The Enhanced Doctor-Chapter 453 Stubborn Drunk Driving Patients

(Thank you to my friend Yuankw for the encouragement and Pirate Hainuo for the monthly ticket)

Today had been pretty good so far. At least the cases encountered had been manageable. The only somewhat troublesome case was the kid with mesenteric ischemia, but that was really something beyond anyone’s control.

Liu Banxia also had a chat with Wang Huan, just worried that Wang Huan might develop a mental block because of it.

Actually, Wang Huan had asked about their diet too. However, both the child and his father insisted they ate the same food, and the parents themselves had no issues.

Then the father lost his temper, convinced his child was faking illness, and the matter was dropped.

So, oftentimes, patients’ families could be a distraction. But other times, they were indispensable for helping fill in the gaps.

At this point, Qi Wentai emerged from the elevator, looking utterly exhausted.

"All done?" Liu Banxia asked cheerfully.

Qi Wentai nodded. "It was really nerve-racking. When we got to the operating room, the patient was still hoping for a spontaneous reduction. But after we opened her up, we discovered a ruptured splenic artery. If we’d delayed even slightly, both the mother and child could have been lost.

"I don’t want to perform cesarean sections in an operating room. I’d rather have zero experience in such surgeries. It’s too painful to see a preterm baby suffer. I can’t do this."

Liu Banxia patted his shoulder. "Nobody wants to encounter such situations. But in our line of work, you can’t avoid them. Once the obstetrics department is well-equipped, we’ll all need to familiarize ourselves with these kinds of surgeries.

"Although I’ve performed an emergency C-section once, if you asked me to recall it now, I’d barely remember the procedure. But what if, in the future, an emergency patient can’t wait for an obstetrician? We might have to step in ourselves.

"The obstetrics department is almost ready. Basically, after the New Year, the other departments will be established. We just need to hang on a bit longer. At least then, we’ll have more confidence in the operating room, not feeling as panicky as we do now."

Qi Wentai gave a bitter smile and nodded. It’s true; one doesn’t realize the gravity until faced with it.

Take today’s surgery, for example. It was just a routine splenectomy, and I was even trained by Qin Hai in this area. But even after giving myself a pep talk, the tension was no joke.

Otherwise, why would I be so exhausted? This was practically an emergency surgery. A pregnant woman and her fetus—two lives were in my hands. How could I remain calm?

Thinking back to when Liu Banxia dared to perform a C-section in the ER, what kind of courage must that have taken!

"Don’t overthink it. Take a break. Who knows, another emergency case might come in," Liu Banxia said with a laugh. "I need to get some rest too. I have a liver tumor surgery scheduled for tomorrow."

Qi Wentai nodded, went to the side to get a cup of water, and gulped it down.

After a while, Shi Lei and Wu Mingyu also emerged from the elevator together.

"Did you two come down together?" Liu Banxia asked curiously.

"The adhesions in my case were quite severe," Shi Lei said. "If the patient had come in half a month earlier, the prognosis would have been better."

"Transferred patients rarely seek timely medical attention," Liu Banxia said. "As long as no other complications arise, that’s fine. I can’t handle any more major incidents right now."

"You make it sound as though you’re scared of trouble," Wu Mingyu said with a smile.

"Director Xu is operating later, aren’t you going to watch? When I reported to him yesterday, he mentioned you several times."

"I would love to, but can I leave this place?" Liu Banxia said with a wry smile. "If Chief’s surgery hadn’t taken so long, I would have gone to watch. But not now. I can’t bear to see my Chief so tired."

"Are we getting extra dishes tonight?" Shi Lei suddenly asked.

"Chief, aren’t you afraid of being tired?" Liu Banxia countered.

"There are so many of us here. What’s there to fear? Plenty of hands to help around," Shi Lei replied. "Hip replacement surgery is becoming increasingly common in orthopedics. Many people suffer from femoral head necrosis. You could gain some valuable experience in this area.

"Anyway, in the future, you’ll have to be ready to support various departments at any time. If you can help with an extra surgery, it can at least lighten the load for others. Especially now, when there are so few doctors in orthopedics. Haven’t you seen how tired Doctor Wu is?

"Right now, in our emergency center, you’re the only one who can provide this kind of support to all departments. Even when the other departments are set up, they won’t have that many doctors to start with."

"Chief, what do you mean?" Liu Banxia asked with a wry smile.

"What else could I mean? The director also intends to train you as an all-rounder. Then you can be used for emergencies, which will greatly reduce the pressure on our emergency center," Shi Lei said nonchalantly. "For others, it might be a case of ’jack of all trades, master of none.’ But not for you. You have a solid grasp of any surgery you encounter. Keep going, we all believe in you."

