The Surgeon’s Studio

Chapter 12: A Live Broadcast of A Misdiagnosed Case

Er… Chief Surgeon Liu was taken by surprise.

He had the impression that Zheng Ren was an honest conformist, quiet as a lamb.

It was easier to oppress a mild-tempered man of straw and Chief Surgeon Liu was aware of it.

That was exactly why he stopped arguing with Chief Physician Pan. If anyone found out that he had actually supplanted his mentor, who was also the former chief surgeon in the general surgery department, his reputation would be damaged.

However, Zheng Ren’s huge attitude change upon transferring to the emergency department, even making such an arrogant announcement, was completely beyond expectation.

Not everyone was capable of performing a surgery. Fault-finding, though? That was easy.

What a small-minded imbecile! Chief Surgeon Liu gave Zheng Ren a contemptuous gaze. Then, he smiled and replied immediately before Chief Physician Pan could disagree: “Okay! You’ll handle all appendicitis cases for the next few days. If you do well, the general surgery… The first general surgery department will never perform an appendectomy again. Otherwise, haha!”

Smiling wickedly, Chief Surgeon Liu turned around and walked away without giving Chief Physician Pan a chance to refuse.

Chief Surgeon Sun from the second general surgery department could not understand Zheng Ren’s motives for such an overconfident decision and was immersed in his own train of thought as he followed Chief Surgeon Liu out of the emergency department.

Finally, some peace and quiet, but Chief Physician Old Pan could not but feel helpless.

“Little Zheng, that was a little too big for your boots,” said the perturbed Chief Physician Pan.

“Chief Physician Pan, if my skills aren’t up to par, we won’t be able to carry out our plans for emergency surgery anyway. However, they won’t find any mistakes at all if my standard is good enough. Rest assured, I’ll complete the task that you assigned to me,” Zheng Ren promised, happy that he found a way to live.

Rest assured? How? Chief Physician Old Pan had used a scalpel for more than forty years. Surgeries without any mistakes… they existed, but were very rare.

“Let’s go to the general surgery department. When it’s time for me to perform surgery, I’d like to request the honor of your presence to prevent them from bending the truth.”

The source of Zheng Ren’s confidence remained a mystery to Chief Physician Old Pan, but what could he possibly do when the deal was on? Sighing heavily, he instructed all doctors on duty in the emergency department to transfer every acute appendicitis case or similar they had to the ward for consultation.

After that, the duo headed straight toward the first general surgery department in silence.

…

…

Zheng Ren recalled multiple patients with abdominal pain in the first general surgery department, waiting to be examined for educational purposes in live surgical demonstrations.

He went straight to the wards first instead of entering the office upon arrival at the general surgery department.

Whenever Zheng Ren stared at a patient, their relevant diagnostic information would appear at the upper right corner of his vision, which signified that the System was still operational.

However, the words were slightly blurry and seemed faded.

A countdown timer was hovering at the highest point of his vision. Two days and twenty-two hours left.

“Yo? A chief resident from the emergency department is here for a ward round in the general surgery department?” scoffed Cen Meng—a chief resident in the first general surgery department—after witnessing Zheng Ren’s patrol around the wards.

Apart from a few experienced senior consultants, no one dared to do ward rounds in other unrelated departments.

This assault of mockery was fired at full power, and Cen Meng had a lot more ammunition waiting to be launched at Zheng Ren.

Pretending as if he heard nothing at all, Zheng Ren continued to walk around and check every patient with abdominal pain to be examined before saying to Cen Meng, “Chief Cen, the patient in bed number three-seven is suffering from an acute appendicitis in the ectopic position and requires immediate surgical intervention.”

Cen Meng was stunned momentarily. The ward round he mentioned just now was meant to be a taunt and he had not expected Zheng Ren to take it seriously at all.

Was Zheng Ren looking for a fight?

Cen Meng recalled that the patient in bed three-seven was a forty-year-old male admitted on the first day of the month due to upper right abdominal pain. B-scan ultrasonography findings included an inflammatory mass at the right hypochondrium region with gallbladder wall thickening, which was suggestive of acute cholecystitis.

He diagnosed an acute cholecystitis patient with acute appendicitis? What an idiot…

“Where did you learn surgery from? An appendix lies in the right iliac fossa region, not the right hypochondrium region,” sneered Cen Meng.

“I told you, an ectopic appendix.” Zheng Ren walked past Cen Meng towards the workstation in front of Chief Physician Old Pan and brought out the patient record of bed three-seven.

“Chief Physician Pan, please take a look at that patient. I think this is a misdiagnosis in the first general surgery department,” said Zheng Ren.

Chief Physician Old Pan was at a loss for words.

Misdiagnosis? Damn, that was humiliating. Reconciliation would be impossible from now on.

Whose humiliation it was would be a mystery until later.

How much resentment had he built up to accuse the general surgery department of a misdiagnosis?

An ominous feeling came over Chief Physician Old Pan as he read through the patient record.

Was it possible that he misjudged Zheng Ren when the man was actually a brainless bastard? He took a lifetime to build up a good reputation; was he going to lose it due to this foolish imbecile? There was an inflammatory mass at the anatomical position of the gallbladder. An ectopic appendix was a possibility but honestly, it was at the bottom of the list.

