Chapter 187 - 0178: Inspiring Young Man

The sudden change in public opinion threw the hospital’s leadership off balance, leading them to rethink the decision to fire Zhang Lin.

When Dean Xia returned, he visited Dr. Li Shan, offering her a basket of flowers, some comfort money, and encouraging her to take care of her health and not to feel burdened. He reassured her that the incident was an accident and shouldn’t affect her confidence in performing her duties. He stated that the hospital would support her at all times. Also, he comforted Li Shan by assuring her that the hospital would handle Zhang Lin’s case appropriately, act fairly, and not act hastily.

Dean Xia called for a special meeting, where he lamentously said, “Everyone views the problem from different angles, and there is no right or wrong. If Zhang Lin were me, I might have acted impulsively too. His assault on the patient’s relative was both unlawful and against the hospital’s rules, and must come with a punishment. But, we must handle such cases individually, analyze the specific circumstances, and not act hastily. If we were to fire him, it would be too severe. It was not a criminal act, nor a malignant malpractice incident. Hasty dismissal might ruin his life and would have a negative influence on other young doctors’ professional perspectives. Public opinion is like the wind; yesterday it blew from the west, today it’s from the east. Yesterday, it was all condemnation of doctors hitting people, today it switched to condemning the patient’s relatives. So, public opinion is like a fan, it blows in whichever direction you place it. Although it’s inevitable, we have no choice but to bow to public opinion, and the same goes for the upper management. Let’s do this – In order to prevent similar occurrences, and rooted in the principle of curing and saving people, let’s punish Dr. Zhang Lin, he made a mistake. But at the same time, we should also protect our young comrades. His error does not warrant his expulsion from our team. Now that there is no pressure from public opinion, we can decide from our hearts – a fine! A fine equivalent to three months of his basic salary, and a public criticism across the hospital, how does that sound?”

“That’s the most reasonable, I agree!” Director Han expressed his opinion, and the other department directors also agreed.

Dean Sun still wanted to insist, “Dean Xia, if the punishment is this light, it might represent a kind of implicit encouragement. If everyone reacts violently to a little grievance, then won’t we have to deal with fights every day?”

“Yeah! If we don’t punish one to caution the others, it might be hard to manage in the future!” Another deputy dean was also unsatisfied with the decision.

Dean Xia waved his hand: “They are medical personnel, not chickens or monkeys. And this isn’t a trivial grievance; it’s a significant one. Zhang Lin’s incident is an individual case, an extremely special individual case. Others wouldn’t be able to imitate it even if they wanted to, because those who dare to take action are, after all, a minority. Old Sun, didn’t you mention public opinion? Now the hospital office receives calls every day asking about Zhang Lin’s punishment. If it’s too light, it’s hard to convince the crowd. If it’s too heavy, we can’t withstand the pressure from public opinion.”

Even though Dean Sun wanted to object, he couldn’t find a reason to do so. What kind of situation was this? Sigh, just let it be, at the moment, it seemed like he, old Sun, was caught in an awkward position.

“Fine! I agree.” Dean Sun responded somewhat deflatedly. Looking at Dean Xia’s unyielding stance, the other deputy deans found it hard to object.

Dean Xia spoke solemnly, “We’ve been discussing how to punish Zhang Lin, but we’ve forgotten about Li Shan. She is the actual victim of this entire incident. How can we uphold Dr. Li’s dignity and rights is something we need to discuss seriously. In this instance, Zhang Lin used extreme means to uphold Dr. Li’s dignity and rights. If such a thing happens in the future, do we need the doctor themselves or their relatives to defend their rights in an extreme way? What should we do? Should we protect our doctors, firmly resisting negative influence? Or should we attempt to calm the situation, completely ignoring the doctor’s personal dignity and interests? The victim in this incident is not only Dr. Li, but every doctor and nurse in the hospital! In regard to this issue, we should reflect deeply, myself included.”

In this way, the decision regarding the punishment for Zhang Lin was settled. A fine equivalent to three months of his basic wages, and a public criticism across the hospital. Meanwhile, as for Dr. Li, there was no fault in her treatment process, and she was assaulted by the patient’s relative. Aside from the apology and compensation due from the person who assaulted her, the hospital granted her a month’s paid leave, as well as compensation equivalent to three months’ basic wages and the average bonus of the hospital.

Saturday afternoon was only five days away, Yang Ping and the others ushered Zhang Lin back to work, and this incident was finally passing in a stable manner.

—

After a hectic morning, Professor Su just sat down in his office, preparing to take a rest.

Su Nanchen brought him a consultation request form for his signature. After having a glance at it, Professor Su said, “It’s hard to admit when someone else is superior, sometimes that’s even harder than acknowledging one’s own shortcomings, but you have done it.”

“His surgery was indeed done beautifully. It can be said that, he surpasses Professor Ye and even Professor Robert. This patient should have him as the chief surgeon. The patient is only twenty years old, and has a long career ahead, and the patient fully agreed with my suggestion to have Dr. Yang perform the surgery,” said Su Nanchen, standing beside Professor Su.

Professor Su picked up the pen and signed his name without hesitation, “Congratulations for finding such a good friend. He can act as a lifelong mentor and friend. Let me know when the surgery is. I would like to see it.”

“I’ve scheduled it for Thursday morning,” said Su Nanchen.

“Come here, Nanchen!” Su Nanchen walked over to Professor Su.

