I Am Diagnosed as a Medical Titan

Chapter 312: Chapter 210: Irresponsible to Everyone

Outside the operating room.

As the chief surgeon, Jiang He had to go report the patient’s condition to the family.

Outside the door, the family members swarmed him, their faces etched with anxiety.

At the very front was Guo Chengyu’s wife, her eyes already swollen from crying.

”Dr. Jiang, my husband... How is he?”

”The surgery is over. For now, he’s no longer in critical condition.”

The family members reacted instantly.

Some covered their faces and wept, while others repeatedly murmured, ”Thank God, thank God.”

Jiang He waited for them to calm down slightly before continuing, ”However, there are a few things I need to explain clearly. Mr. Guo’s condition progressed extremely rapidly. It’s progressive severe acute pancreatitis. During the surgery, pancreatic fluid had leaked, and his internal organs were severely corroded.”

The color drained from the family’s faces again.

”While cleaning out the necrotic tissue and peritoneal exudate, we discovered that his transverse colon had become severely edematous and fragile from being immersed in pancreatic fluid for so long. Therefore, I performed a double-barreled transverse colostomy on him.”

”A... colostomy? What does that mean?”

”To put it simply, we created an opening in his abdominal wall and brought a section of the intestine out. This is a temporary protective measure. Once he’s past this critical period, the inflammation in his abdominal cavity has completely subsided, and his intestines have healed, we will perform another surgery to reconnect the intestine.”

”Additionally, to facilitate observation of his abdominal cavity and to relieve the high intra-abdominal pressure, we used a special sterile bag for temporary closure. He will be sent to the ICU. The next few days are crucial, and he may require a second bedside debridement at any time.”

None of this made sense to them.

The family only cared about one thing. ”Doctor, does that mean... my husband is still in danger?”

Jiang He reassured them, ”His vital signs have all stabilized for now, and the state of shock has been effectively corrected. He’s made it through the most dangerous part of the surgery. We managed to save him. You can breathe a sigh of relief for now.”

Hearing this, tears streamed down the woman’s face.

She had already learned that this surgery was not only difficult but also carried a high risk.

’He was saved... That’s wonderful.’

The other family members also chimed in with their thanks.

”As long as his life is saved... As long as he’s alive, Dr. Jiang, thank you for saving him!”

Jiang He nodded slightly, gave a few more instructions, and turned to walk down the physicians’ corridor.

He had calmed the family and saved the patient with his ice-cold judgment.

But at this moment, Jiang He was still furious. Absolutely livid...

The patient was a victim, forced to endure an extra procedure for no reason at all. The family members were victims too, and they didn’t even know the full story yet.

’Adults must pay the price for their mistakes.’

Performing an invasive procedure on the operating table without the chief surgeon’s direct order was a serious violation of protocol.

Jiang He could file the official report defensively for the sake of the bigger picture, but he would never tolerate such behavior.

What Xu Chen did this time was simply too much. Far, far too much.

Hepatobiliary Surgery Department, Independent Medical Team Leader’s Office.

Xu Chen arrived.

Jiang He said, ”Close the door. First, explain to me why you used a rigid suction tip to clear the fluid in the paracolic gutter without my permission.”

Xu Chen’s voice was hoarse. ”I... I saw fluid pooled there...”

”Louder.” ℯ

”I... I saw a large amount of exudate accumulating in the left paracolic gutter. It was obstructing the view, and I wanted to expose the surgical field faster... I wanted to help. When I assisted on appendectomies before, we always used this kind of rigid suction tip with high negative pressure to clear that area. I thought... I thought it would be fast and clean. I wanted to anticipate your next move. I wanted to prove that I could keep up with your pace. As the first assistant... I just wanted to perform better and help share your burden...”

Xu Chen’s voice grew quieter and quieter until it trailed off into a sob.

He knew he had screwed up, and he had almost been responsible for a man’s death.

Jiang He stared at him, his face expressionless.

After waiting a moment, he asked, ”Are you finished?”

Xu Chen nodded. ”I’m finished... I’m sorry, Jiang He. I’m so, so sorry...”

”Shut up.”

Jiang He stood up and walked over to him.

