Chapter 616: 607 Simple, Brutal, Direct

What the hell is going on?

The doctor on the ambulance was stunned.

Nobody understood the patient's condition better than he did, after all he watched the patient go from hemorrhagic shock to cardiac and respiratory arrest.

Can such a patient be revived with chest compressions? Bullshit.

Could it be that I stayed up all night and my eyes are blurry from fatigue?

The doctor on the ambulance quietly asked the nurse beside him, "Did the patient survive?"

The nurse let out a sigh and said, "City First Hospital rescued him, what's strange about that? Hurry up and hand over—there's no patient left on the highway; if we hurry back we can still sleep an hour or two, I'm exhausted. But the doctor who ran with the patient earlier is really handsome; if I were on shift with him, even several 24‑hour shifts wouldn't feel tiring."

Saying that, the nurse gave the doctor on the ambulance a contemptuous glance.

Old, ugly, after a night of work his face is deathly pale—really hard to look at.

Damn! He really came back to life! The doctor on the ambulance didn't notice the little nurse's look, his heart filled with surprise.

"You're here for the handover, right?" Zheng Ren stood at the door of the Emergency Resuscitation Room, waved his hand, and said, "This side, this side, handle the paperwork."

"Yuan Li, you handle the handover with them."

The doctor from the ambulance walked over in a daze; seeing Zheng Ren was young but full of spirit, even his hair flattened by the sterile cap seemed to have a special vigor.

If this were a TV drama, he'd be the type who, upon first appearance, you'd know he'd win this round.

"Was it you who resuscitated him?" the ambulance doctor asked cautiously.

"Mm." Zheng Ren nodded and called Yuan Li over to handle the handover paperwork.

Zheng Ren didn't want to get involved in such trivial matters.

Yuan Li had been tossed about all night; his beard had grown ridiculously long, making him look especially disheveled.

"May I ask your surname?" the ambulance doctor inquired.

"I'm surnamed Zheng, the Inpatient Chief of the Emergency Department." Zheng Ren said.

"Chief Zheng, how did you manage to press him back to life?"

The ambulance doctor was especially curious; he knew the patient's condition better than anyone, and moreover he had performed over four minutes of CPR on the ambulance, plus several defibrillations.

His own CPR was textbook perfect; no one would dare get on an ambulance rescue vehicle without practicing CPR.

A few years ago, he even won first place in the hospital's emergency rescue competition.

His procedure was completely by the book, something he could guarantee.

But the fact remains: he failed to revive him, yet the patient, whom everyone thought was beyond help, arrived at City First Hospital and was back alive in less than a minute.

Saying he was jumping around is nonsense, but the patient had just opened his eyes and was about to speak… that I saw with my own eyes.

So he was very curious and asked.

"For cardiac arrest lasting over three minutes, there's no need to worry about the force of chest compressions. Of course, this is my understanding; the textbooks don't say that. As a surgeon, just be simple, rough, and direct." Zheng Ren knew what he was asking, and since he wasn't busy, he explained: "Press down, the ribs break, then the heart receives greater force, making revival much more likely."

"【…】" The ambulance doctor was stunned—this isn't the standard procedure; if it were…

"Chief Zheng, what about secondary injuries?"

"Someone's already dead—how can there be secondary injuries?" Zheng Ren also found this question strange.

"'Secondary injury' refers to whether a living person is okay; a dead person can't have secondary injuries."

The ambulance doctor was once again speechless.

What Chief Zheng said seemed to make sense, yet it also felt off somehow.

"Besides, secondary injury just means the heart might be nicked by a broken rib. The hospital has cardiothoracic surgery, right? As long as the person can be revived, opening the chest and stitching it up is all that's needed—very simple." Zheng Ren said.

The ambulance doctor was utterly speechless, tears streaming down his face.

Look at him—despite a cardiac injury, he confidently says just one stitch will fix it… really… really fucking!

Imagine that kind of rough, wild rescue—both palms pressing on the patient… wait, that's wrong; the standard protocol is to press on the lower third of the sternum.