Professor Su opened up the MRI images of the patient on the computer, “See, for this four-way injury, stability is the core of the surgery. Not only static stability but also dynamic stability are needed as he is a football player, moreover, a striker. Therefore, we need to ensure the strength of the rebuilt ligament after the surgery. The difficulty of the operation is very high. Even at the New York Special Surgery Hospital in the United States, the failure rate of such surgeries for professional athletes is very high.”

“I believe he won’t have a problem!” Su Nanchen was very confident, his confidence stemmed from what he had seen with his own eyes.

“Hmm!” Professor Su never doubted his son’s judgement. Whoever could impress him must be exceptional.

“It’s just that Professor Guan is a bit discontent. Initially, for both patients, she wanted to invite Professor Ye. But for this patient, I invited Dr. Yang.”

“That’s fine, I’ve already told her that this was my idea. We need to learn from different people’s experiences,” Professor Su reassured Su Nanchen.

“If this surgery turns out to be very successful, let him be the chief surgeon for the Achilles tendon shrinkage surgery as well. Both surgeries require a lot of experience and extremely advanced surgical skills. The surgery for Achilles tendon shrinkage may seem simple but is actually very difficult. They are both top-level surgeries in the world.” Professor Su suggested.

Someone knocked on the door, “Uncle Su!”

Su Nanchen turned his head, “Lin Hao! You’re already back to work? Didn’t you take a few more days off?”

Lin Hao was Su Nanchen’s classmate at Xiehe Hospital. They both went to the New York Special Surgery Hospital in the United States for further study. Su Nanchen stayed there for only one year while Lin Hao stayed for three years.

“Lin Hao, can you take a look at this patient too? Are there any new developments on this kind of surgery at the New York Special Surgery Hospital?” Professor Su turned his computer screen around.

“Is this the soccer player with the quadruple injury of the knee joint?”

“Yes, indeed!”

“Wasn’t this supposed to be handled by Professor Ye? As of now, there aren’t any new developments in the States either. These kinds of reconstructive surgeries never quite achieve good stability, the balance is too hard to handle. Doctor Robert does quite a bit of research in this area, Nanchen is familiar with it. Right now there’s an NBA player with a quadruple injury combined with an unstable kneecap joint. He is being treated by Doctor Robert who has assessed that the failure rate is too high and he isn’t confident about it. Therefore, he has yet to come up with a surgical plan. This is the crown jewel of sports medicine surgeries. When will it be done? I should learn from Professor Ye.” Lin Hao was very interested, these kinds of surgeries always caught everybody’s interest.

“For this patient, I’m inviting Dr. Yang from Sanbo to perform the surgery!” said Su Nanchen.

“Sanbo? Dr. Yang?” The hospital wasn’t very well-known, and neither was this doctor.

Were there surgeons capable of this operation that he didn’t know about? Lin Hao was a little surprised.

“The surgery will be performed this Thursday morning!” Su Nanchen said.

“Professor Ye’s operation is also on Thursday morning, why didn’t you ask him to join? Is he too busy? There’s no break between the two surgeries?” Lin Hao was very confused.

Su Nanchen couldn’t quite explain either, “Yes, Professor Ye is too busy.”

“Really?” Lin Hao was puzzled.

“Nanchen, you go home first, I’ll be back later, I still have some things to do.” Professor Su got busy again.

Su Nanchen went to the ward to check on the patient with the quadruple injury of the knee joint, a twenty-year-old soccer player, a rare competent player, a main player of the Nandu team. He was leaning against the bed with his legs dangling, doing push-ups.

“Dr. Su!” The young man quickly stopped doing push-ups.

“Professor Su has agreed to ask Dr. Yang to perform the surgery.” Su Nanchen told him.

The young man made a victory sign, “That’s fantastic!”

Professional athletes like him usually prefer renowned experts like Professor Ye. It’s rare that they agree to have young doctors like Yang Ping perform their surgeries.

Before making this decision, Su Nanchen revised his persuasion speech several times in his mind. Surprisingly, the young man agreed after only a few sentences.

“I am curious, why were you so readily agreeable and relaxed about my recommendation of having an unknown young doctor perform your surgery, instead of being persistent about Professor Ye?” Su Nanchen also wanted to know the answer.

The young man held up a finger and waved it, “You’re wrong. If he’s recommended by you, how could he possibly be unknown? It’s just that he isn’t popular outside of his field yet. When choosing between him and Professor Ye, you chose him, and he’s so young. You know what that means? He’s a young genius. No one would recommend a young person who isn’t well-known for an important task, unless that young person has exceptional talent and distinguished abilities.”

“This is currently the crowning surgery in sports medicine! The failure rate of the surgery is very high, regardless of who does it,” Su Nanchen felt he was being overly optimistic.

“I fell in love with soccer when I was six. But when I was fourteen, I was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. I thought it was the end of the world, but it wasn’t. Then I underwent radiation therapy and chemotherapy at the hospital and so far there has been no relapse. My body was extremely weak after the treatment, but I changed it and returned to the field; when I was eighteen, I had a car accident, with multiple fractures all over my body, more than ten fractured ribs, fractures in both upper and lower limbs, and even in the pelvis which still has steel plates in it. After the surgery, I was barely able to walk, but I firmly believed that I could return to the field, and I did it again. This time all the ligaments in my knee were torn, many doctors told me to give up. I know there are some things you have to give up on, but it’s not time to give up yet, I believe that hard work can change everything,” he said with a smile.

“You have to understand, some things can’t be achieved by just working hard!” Su Nanchen had to temper his expectations.

The young man replied, “I understand, if there is one percent of hope, I will make two hundred percent effort.”