”Xu Chen, you’re a top student from Southern Medical University’s eight-year program, and you’ve been interning at Affiliated Hospital No. 1 for a year. Let me ask you, what is the number one ironclad rule on the operating table?”

Xu Chen stammered, ”The... the chief surgeon is in charge...”

”If you knew the chief surgeon is in charge, what gave you the right to act? On the operating table, when the chief surgeon hasn’t given a clear order, are you allowed to do whatever you want?”

Xu Chen was speechless.

Jiang He said furiously, ”Answer me!”

Tears streamed down Xu Chen’s face as he spoke, ”No... You can’t... It’s the rule...”

Jiang He’s gaze was ice-cold. ”So what were you doing? Do you think surgery is a joke? That you can just start over if you make a mistake? Did you not know that in the abdominal cavity of a severe pancreatitis patient, the intestines are soaked in pancreatic fluid and extremely fragile? Sticking a rigid suction tip in there wasn’t just stupid, it was arrogant! It was the height of irresponsibility toward a human life!”

Xu Chen’s legs went weak, and he could barely stand.

”If I hadn’t been the one standing here today, or if I hadn’t reacted in time and decisively performed the colostomy, do you know what the consequences would have been?” Jiang He pressed.

Of course, Xu Chen knew.

He had already replayed that terrifying outcome in his mind countless times in the operating room.

”E. coli entering the bloodstream, septic shock, the patient dying on the table. You’d have a malpractice incident on your record. Your mentor, Sun Changming, wouldn’t be able to protect you. Your uncle, Lin Peidong, wouldn’t be able to protect you either. you would have destroyed that patient’s family, and you would have destroyed yourself.”

Jiang He wasn’t just trying to scare him. This was reality.

Xu Chen completely broke down.

He fell to his knees with a THUD, buried his face in his hands, and began to sob uncontrollably.

Watching Xu Chen sobbing on the floor, a flicker of a complex emotion crossed Jiang He’s eyes.

He suddenly remembered an old acquaintance from his previous life, He Xuzhou.

He Xuzhou had been the rising star of another hospital in the province, a surgical genius who became a deputy department director at a young age.

Videos of his surgeries were even circulated as teaching materials in major medical schools.

He Xuzhou had performed countless difficult surgeries with an extremely high success rate and was beloved by all.

Until that day came.

It was a routine laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Perhaps it was because he was exhausted from performing three surgeries in a row, or perhaps his familiarity with the procedure had made him complacent.

While dissecting the triangle of Calot, He Xuzhou’s electrocautery hook accidentally injured the common hepatic duct.

He didn’t notice it right away.

The day after the surgery, the patient developed severe biliary peritonitis and ultimately died of multiple organ failure in the intensive care unit.

Overnight, the genius fell from grace.

The family hung banners and blocked the hospital entrance, the media swarmed in, and the online vitriol was overwhelming.

The patient’s family wasn’t wrong. From their perspective, He Xuzhou was a murderer who had destroyed everything because of a mistake at work.

A hundred percent success rate a hundred times over means nothing. Just one fatal mistake is enough to destroy everything.

Therein lies the tragedy of the medical profession.

The cost of every mistake is someone else’s life and a piece of your own soul.

Later, He Xuzhou had his medical license revoked and left the medical field.

It was said that he returned to his hometown due to severe depression, and no one ever saw him again.

Jiang He pulled his thoughts back to the present, his gaze falling once more on Xu Chen.

Doctors are human, not gods. And humans make mistakes.

But some mistakes can be rectified with every ounce of your being, while for others, once they’re made, there isn’t even a chance for regret...

”Get up,” Jiang He said.

Xu Chen pushed himself off the floor and shakily got to his feet.

”Crying won’t solve anything. As an adult, you have to pay for your actions. Go get a pen and paper.”

Xu Chen quickly fetched a piece of paper and a pen, placing them on the desk with trembling hands.

”Write me a detailed personal incident report right now. Describe the entire process of how you, on the operating table and without an order from the chief surgeon, acted on your own and used a rigid suction tip, causing the patient’s transverse colon to rupture. Write it all down clearly!”

Xu Chen nodded vigorously. ”Okay, I’ll write it right now.”