After saying this, Shi Lei mimicked Liu Banxia’s old gesture and pumped his fist encouragingly.

The eavesdroppers nearby found this highly amusing. Was being an all-rounder that easy? Their beloved Teacher Liu would become a busy little bee, flitting this way and that.

"How many operations are scheduled for tomorrow?" Shi Lei abruptly asked again.

"One liver, three appendixes, two gallbladders, and one rectal cancer," Liu Banxia said, counting on his fingers.

"Qi, let’s go chat somewhere else. Ignore this guy, he’s too good at riling people up," Shi Lei said, pulling Qi Wentai away.

They were determined to draw a clear line between themselves and this inhuman Liu Banxia. This guy wasn’t doing human work!

Liu Banxia scratched his head. He wasn’t like before, performing surgeries every day. Doing so would significantly hinder the management of the emergency center.

So now, he scheduled one or two surgery days a week, concentrating the procedures, which actually saved time.

Just as he was about to go over, a loud argument erupted by one of the observation beds; it was quite intense.

He glanced over and saw it was the drunk driving patient, who was arguing heatedly with the traffic police and Huang Bo. Sighing inwardly, he knew he had to go play firefighter.

"You’re just trying to frame an innocent man!" the patient exclaimed emotionally. "I admit I was sleepy while driving and caused an accident; I’ll accept the penalty for that. But I didn’t drink at all! Why are you accusing me of drunk driving?

"I have nearly thirty years of driving experience; I used to drive large trucks. Now that I’m older, I switched to this 4.2-meter box truck. Check my record! If I’ve had even one accident in all these years where I was primarily responsible, I’ll bash my head in right here and die!"

"Why don’t you take a breathalyzer test now? We can do it on the spot," the traffic police officer said.

"You say I was drinking, but who knows if you’ve rigged the machine? Are you trying to meet some quota?" the patient retorted.

"Sir, please calm down," Huang Bo interjected. "You still smell of alcohol. To avoid any misunderstanding, we haven’t given you any medication.

"If you still disagree, we can do a blood test and a drug test right now. We’re a hospital; whether you were drunk driving or not has nothing to do with us. We are a neutral party."

"Cut the crap! Go ahead and test me. My conscience is clear. Trying to frame me? No way!" the patient shouted.

Liu Banxia shook his head, feeling rather helpless.

This fellow is probably blackout drunk, Liu Banxia thought. He had seen the blood alcohol test results: 180mg/100ml. That level is already very high, enough to warrant criminal charges. Blood test results don’t lie; denial won’t change a thing.

Seeing the man roll up his sleeve for the blood draw, Liu Banxia decided not to concern himself further. Given Huang Bo’s handling of the situation, he had done very well.

The man was clearly driving drunk, yet he stubbornly denied it and even accused Huang Bo of tampering. Huang Bo didn’t let his own emotions get involved when facing such accusations, which was excellent. Otherwise, it would only have escalated the conflict, possibly leading to a physical altercation.

This was just a small episode, something frequently encountered in the emergency center. When people make mistakes, their first instinct is often to evade responsibility; it’s human nature.

With things quiet for the moment, he started to feel troubled again.

Shi Lei’s words had made the direction of his future development clear, but being an all-rounder was truly difficult.

It’s like the saying goes: the more you learn, the more you realize how little you know. If he had received this news when he first started, he might have jumped ten feet in the air with joy. Now, however, all he felt was pressure.

The human body is intricately complex. While there are general principles, every individual’s body has variations. Surgery is not as simple as it seems; countless situations can arise.

His surgical schedule for tomorrow was packed, and it wouldn’t be easy. It was planned as a full day of operations. Only the appendectomies were relatively straightforward. The rest could become complicated, especially if problematic adhesions were encountered.

After mulling it over for a while, he checked the time. It was about right. He went to the ward to change the dressing for the young man with facial burns.

This was a simple dressing change. Even though it was a burn, it no longer yielded him any experience points or increased his skill proficiency in dressing changes.

This was a side effect of leveling up. In the system’s judgment, such an operation wasn’t worthy of any reward.

He encouraged the young man for a few moments. The recovery seems to be progressing well so far, but these things can’t be rushed, he thought.

Just as he returned, he saw the drunk-driving man arguing again. He still refused to accept the new test results, adamantly insisting they were fabricated.

"You still don’t accept the latest test results?" Huang Bo said with a wry smile. "What more can I say? Surely you can smell the alcohol on yourself?"

"I have sinusitis; I can’t smell a thing!" the patient stated firmly. "I didn’t drink. If you tested me properly, you wouldn’t find any alcohol."

Liu Banxia frowned. This was the first time he had encountered such a stubborn patient.