Path of Medicine With a System
Chapter 68: The insignificance of life

There was a common phrase in the cardiovascular department: “My old patient ——— won’t be coming again.” People in the department who heard this would never ask where the patient had gone. At most, they would fall silent for a while before exclaiming, “Yeah.”

This would sound strange to an outsider. Just what was all this? But, “won’t be coming again” actually meant that the patient had passed away, going to the world after death.

Although Ye Jing wasn’t very proactive in her work, she still treated her patients quite well. She was the patient type who always wore a smile. She was also chatty, so she loved to ask the patients about their families. This made her popular with the patients who were almost all elderly.

Many of her patients would request her as their doctor again when they returned to the hospital. They would often chat with her when they were feeling better. It was common to see a large group of elderly men and women gathered around her.

Director Ren really disliked seeing such scenes. She didn’t want doctors to have a relationship with the patients other than treatment. That could affect medical judgement. Ren Li was really similar to Ouyang Hong in this aspect: they were both serious and strict, and neither of them was chatty and smiling like Ye Jing.

However, Ye Jing said, “My motivation to continue at this job is because of all the old men and women so happily chatting with me. If even that gets taken away from me, what meaning would there be left in being a doctor? That would feel so icy and inhuman.”

Basically, Ye Jing had a sense of accomplishment.

The patient rooms were incredibly full. Even the hallways were filled with hospital beds. The corridors were filled with patients and their family members. When it was time for the morning checkup on the patients, the corridors were so crowded that it was impossible to walk.

Director Ren Li was furious at the cardiovascular department’s daily morning meeting. “With so many patients’ family members around, it’s impossible to even get to a patient in time for emergency treatment if there’s a medical situation. How are we supposed to even work normally? Head nurse, from today onwards, double the number of nurses on duty and increase the care given to the patients. Kick out all of the patients’ family members from the treatment area. For the seriously ill patients, they’re only allowed one family member’s company.”

There truly was no helping things here. Chasu City Hospital was considered the best hospital in Chasu City, and everyone would rather be treated by the best hospital and doctors. Chasu City Hospital wasn’t allowed to refuse any patients, and thus it became overcrowded.

Increasing the amount of care that the patient received would also result in a corresponding increase in their medical fees. This type of fee wouldn’t be paid for by medical insurance. Those who had worse financial situation might thus choose to leave Chasu City Hospital for a smaller and cheaper hospital for their treatment.

Director Ren Li wasn’t trying to be cruel. Things truly couldn’t be helped. With so many people crowding the corridors, it would be really difficult to save a patient who needed emergency assistance. Even a single minute’s delay might mean the difference between life and death in the cardiovascular department. That was why Ren Li could only raise prices.

Patient #3 was a long-term patient. He wasn’t considered old among the patients, as he was still in his early fifties. However, he had a long list of medical problems, including high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, pulmonary heart disease, chronic bronchitis, and diabetes, all chronic illnesses.

Patient #3 had been Ye Jing’s patient for quite a long period of time. He had periodically started coming to Chasu City Hospital for checkups starting seven or eight years ago. He was also really chatty, so he loved chatting with Ye Jing. Due to his pulmonary heart disease, he had breathing difficulties, and often needed to rely on a breathing mask. But, as long as he had breath, he would always want to talk.

Some major snow started falling even though it was now the beginning of spring. The weather, which had been warming up, suddenly cooled down significantly. Patient #3’s chronic illnesses all worsened because he caught a cold. He was now in the intensive care unit, and his family was notified that he was critically ill and at risk of passing away at any moment.

Patient #3 had always been so lively, but this time, he seemed to completely lack energy, and he no longer even wanted to talk. He had a gray complexion that seemed to reek of the aura of death. His wife had such a worried expression.

They had three children, two sons and one daughter. Their family’s financial situation was in dire straits due to spending so much money on patient #3’s medical fees over the past seven to eight years. Their younger son was in his thirties, and had finally found a girlfriend and was about to get married. The girlfriend had only one request: she wanted to have her own home to live in as she didn’t want to live with in-laws.

Both children and parents in this family had often worried before about marriage prospects. The elderly parents were especially worried to the point where they lost much sleep over it. Finally, a girl appeared who was willing to get married to their younger son. However, she wanted a house! This made the elderly parents worry even more, which worsened patient #3’s illnesses.

“Ma’am, your husband needs an albumin and globulin injection. His protein level is too low. Your husband is beginning to suffer from edema,” Ye Jing told patient #3’s wife after analyzing patient #3’s laboratory test results.

Albumin was the main protein maintaining the body’s osmotic pressure and body nutrition, while globulin was a protein that helped the immune system. These two proteins would be critically important in any clinical setting.

These protein injections were also quite expensive—one injection would cost more than 700 yuan. Many injections would be necessary for long-term treatment, and how many were needed would depend on the patient’s specific condition and recovery status. With patient #3’s condition, he would need to use these injections for at least five to six consecutive days.

His wife’s lips trembled as she said, “I’ll go call our children.”

“Hup! Hup!” Patient #3 spent a great deal of effort to wave his hand. He was having breathing difficulties. He meant that she shouldn’t phone their children. However, he was already in such a severe condition. She didn’t want to just watch him die on the hospital bed.

