Chapter 2192: 2115 Medical Ethics

Early the next morning, Zheng Ren was as usual, making rounds and performing surgery.

But today, he had a little more anticipation.

Whether domestically or at King's Hospital, Mayo Clinic, or Massachusetts General Hospital, there was no news at all.

Finding a liver source is difficult, and Zheng Ren knew that.

Whether the patient lives or dies mostly depends on fate's arrangement.

He does what he can, and for the rest, even if he wanted to do something, he is completely unable.

The System Mall had no fresh liver sources available for purchase.

Zheng Ren had checked repeatedly last night, confirming this.

If it really couldn't be done, even randomly trying a liver without matching blood type or tissue type would be acceptable. But attempting that, Zheng Ren felt that hurdle in his heart was also hard to bear.

Zheng Ren had a rough idea of how many patients domestically were waiting for a donor. He couldn't, just to try something, deprive others of their right to survive.

After Professor Rudolf Wagner completed the TIPS surgery with Lin Yuan, Zheng Ren and Su Yun went straight to the ICU.

This matter weighed on his mind, and he could not let it go.

What he feared most was that while waiting for a liver, the patient's condition would deteriorate rapidly, beyond any hope of sustaining.

Arriving at the ICU door, Zheng Ren saw the mother of the patient, whose expression had been wooden yesterday.

She was emotionally agitated, as if she had become a different person compared to yesterday.

Zheng Ren frowned and stopped at a distance.

Listening to her speak, the two quickly understood why she was so emotionally agitated.

Liver transplantation differs from heart and kidney transplants in that it can be partial. The liver is divided into three lobes—the left lobe, the right lobe, and the caudate lobe.

For a simple transplant, a person under 60 kg can receive the left lobe and still have sufficient liver function. Moreover, after transplantation, the liver has regenerative capacity and will undergo compensatory growth within a few years.

Zheng Ren did not consider a mother-to-child liver transplant because the patient himself weighs at least 90 kg. A left lobe alone cannot provide enough function, so at least a right lobe must be transplanted.

The patient's mother, weighing about 70 kg, would likely die of liver failure if she donated her right lobe.

Killing one to save one is something that does not exist in a doctor's mind.

In medical ethics, putting a donor in extreme danger to save one person makes such a surgery almost impossible to perform.

Even if it could be done, no one would be willing to do it.

Looking at the patient's mother hysterical shouting, Zheng Ren sighed. The thought of checking the patient's mood vanished instantly.

The situation had already begun to worsen; Zheng Ren could not be sure whether the patient's mother would take extreme action, even threatening the hospital with suicide.

Such a situation is not without precedent.

Many years ago, at the nation's largest lung transplant base, such an incident occurred—a female patient waiting for a lung donor, whose condition was slightly milder and whose timing placed her lower in the queue.

To obtain a lung source, she adopted an unexpected measure—becoming pregnant.

If she failed to get a lung source, or even if there was a delay, the fetus's development would also be affected.

This is a form of coercion; the surgeon felt very depressed, extremely depressed.

But no matter how angry or furious, how irritable or destructive, nothing could change the fact that the female patient had a fetus in her womb.

In the end, they still arranged her surgery as soon as possible.

The surgeon's skill was high; even the more difficult lung transplant on a pregnant woman was successfully completed.

After the surgery succeeded, the surgeon felt no joy at all, but instead fell seriously ill with anger. (Note 1)

Thoughts about life, Zheng Ren almost did not want to touch.

Because,

it is too heavy.

No matter how you choose, it's wrong; no matter how you choose, it's also right.

Even, some choices are already not bad.

Right and wrong, true and false—who could say it clearly? If you run into a nitpicker, just arguing could go on for three days and three nights.

In the eyes of a dying patient, a doctor who can save a life is a god. But doctors are merely ordinary people of flesh and blood; who could truly be a god?

A god can be indifferent, treating all things as straw dogs, but a person cannot.

"Boss, are you chicken?" Su Yun patted Zheng Ren's shoulder and sighed.

"No." Zheng Ren lowered his head, trying not to think about what extreme actions the patient's mother might take after being refused the liver removal surgery.

If she were not watched, she might seek death……

A chill ran through Zheng Ren's body.

Even without a match, a mother‑child transplant isn't necessarily possible. If it can't be done, dying would be pointless. Even if forced, the patient's chance of survival would still be low.

"What about the patient's father?" Zheng Ren suddenly asked.

"They say he divorced his mother when he was young and went south to do business. Now he's basically unseen alive or dead." Su Yun said, "If this were a novel, it would be great—his father would appear stepping on seven‑colored auspicious clouds, followed by a convoy of Bentleys, Porsches, and Bugatti Veyrons."

"Don't talk nonsense." Zheng Ren sighed, as if another path had just been cut off.

After standing for ten minutes, that side fell silent.

Lin Ge's white coat was all askew, and he stumbled out in a sorry state.

Seeing Zheng Ren, he hurried forward and said, "Boss Zheng, Doctor Su, when did you two arrive?"

"About ten minutes ago." Zheng Ren asked, "How was it handled?"

"I said we should first draw blood to check the blood type, then see if the tissue matches; if everything is suitable, we'll talk further."

Zheng Ren noticed Lin Ge's eyes were a bit evasive and flickering, guessing that this guy hoped that even if everything matched, he could drag it out day by day, since the test results wouldn't come out anyway.

As long as no one rushes, following the normal procedure, the results wouldn't come out that quickly.

However!

This is a huge ideological and psychological burden.

Saving the patient's mother would lead to the young Chen Li's death. Although there is no necessary connection, the patient's mother's extreme behavior has placed the moral burden on Lin Ge.

It seems Lin Ge also feels this matter is difficult to handle.

"Director Lin, what are you going to do about it?"

"What to do? I'm just a deputy section chief, I can't make the decision." Lin Ge gave a wry smile, "Above me are Director Ye, Vice President Yuan, and Director Yan. When the time comes, the higher-ups will definitely have to make the decision."

Tossing aside this pot, that's called being experienced.

Zheng Ren smiled, a wry smile.

It's not easy for anyone; nobody wants a young life to just disappear like this. But the situation is what it is—what can we do?

Left, right, for, difficult.

"How is the patient?" Zheng Ren decided not to think about the problem he couldn't solve.

"The condition is worse." Lin Ge shook his head, "The patient's fever has worsened, the temperature has reached 40 degrees Celsius."

"……" Zheng Ren let out a sigh.

Blood routine + C-reactive protein report: white blood cell count? 24.83x10^9/L, neutrophils 85%, C-reactive protein? lt; 1.3 mg/L; procalcitonin 0.55 ng/ml. Considering infection, another hospital-wide consultation was held this morning.

A CT showed bilateral pleural effusion and lung collapse in the chest cavity. Now we are beginning to suspect heart failure and respiratory failure.

"So fast?" Zheng Ren sighed, saying.