Chapter 379: Chapter 378: Fate
At nearly seven in the morning, Yan Feifan arrived at the Affiliated Hospital’s emergency department and immediately reviewed Wang Songhe’s resuscitation records from the previous night.
At eleven-thirty the previous night, Wang Songhe, who had been on the verge of a full recovery, suddenly began convulsing in the observation room. He developed difficulty breathing and bradycardia, and then went into cardiac arrest.
After more than an hour of attempted resuscitation, the emergency department officially pronounced him dead.
Yan Feifan mentally replayed Wang Songhe’s treatment and resuscitation from the night before but couldn’t find any major errors.
However, Wang Songhe’s sudden and sharp decline baffled him.
Yan Feifan asked Mr. Wan, "His blood potassium levels had almost returned to normal. What do you think could have caused the convulsions?"
"An allergic reaction to a drug? An autoimmune disease? A tumor? Acute organ failure? Poisoning?"
Wan Yuming sighed softly. "Any of those are possible."
"But the patient’s family is extremely upset. They’re convinced we made a major error during the resuscitation and are refusing to consent to an autopsy."
He looked at Yan Feifan reassuringly. "After you left, the patient’s condition was steadily improving."
"That proves your resuscitation efforts were both effective and correct."
"The sudden deterioration later must have been caused by something else."
Yan Feifan sighed. "I must have missed something. He was only twenty-one."
Wan Yuming comforted him again. "Feifan, don’t be so hard on yourself."
"You’re not a god. From the moment you took over his care to the moment you left, it was barely more than twenty minutes."
"In such a short amount of time, the symptoms the patient exhibited were all consistent with severe hypokalemia. It’s perfectly normal that you didn’t notice anything else."
Wan Yuming then warned him, "Feifan, when the investigators come, don’t you dare say you think you missed something."
"It’ll cause huge problems."
Yan Feifan nodded. "I understand, Mr. Wan. I’ll just state the facts about the resuscitation process."
"As for the rest, we’ll just have to wait for the autopsy report and the medical malpractice investigation..."
Even though something so heartbreaking had happened, life and work had to go on.
Especially for Yan Feifan. Wang Songhe wasn’t the first patient under his care to die for one reason or another, and he certainly wouldn’t be the last.
He had to learn to live with it.
The online controversy claiming Yan Feifan only chose to perform surgery at Baining Hospital out of greed was gaining a lot of traction.
An "insider" even swore that Yan Feifan was paid fifty thousand yuan for every freelance surgery he performed at Baining Hospital.
Three surgeries a day would be one hundred fifty thousand.
That was an annual income most people could only dream of.
Despite the heated debate, after the reversal of yesterday’s "exposé" video, most people were taking a wait-and-see approach, pending an official announcement.
At ten-thirty in the morning, Baining Medical Technology and Baining Hospital issued an official response.
Baining Medical Technology first posted a flashy promotional video for a surgical robot. They then announced that Baining Medical Technology had reached a collaborative agreement with Mr. Yan Feifan to implement Mr. Yan’s tumor puncture and injection technique on the surgical robot.
The reason Mr. Yan was performing surgery at Baining Hospital, they explained, was primarily to provide precise sample data for the surgical robot’s data models.
As for the compensation Mr. Yan received, Baining Technology and Baining Hospital were vague.
They stated it was a fair business collaboration, and that Mr. Yan’s compensation was well-deserved and commensurate with his contributions.
As soon as this response was released, the online skepticism vanished into thin air.
Instead, the buzz around the surgical robot skyrocketed...
Yan Feifan had lunch with his sister and Yu Suye.
Yan Feifan wasn’t in a great mood, and his appetite suffered for it.
"Feifan, you look so drained, completely out of it. Did you wear yourself out last night?"
Yan Feifan completely ignored his sister’s teasing.
Yu Suye, however, blushed and played dumb. "Ziruo, what are you talking about? I don’t get it."
Yan Ziruo rolled her eyes at her and huffed, "Someone was shouting pretty loud. I’m not deaf, you know."
The blush on Yu Suye’s face instantly spread down to her neck. She asked, mortified, "Ziruo, you could hear from the master bedroom?"
Yan Ziruo chuckled. "Su Ye, don’t worry about the soundproofing. I went to talk to Feifan about something last night and just happened to overhear a thing or two at his door."
Yan Feifan snorted in disgust. "Sis, if you and that Jee Mingzhi guy are fine with each other, you should just hurry up and get married."
"I want to get married soon too, it’s just..."
Yan Ziruo smacked her lips thoughtfully. "Jee Mingzhi is a decent guy, but I feel like there’s still something missing between us."
"Oh, Feifan, speaking of Jee Mingzhi, he actually needs a favor."
"He has a relative from his hometown whose four-year-old child has a congenital heart defect—an atrioventricular septal defect, I think it’s called."
"He was hoping you could help..."
Yan Feifan replied casually, "Atrial and ventricular septal defects are relatively common congenital heart diseases. The repair procedures are quite mature. They don’t necessarily have to come to the Affiliated Hospital."
Yan Ziruo sighed softly. "The child is so young, and it’s heart surgery. The parents naturally want the best hospital possible, just to be safe."
"So, Feifan, can you help with this?"
Yan Feifan said with a hint of resignation, "It’s a request from my potential future brother-in-law. Even if I couldn’t, I’d have to find a way."
"Sis, have his relative send the child’s medical records to my email. I’ll take a look and get back to you."
Yan Ziruo grunted in acknowledgment, then warned, "Feifan, after you review the kid’s records, don’t you go telling them it’s a minor procedure and that you’ll handle it yourself."
Yan Feifan just smiled. "Sis, I’m not trying to brag, but forget septal defect repairs—I could even handle a heart transplant."
"I believe you!"
Yan Ziruo said with a perfectly straight face, "If you turned into that mad scientist from the story, Frankenstein, and created a living person, I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest."
"Sis, I’m not joking," Yan Feifan said, getting a little annoyed.
"Whether you’re joking or not, you know the truth!"
Yan Ziruo teased him, then changed the subject enthusiastically. "Feifan, let’s go sing tonight!"
"It’s been ages since we went to a KTV and belted out some tunes."
"Sure!" Yan Feifan agreed without a moment’s hesitation...
Shortly after three in the afternoon, while Yan Feifan was in the neurosurgery department receiving instruction from his teacher, Lo Jun, he got a call from Wan Yuming.
"Feifan, we found the cause of death! It was poisoning!"
"What kind of poison, Mr. Wan?" Yan Feifan pressed.
"An insecticide. A type of organophosphate."
"We detected a very high concentration of organophosphate residue on the deceased’s clothes."
"According to the investigation, Bin University’s campus was sprayed yesterday for a major aphid infestation."
"Somehow, the deceased’s clothes got contaminated with the pesticide."
"The deceased was already in a weakened state. Last night, the organophosphates on his clothes seeped through his skin and into his system, accumulating until it reached a critical point..."
Yan Feifan hung up with Mr. Wan, sighing in disbelief.
’Such a fatal coincidence. It was a stark reminder that you had to have a healthy fear of something as intangible as fate...’
Nearing the end of his workday, Yan Feifan received a call from Wang Chuan.
"Feifan, Dr. Qu is here."
"He heard you’re working on a research project for phalloplasty."
"Dr. Qu says that while he can no longer practice medicine, nothing is stopping him from teaching."
"And as you know, Dr. Qu has some unique expertise when it comes to penile repair and reconstruction."
"So he’s asking if you’d like him to teach you a few things."
PS.
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