His wife went up and adjusted his blanket for him while saying, “Alright, don’t worry, I won’t phone them. We’ll return home soon in a few days. Don’t worry about a thing, as that will only make you worse. You can’t be worrying. Just rest properly while I leave together with Doctor Ye.”

After exiting his room, she looked at Ye Jing and seemed like she wanted to say something, but didn’t say anything in the end. Ye Jing was also aware that patient #3’s family’s financial situation wasn’t good, but there really wasn’t anything she could do.

Patient #3’s wife hesitated for quite a long while as she looked at her husband through the glass window. She finally took out her cell phone in the end after all. “Daughter, the doctor says that your father requires protein injections. He’s already suffering from edema. Talk to your older brother about it, and maybe have your father take the injections for a few days first. It’s so hard on me to see him in pain,” she said, and began to cry soundlessly.

Later that afternoon, her daughter brought over 5000 yuan. “Do the injections. We’ll all keep thinking of ideas. There will always be a method available. Later, let’s have my younger brother come take your place so that you can go home and rest. Father’s already in the hospital, so we can’t have you exhausting yourself as well.”

“I’ll be fine. Your younger brother just got an additional part-time job recently. He’s probably really tired as well.”

However, 5000 yuan would only be enough to pay for two days’ worth of medical fees. What after that? The old lady was quite exhausted over the past few days as she had constantly remained at her husband’s bedside. Her husband slept much better after the protein injections for the day. Without them, he would often wake up in the middle of the night due to breathing difficulties.

Later that night, patient #3’s wife fell asleep right by her husband’s bedside. She was so exhausted that she was even snoring. At this moment, her husband suddenly opened his eyes. He gently caressed his wife’s hair while looking at her for a long period of time. He felt that this woman who had been with him for his whole life had hardly ever gotten to experience a happy life. She had spent so much time taking care of him, making sure that he had the best care available, while she was as skinny as a matchstick.

‘I can’t continue being a burden to them any longer. It’s so difficult for her as well as our children,’ patient #3 thought to himself as he gently got out of his hospital bed. He used all of his strength to put a jacket on his wife. This was the final thing that he could do for her. After that, he heaved a long sigh, and prayed that she could marry a much more skilled man in the next life. He hoped that he would no longer be a burden on her in their next lives.

He then glanced over one last time at his wife who was still asleep by his bedside as he whispered, “Dear, I’ll be leaving first.” He had a calm and resolute expression as he got on a chair and opened the hospital window. This was the 20th floor of the hospital. The wind outside was quite strong!

He calmly stepped outside the window.

*Smack!* There was a muffled thud. He had committed suicide by walking out the 20th floor window!

“I just laid down to sleep for a little while! Why couldn’t he take it anymore? How am I supposed to live on? You’re so heartless! My heart is in pieces!” His wife’s cries seemed like they could move the heavens.

Her children supported her. She had fainted several times already. Exhaustion from the past several days combined with this tremendous shock caused her to collapse. She and her husband had supported each other for their whole lives, but he suddenly ran away from everything at this junction, leaving nothing but loneliness and endless sadness for her.

It was quite normal, incredibly normal for people to die at the hospital. However, this was the first time a patient had ever committed suicide by jumping out the window at Chasu City Hospital. The police, hospital’s administrative department, government officials, logistics department, security, and superintendent all arrived.

The patient’s family didn’t cause a ruckus, protest, or mourn in the cardiovascular department. They all left silently, without saying anything more. Patient #3’s wife took her husband’s corpse and belongings home quietly. They didn’t complain to the hospital one bit.

However, Chasu City Hospital couldn’t leave things just like that. Just why had patient #3 decided to commit suicide? All of the doctors and nurses on duty that night were temporarily suspended for the investigation. Ye Jing was also suspended as she was patient #3’s primary doctor. The police asked Ye Jing and the doctors and nurses on duty questions in order to understand the situation. Then, Director Ren asked Ye Jing what patient #3 had talked about over the past few days, and if he had been behaving strangely. Patient #3’s medical history was sealed so that the superintendent could inspect it.

Next, the hospital administrative department director talked to Ye Jing. “Did you hint at anything to the patient? Did you say anything to him that might make him want to commit suicide?”

Finally, Superintendent Ouyang came to talk to Ye Jing. The superintendent severely scolded her, calling her useless ever since she joined the cardiovascular department.

Ye Jing was constantly forced to write, write, and write countless reports on what’d happened over the past few days. Ye Jing was constantly in tears as she wrote all the reports. All of the other doctors in the cardiovascular department sympathized with her, but there was nothing they could do at all.

How was this incident going to be resolved? Who was at fault? Who was going to be punished? The answer was quite obvious. As the patient’s primary doctor, Ye Jing would be severely punished at the very lightest. It was even possible that her medical license might be taken away from her.

The hospital administrative department director also came to ask Zhang Fan about patient #3’s treatment and if Doctor Ye had said or done anything improper to the patient. This entire incident was almost completely unrelated to Zhang Fan. Ye Jing was his teaching doctor, which meant that she was fully responsible for anything that happened, whether good or bad.

Later that night, Zhang Fan rested on his bed in his apartment as he glanced up at the lights outside his apartment window. He felt a wave of endless fatigue wash over him. Just why had all this happened?