Well, it was alright to proceed for surgical intervention since an incision would be made on the right upper quadrant of the abdomen anyway. Cholecystectomy and appendectomy were just names. The true operation for this patient was an exploratory laparotomy.

However… even Chief Physician Old Pan assumed that this would be a case of acute cholecystitis as well.

Clinically, no one would pay much attention to rare diseases as their chances of occurrence were so small that it would be unwise to hinder a normal medical procedure because of it.

Various investigative reports suggested the patient was most probably suffering from acute cholecystitis.

The patient was currently in the operating theater’s elective surgery waiting list after his family members had consented to surgical treatment.

A diagnosis of acute appendicitis in a patient with suspected acute cholecystitis felt unreliable in every aspect.

“Zheng Ren, are you done? Don’t forget, you were transferred away…” reprimanded Cen Meng before he was interrupted by Chief Surgeon Liu.

“Isn’t the patient prepared for operation? Send him to the operating theater and let Zheng Ren perform the surgery. An acute appendicitis of ectopic position is possible but low on the list. What’s the worst that could happen? A misdiagnosis, that’s all. We can proceed for an exploratory laparotomy to locate the source when that happens. Cen Meng, tag along and pay attention to the patient’s safety.”

Then, Chief Surgeon Liu glared at Cen Meng and added. “The patient’s surgery is of utmost importance. Negligence is intolerable.”

Cen Meng nodded in response.

Cen Meng understood Chief Surgeon Liu’s plan instantly as he was involved in the retaliation against the emergency department earlier. Grinning peculiarly and devilishly, he leaned closer to Chief Surgeon Liu and whispered, “Perhaps I can inform the operating theater to arrange a live broadcast in the surgical demonstration classroom. You can inform the upper management of the medical administrative division in the meantime, just in case…”

What a kind and thoughtful lad! The delighted Chief Surgeon Liu patted Cen Meng’s shoulder gently. His effort in promoting this chief resident was not in vain after all.

This time, Chief Surgeon Liu will slap Zheng Ren to death and remind Chief Physician Pan that it was foolish to overstep his workplace boundaries!

He winked at Cen Meng, who understood immediately and started making the necessary arrangements.

Chief Surgeon Liu glanced at Zheng Ren coldly and snorted. “Zheng Ren, normally I wouldn’t allow you to make nonsense out of this patient’s final diagnosis, but I’ll give you a chance to prove yourself since whatever you confidently said just now sounded logical too. However, I’ve to warn you that the operating table isn’t someplace where you can fool around as you please. If your diagnosis is wrong, I’ll ask Cen Meng to take over and when that happens… Humph!”

…

…

The same anonymous account started a live stream and uploaded the patient’s disease condition and various investigation reports to Xinglin Garden.

“Which hospital starts a live broadcast on Xinglin Garden?”

“Perhaps someone who is trying to make a name for himself. Well, it’s normal for these people to disappear in the end anyway.”

“Hahaha, did you guys read it? A case of acute cholecystitis but treated as an acute appendicitis. How is the surgeon going to broadcast a surgery when he can’t even diagnose a patient correctly? Does he want to show us the battle between surgeons postoperatively?”

The video livestream attracted the attention of more than a dozen doctors in a very short amount of time.

Those who had the courage to live stream surgery were usually experienced senior consultants.

However, a live broadcast of an appendectomy, sorry… a “misdiagnosed” appendectomy… Was this supposed to be a joke?

The first batch of viewers started inviting their friends or fellow colleagues, and the viewership climbed even further.

The hospital’s and patient’s name in every medical record and investigative report were pixelated in order to anonymize the location of the live broadcast.

Regardless, none of the viewers cared about those details in the first place. There was only one thing that really caught their eyes—this was a misdiagnosis!

…

…

The surgical demonstration classroom was spacious and bright. A dozen doctors were surrounding Chief Physician Pan just like stars twinkling around a dazzling moon.

This arrangement was Chief Surgeon Liu’s idea.

The higher Chief Physician Pan climbed, the harder he would fall ten minutes later.

Yes, only ten minutes were required to expose Zheng Ren as an incompetent and idiotic surgeon. Decades of clinical experience gave Chief Surgeon Liu confidence.

Chief Surgeon Liu could foresee the bright future ahead of him; a future where no one dared to offend him after witnessing the unfortunate outcome of the emergency department.

“Chief Physician Pan, everything was arranged according to your request. The scrub nurse came from the emergency department and Zheng Ren mentioned that he didn’t need a surgical assistant. Are you satisfied with this arrangement?” Cen Meng walked into the surgical demonstration classroom and stood in front of Chief Physician Pan courteously, tone and expression flawless.

The deputy division chief from the medical administrative division was sitting beside Chief Physician Pan with a peculiar look on his face.

Chief Physician Pan was really showing his age to allow a mere junior attending surgeon to mess around with such a simple case.

Alas… it was better to go through some trouble this time so that he would not need to handle their disputes in the future.

An eerie silence engulfed the surgical demonstration classroom as everyone became immersed in their own trains of thought.

The anesthesiologist then made a gesture on the screen. The operation had officially begun.

The scalpel was thin and shiny. Without hesitation, the first incision was made.