"Chief Zheng, CPR isn't pressing on the sternum…"

"For non‑cardiac arrest, pressing on the sternum I feel my force is limited." Zheng Ren, seeing Yuan Li filling out the form and having nothing else to do, explained: "The sternum's elasticity is poor; most of the force gets dispersed by the sternum."

"Shift a little, press on the left side of the sternum, break the costal cartilage, and most of that force will transmit to the heart."

Unconventional maneuver? The ambulance doctor felt a bit dazed.

"Cardiac arrest needs defibrillation, but for non‑cardiac arrest, as long as the force is great enough it works." Zheng Ren smiled faintly and said, "You haven't done an open‑chest, direct‑view heart compression, have you?"

"No…"

"Oh, that's a pity." Zheng Ren said: "For cardiac arrest caused by ischemia, often all that's needed is a sufficiently strong initiating force; the heart will temporarily restore its bioelectric supply, buying time for rescue."

Seeing the ambulance doctor still unable to believe it, Zheng Ren knew explaining further wouldn't help.

He chuckled and said, "Your efforts on the ambulance rescue vehicle still had effect; otherwise the patient wouldn't regain a heartbeat and be able to open his eyes. This patient's emergency resuscitation was successful, the outcome will be excellent—thanks for your hard work."

"No… not hard." The ambulance doctor said dazedly.

By then, Yuan Li had finished the form and handed it to the nurse.

The nurse led the ambulance doctor back.

Along the way he kept muttering under his breath, his expression dazed, as if he'd lost his soul.

Zheng Ren looked around; the Emergency Department corridor was a mess.

They'd been busy with resuscitation and triage; the nurses had been jogging nonstop for hours, leaving no time to tidy up.

"Director Pan, there shouldn't be anything else. I'll go check the ICU; you head home first." Zheng Ren said.

"It's already past three; I'm not going back." Director Pan looked at the time and said, "I'll nap in the office; if you need me, just call."

"All right." Zheng Ren replied crisply and hurried to the Inpatient Department.

The Emergency Department was cold and clammy; wearing only an isolation gown over a white coat, it was really hard to bear.

When busy you don't notice it, but once idle you immediately feel your whole body shivering.

Zheng Ren hurried to the ICU, glanced at the patient who had just undergone surgery; the drainage tube at the hepatorenal recess was flowing smoothly, drawing out about 10 ml of blood.

This was within expectations; Zheng Ren glanced again at the patient's medical orders, three groups of hemostatic drugs were applied simultaneously.

That's about it; if Zheng Ren really had to say something about special treatment, he couldn't come up with anything.

However, without that bastard Su Yun sitting beside the patient's bed, holding an A4 sheet and pen, with a fluid cart at his side, Zheng Ren felt something was off and couldn't relax.

……

……

This rescue incident happened in 2008 when I was on emergency duty. A 42‑year‑old male patient, after arguing with his wife, punched the TV screen, breaking it and lacerating his left radial artery.

Because he was angry, he wrapped his wrist with a towel at home and refused to let his family take him to the hospital no matter what. Later he fainted, and only then did his family call 120.

Our hospital's ambulance rushed over, but the patient's heartbeat stopped en route. We performed chest compressions and defibrillation all the way, yet there was no response.

At the time I was on duty, my thought was to give it a try; no matter what, I had to give the family some psychological comfort. I habitually used unconventional methods, not hearing the sound of breaking ribs, always feeling the cardiac compressions weren't deep enough……

Actually, after once having performed open‑chest compressions with direct vision, things like rib fractures ceased to matter much.

Anyway, I just pressed once, the ribs broke, and the patient woke up. I told the nurse to send him to hand surgery, then I left proudly.

It's said… his back view looked handsome. I didn't feel it myself; it was just cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The doctor who ran the 120 ambulance back then, Lao Li, is now retired; whenever I meet Lao Li, he is always warm toward me.

Moreover, the head of our Medical Department is a tough guy; he strongly disapproves of what I've done, we've had several heated arguments. Our academic views differ… fellow professionals, don't throw bricks.