In less than ten minutes, the incident report was handed to Jiang He.

Jiang He glanced at it, opened a drawer, tossed the report inside, and then said:

”Now, go apologize to the patient’s family. You will bear the full cost of the patient’s additional ICU stay due to your mistake, as well as the cost of the stoma reversal surgery in a few months. If that’s not enough to cover future expenses, you will continue to pay!”

”I’ll pay! I’ll pay for all of it!”

”Furthermore, starting today, you are indefinitely removed from my medical team. From now on, you are not even allowed in the observation room for any surgery I’m leading. We can talk about you assisting in an operation again when you’ve learned the rules.”

Xu Chen’s eyes were blurry with tears. He paused for a full five seconds before saying, ”Understood, Leader Jiang. About today, on the table... I’m sorry. I absolutely will not cause you or the department any trouble...”

Jiang He cut him off coldly. ”Get out.”

Xu Chen shut his mouth, not daring to say another word.

In reality, Jiang He was so furious because Xu Chen’s actions were entirely self-destructive.

’If the patient hadn’t been saved, I wouldn’t have been able to escape responsibility either.’

With a record like this, it wasn’t just that Jiang He wouldn’t dare have him on his surgical team anymore; no one in the entire Affiliated Hospital No. 1 would dare have him assist in a surgery.

A first assistant who doesn’t listen to the chief surgeon and acts on their own initiative is absolutely terrifying.

It’s not just irresponsible to the patient; it’s irresponsible to everyone involved in the operation.

「Afternoon. The Department of Critical Care Medicine.」

Jiang He, dressed in an isolation gown, stood before Guo Chengyu’s hospital bed.

The numbers on the monitor beeped steadily.

Blood pressure: 110/70 mmHg. Heart rate: 85 bpm. Blood oxygen saturation holding at 98%.

Liu Jianbang held Guo Chengyu’s medical chart, unable to hold back his amazement. ”Leader Jiang, are you some kind of god? I’ve been in the ICU for years, and your handling of this... I can only describe it as textbook-perfect...”

Jiang He said calmly, ”My hand was forced. At the time, his blood pressure had already dropped to 60/30. Any more hesitation, and his heart would have stopped.”

Liu Jianbang was completely won over. ”Impressive,” he said.

Jiang He gave his instructions, ”Director Liu, the next forty-eight hours will be the peak of the inflammatory storm. Please keep a close eye on him for me. If any necrotic tissue in the abdominal cavity liquefies, notify me immediately to perform a second debridement at the bedside.”

This was the greatest advantage of the Bogota bag.

The chief surgeon could directly open the bag at the ICU bedside to perform debridement.

”Don’t worry. He’s in my hands. I’ll have someone watching him twenty-four hours a day,” Liu Jianbang readily agreed.

His attitude toward Jiang He had now completely shifted to that of an equal, a peer-to-peer exchange.

After finishing his rounds, Jiang He took off his isolation gown and walked out of the ICU.

Honestly, the greatest kindness he could show Xu Chen was to do his utmost to heal this patient and minimize any long-term complications.

In the hallway, Jiang He ran into Lin Peidong.

Lin Peidong had clearly been waiting there for some time.

”Leader Jiang.”

”Dr. Lin.”

Lin Peidong gave a wry smile. ”Leader Jiang, I’m not here to plead for Xu Chen. I’ve been a clinician for over a decade, and I saw everything that happened on the table as clear as day. I’m here to sincerely thank you on behalf of my entire family. If it weren’t for your miraculous intervention today, Xu Chen’s life would have been ruined.”

Jiang He said, ”Dr. Lin, my actions at that time weren’t to protect him. They were to save the patient.”

”I know, I understand completely. Regardless of your motives, you genuinely gave him a second chance. Leader Jiang, from now on, whenever you’re operating, I’ll be on call for you from the anesthesiology department. You’ll have my absolute cooperation.”

Jiang He nodded but said nothing more.

Whether or not this matter could be settled no longer depended on him. It was all up to Xu Chen now.

If Xu Chen couldn’t obtain the family’s forgiveness, then the situation would have to be handled by the book, come what may.

’All I can do is heal the patient.’

’Beyond that, I can’t help him.’