old Chief Physician Pan quickly took his leave to torture all related personnel to realize his goal.
No one would allocate more staff and budget to a new department without constant pressure. Even if they did, the most they would provide a senior consultant were meaningless policies.
A powerful senior consultant could naturally make use of policy to promote the growth of the department, but if the senior consultant was a coward… none of it would matter.
Upon returning to the emergency ward, Zheng Ren began to document the transferral of both postoperative patients from the ICU.
Chang Yue would handle subsequent paperwork later. Despite the tediousness, she quickly completed the task without complaint.
The patients were transferred from the ICU to the emergency ward an hour later.
There was a flaw in the initial design of the emergency ward—there were no single rooms.
Chang Yue meticulously arranged a relatively quiet room for both patients so that they could have speedier recoveries in an undisturbed environment.
In the same room lay a few patients who had undergone surgery three to five days ago. They would usually return home once infusion was complete, glad to no longer have to put up with the smell of disinfectant.
Treatment plans were modified according to patients’ conditions, and tedious tasks such as patient-doctor communication and medical case documentation were Chang Yue and Yang Lei’s responsibility.
Zheng Ren sat in his office and quietly read his book.
The symptoms he had experienced yesterday had subsided after a quiet night.
A series of footsteps approached in the corridor after a while.
‘They are probably friends and relatives visiting patients,’ Zheng Ren thought, detecting a floral scent even from his office.
“Chang Yue, inform them that flowers are prohibited in the ward,” he instructed.
Chang Yue acknowledged the instruction and went out to communicate with the visitors.
Some patients were allergic to pollen and would develop hypersensitivity reactions of varying degrees.
Since they seldom had contact with various beautiful flowers, they would usually place the flowers gifted by family or friends on windowsills in the ward, unwilling to throw them away. However, immune systems were affected to a certain extent after surgery, leading to exacerbation of allergic reactions.
That was why Zheng Ren asked Chang Yue to stop them.
However, the effectiveness of such warnings was actually limited. After all, Zheng Ren could only educate visitors, but whether they would heed his advice or not… There was nothing he could do about it.
Even if they insisted on disregarding his advice, Sea City General Hospital would still lack the courage to forcibly discharge the patient.
If this had happened twenty years ago, large hospitals in Imperial Capital and Sorcery Capital would likely resort to this method, but following the advancement of social networks, such an event had become a rarity in the current world.
If a patient was forcibly discharged from a hospital due to failure to comply with regulations, news about doctors acting with utter disregard for human life would shortly after be published on the internet.
It was best to avoid controversy. Everyone had to bear the consequences of their own actions. There was no other way.
Soon, Chang Yue returned to the office with a peculiar look on her face.
“What’s wrong?” asked Zheng Ren.
“They’re from Sea City Metropolis Daily, and the leader of the group is the chief editor,” answered Chang Yue softly.
Er… The newspaper office reminded Zheng Ren about the night when professional troublemakers had invited a reporter to the scene.
Even though it had been successfully resolved in the end, the mission Distortion of Human Nature or Loss of Moral Values still haunted him from time to time.
Spokespeople, the right to freedom of speech, uncrowned kings… these terms made Zheng Ren feel helpless.
He was reluctant to entertain them. The chief editor of a newspaper office; so what? He was not going to use their newspaper to improve his reputation, so he ignored the group and quietly remained in the office to continue his book.
After a while, a group of men appeared at the doorstep, led by an elegant, dignified and white-haired man in his fifties.
When he noticed that every doctor was occupied with work, he knocked on the door.
“You are…” Zheng Ren raised his head and asked despite knowing the answer.
“Hello, Doctor Zheng. I’m Li Weiren, chief editor of Sea City Metropolis Daily.”
“Hello, Chief Editor Li. What can I do for you?” Zheng Ren had a bad impression of them. His expression made it clear that he would have never invited them into his office if conditions permitted.
Chief Editor Li was taken aback.
“Metropolis Daily? Isn’t that the workplace of the reporter who had threatened to defame our doctors for performing surgery without the familys’ consent half a month ago?” A lazy voice drawled from behind Zheng Ren.
Chief Editor Li looked embarrassed.
How long had it been since the mature and dignified chief editor was humiliated?
Unless one’s father was murdered or wife abducted, who would willingly offend the voice of the people?
He had not expected to encounter both hard-hearted and soft-hearted men in the Sea City General Hospital emergency ward.
“So you’re a big shot in the newspaper office. Please, come in quickly. Would you like a cup of tea? Oh, my apologies, we only have plain water, it might not be up to your standards.” Su Yun continued to goad them. “Please, don’t just stand there and come in quickly. We don’t want to get exposed by news claiming that the doctors in Sea City General Hospital torture family members and conceal patient’s conditions on purpose. We could get fired from the hospital if that happened.”
Su Yun had no intention to stand up and welcome them. Instead, his head remained low throughout the conversation, allowing his bangs to dance freely.
This was the first time Zheng Ren appreciated Su Yun, a sharp-tongued nancy boy, whose biting words felt relieving in this instant.
Closing the door and unleashing Su Yun seemed like a good choice.
“Doctor, I think there has been some misunderstanding between us.” Chief Editor Li brushed his embarrassment aside and put on a warm smile.
“Haha.” Su Yun merely chuckled in response.
Gossip dies at a wise man’s ears, and conversations die when someone chuckles. That was a rule of life.
The cold atmosphere stifled every breath as awkward silence dominated the room.
Chief Editor Li had failed to anticipate the sheer hostility of the emergency ward, leaving him to stand outside the office.
‘What was that young reporter’s name again? Wei Feng! F*cking idiot, you’re doomed!’ he grumbled internally.
Truth was debatable and open to interpretation. Although the matter at hand and the management remained the same, the newspaper office’s attitude today was completely different.
If the newspaper insisted on clarifying the case, all they would get was humiliation.
This time…
“Doctor Zheng, are you there?” a deep voice traveled from behind the crowd.