Chapter 515: Performative Rescue

Zhai Yuhan was also watching the program on her phone.

"Doctor Xiao Ji, your interventional surgery skills are truly excellent, really excellent." Zhai Yuhan had also gradually come to accept this young intern before her.

Ji Xiang's level was high; even Director Li Ming of the Interventional Department treated him with such kindness and warmth, so why should she be any different?

Moreover, the standard of Ji Xiang's interventional surgery was an objective fact; in the spirit of seeking truth from facts, Zhai Yuhan had to accept it.

"It's alright." Ji Xiang was also watching the program on his phone, changing the subject and not mentioning his own skill level. "The animation company Fan Dao found is quite impressive. In 48 hours, they produced content of this standard; it's really great."

"Was this your suggestion?" Zhai Yuhan asked.

"I just mentioned it in passing, otherwise Fan Dao would keep chasing me to ask about this and that." Ji Xiang smiled. "Besides, if some popular science content could be broadcast through variety shows, the effect would be much better. My dad used to talk about 'edutainment,' but I didn't really like it; I always thought about educating people, and that wasn't quite right."

"But when it came to my own turn, it was a different story."

"You?!" Zhai Yuhan was stunned for a moment.

"When I was on duty in the Emergency Department with Meng Laoshi, I heard him talk about several cases, both elderly people and small children. They were all tracheal foreign bodies, and their families didn't know how to perform rescue. By the time the Emergency Vehicle arrived, the person had already gone cold."

Ji Xiang sighed. "I always thought it would be good to start a popular science account, but that's very difficult, and not many people follow them. Now, by using this variety show, it seems like a lot can be done."

"..."

Zhai Yuhan had never seen such a scene.

However, it was very easy to imagine such things.

A child who was suffocated to death, already in cardiac and respiratory arrest by the time they were sent to the hospital, with the parents so limp like noodles they couldn't even stand, collapsing on the floor.

"If everyone knew the Heimlich maneuver, even if the technique wasn't standard, it could still save many people every year. Just as I encountered a patient with a staple in their Right Main Bronchus, I thought of this."

"Is this what you consider meddling?"

"Pretty much." Ji Xiang wore an indifferent smile. "Mainly, I just want Meng Laoshi to have some peace and quiet in the Emergency Department and take in fewer useless rescues."

"Useless rescues? What does that mean?" Zhao Mengmeng asked, puzzled.

"It means the person is brought in by an Emergency Vehicle, and the Family Member cannot accept it for the moment. Although the Doctor and Nurse both know the Patient has long since died, they must perform a rescue. It basically belongs to a type of performative rescue used to comfort the Family Member."

Ji Xiang said helplessly.

Zhai Yuhan had long since grown accustomed to Ji Xiang's grasp of small Clinical details, whereas Zhao Mengmeng was the one who looked like the kind of intern the program required, her face full of naivety and ignorance.

"Ah, there's such a thing? How can it be a performance?" Zhao Mengmeng asked in confusion.

"Losing a loved one is hard for the family to accept at first." Ji Xiang sighed and said, "So we go through the motions of a rescue. Meng Laoshi says that if you encounter a patient in the late stages of Cancer who is extremely emaciated, you must press lightly."

"Why?"

"If you use a little force, the ribs will crack, crack, crack, and break in a row. Later, when they are sent to the funeral home, it's hard to dress them. One side is low, one side is high, and it's very difficult during the funeral. I haven't seen it myself, but that's what Meng Laoshi said, so I just listen." Ji Xiang reiterated at the end.

"But can't you just not perform the rescue?"

"You have to take care of the Family Member's emotions." Ji Xiang explained again.

He saw that Zhao Mengmeng really didn't understand, which was normal, as she had never been exposed to Clinical work.

"However, I did hear a piece of gossip from Meng Laoshi. It is said that an Old Man was already dead when he was brought in. They said he was watching TV at home, laughed out loud, and then lost his voice."

"What a blessing," Zhai Yuhan praised.

Zhao Mengmeng didn't know why Zhai Yuhan said that; in her consciousness, being alive was the only blessing.

"Meng Laoshi saw that the Family Member's emotions were very agitated, so he started to pretend to perform a rescue. But he didn't expect that the heart compressions, which he wasn't even using force for, actually had an effect. Three minutes later, the patient took a long breath and actually came back to life!"

"Holy shit!" Zhai Yuhan cursed.

"Came back to life?"

"Yeah, came back to life. The Old Man glared at Meng Laoshi and said, 'You pressed me until it hurt, be lighter.'"

"..."

"..."

Zhai Yuhan, like Zhao Mengmeng, looked at Ji Xiang with a face full of confusion, not knowing if this was true or false. Was Ji Xiang just spouting nonsense, or did it really happen?

"The Old Man lay back down after he finished speaking and passed away very peacefully. Meng Laoshi was given a fright, and ever since then, he has been even more careful." Ji Xiang told the gossip with ease.

Zhao Zhe continued, "I once encountered a patient with late-stage Renal Cancer, with metastasis to multiple organs throughout the body and multi-organ failure. When they came to the hospital, they were already failing, showing jaw breathing."

Jaw breathing is a medical term, a relatively dangerous signal, and is more common in critically ill patients and those on the verge of death. Zhao Mengmeng understood this term.

"At the time, the Family Member sent the person in just to avoid them dying at home, coming for hospitalization..."

"Zhao Laoshi, what does 'avoid them dying at home' mean?" Zhao Mengmeng continued to ask.

This question caught Zhao Zhe off guard.

It was simple Clinical common sense; why didn't this girl Zhao Mengmeng understand?

"Mengmeng, don't interrupt, let Doctor Zhao continue," Zhai Yuhan said.

"Ahem, after the patient was hospitalized, I called all the family members into the doctor's office and explained the situation to them. This kind of patient is fundamentally different from the kind of patient Doctor Xiao Ji mentioned who suddenly passes away. The family had already accepted it; they just wanted a statement."

Zhao Mengmeng wanted to ask what a "statement" was, but she moved her lips and didn't ask.

She felt that she was simply not on the same plane as the three people in front of her.

"I spoke for about ten minutes. The three sons and two daughters in the family signed and pressed their fingerprints, refusing rescue. Later, all treatment was stopped, not even Saline was given, just waiting for the Old Man to stop breathing so they could take him away."

"But that Old Man held on for a full 7 days. Suddenly, one day, she woke up, talked to her children, washed her face, and asked her daughter to wipe her body. Finally, she drank a bowl of millet porridge, and after drinking it, she lay down and left."

"Uh, 7 days, without giving Saline?!" Zhai Yuhan asked in surprise.

"That's right. A normal person couldn't hold on for 7 days without food or water, yet an elderly person with late-stage Cancer actually woke up and could talk to her family," Zhao Zhe said. "So, you see, in Clinical matters, no one can say what will happen in the next second. My friends always say I speak vaguely, which is annoying."

"That's normal. As doctors, who can be one hundred percent certain?" Zhai Yuhan replied as a matter of course.

"Doctor, my stomach hurts..."

(End of this chapter)