Chapter 4 – Returning to Her Not-So-Poor Family

Filed To Story: Returning to Her Not-So-Poor Family

On the other side.

Some doctors were rushing around, looking very anxious.

“What’s going on? How did Phillip’s condition suddenly become so serious?”

“I heard he’s been refusing to take his meds to force his son to show up…”

“This is ridiculous!”

Not long after Mirabella left room 301, her shoulder was suddenly bumped by one of the doctors. Seeing them rushing towards room 306, Mirabella happened to see the old man lying on the bed looking unbelievably bad as she walked by.

“He actually stopped his medication willingly, isn’t he playing with his life?”

“What do we do now, should we notify his family?”

“His family is on their way here; we can only wait for them to arrive and decide whether to operate…”

Mirabella stood at the door of room 306, reminding them quietly, “By the time his family gets here, he might already be beyond saving.”

The doctors, who were at their wits’ end, all looked toward the source of the voice. There stood a young girl at the door, who seemed to be only in her teens, but looked incredibly calm. Her eyes were bright and clear, her gaze firm.

“Little girl, what do you know?” The male doctor next to her saw that she was just a child and didn’t bother to argue with her, “This old man’s condition is very serious, if we were sure, we would have saved him right away.”

The only reason they were waiting for the family was because they were out of options.

Mirabella raised an eyebrow, asking casually, “Rheumatic heart disease, is it that serious?”

“You can tell what disease he has?” The doctor was somewhat surprised.

Another older female doctor was also taken aback, “Does this child know medicine?”

“Since you know this is rheumatic heart disease, then you must also know that for this kind of disease, valve replacement surgery is needed, and for this old man, it would not be the first time he would undergo valve replacement surgery!” The male doctor explained.

Mirabella lifted her head, seemingly indifferent to his words. “Needing to undergo valve replacement surgery again just means you guys didn’t use enough antibiotics to treat him, that’s why there’s infection and perivalvular leakage.”

Hearing her words, all the doctors in the ward were stunned.

“Does this little girl really know medicine?”

“She even knows about ‘perivalvular leakage…”

The old man stopped his medication treatment on his own accord. That’s why there weren’t enough antibiotics used, leading to the infection and perivalvular leakage.

“Why are you arguing with a little girl? How long till the patient’s family gets here?” The old man who spoke was Greg, the hospital’s most senior heart specialist, already in his fifties. He spoke with authority.

“Dr. Greg.” The moment he started speaking, everyone in the room straightened up. One person replied, “Going by how fast the family was moving before, the quickest they’ll be here is in twenty minutes.”

Twenty minutes was way too long.

Dr. Greg did some mental math. Phillip clearly couldn’t hold on for twenty more minutes. Previously, he had undergone a mitral valve replacement surgery overseas. However, soon after, he had a valve leak and had to go back overseas for another heart valve replacement.

Yet, shortly after the surgery, he developed an infection, and the valve started leaking again. There was no time to travel abroad for another procedure, so he had to get emergency treatment right here at home.

Hope Hospital’s cardiac surgery department was top-notch nationwide, and Dr. Greg’s surgical skills were nothing short of stellar. That night, Dr. Greg managed to pull off a medical miracle, performing a complex surgery under immense pressure.

However, shortly after the operation, Phillip developed another infection and had to have another surgery.

Now, his condition had worsened. An upper respiratory infection had turned into pneumonia. Although the pneumonia symptoms were under control after rigorous treatment, he was now showing signs of heart failure.

During a recent examination, Dr. Greg discovered that Phillip had developed infective endocarditis and another valve leakage. His condition was critical.

The chances of a successful surgery under these conditions were less than 10%. The only thing they could do now was to wait for his family to arrive.

As long as the family signed off on the surgery consent form, the doctors could go all out to save the patient. Even if they couldn’t pull the patient through, they wouldn’t be held responsible because they had given their best shot.

However, judging from Phillip’s current condition, there was no way he could wait for his family to arrive. If no action was taken, he could stop breathing in ten minutes.

“Dr. Greg, should we wait for his family to show up?” Susana, a young associate chief physician, tentatively proposed. “If we proceed with the surgery without authorization…”

If anything went wrong. Mr. McMillian would surely give them hell!

In this situation, it was not just about their wish to save him. Phillip’s life could just end here today.

“I suggest that we give him a shot to calm his nerves and another to soothe his heart. We can make the decision when his family arrives!” Susana proposed again.

The other doctors didn’t have any better ideas, they all silently watched Dr. Greg, waiting for his decision.

Seeing that Dr. Greg didn’t respond, Susana instructed the nurse standing by, “Go and get the meds.”

The nurse was about to fetch the medicines.

At that moment, Mirabella, standing at the door, spoke up again, “If you inject him with these now, he’ll surely die.”

As soon as the meds were administered, even the best doctors wouldn’t be able to save him. Because Phillip’s current physical condition was so frail, it couldn’t handle the effects of the drugs. Once these two injections were administered, shortly after a brief period of lucidity, he would stop breathing within half an hour.

“Who are you, get out of here. We’re busy, and we don’t have time for chitchat.”

Susana had been annoyed with this girl since the beginning, feeling like she was causing trouble here.

“Incompetent doctors.” Mirabella didn’t waste time with them and was about to leave.

Unexpectedly, Susana couldn’t help but speak out, “Who are you calling ‘incompetent doctors’? Stop right there!”

“Susana, don’t pick a fight with a little girl, Phillip’s condition is more important right now.” Another doctor advised.

“She called me incompetent!!” Susana was furious, her eyes full of discontent when she looked at Mirabella. She was the most talented, youngest associate chief physician among this group of doctors, had won numerous awards, received lots of praise, and this girl was questioning her medical skills?!

“She doesn’t understand the situation, why bother with her?” The chief doctor said anxiously. He was only concerned about how to deal with the old man’s problem.

Anyway, the patient couldn’t die in the hospital, because everyone present would be implicated. Now they couldn’t operate, nor could they let him die, and their only option was to administer the sedatives and heart-soothing injections.

“Who did you just call an incompetent doctor?” Susana walked up to Mirabella and asked defiantly, “Go on, I’m listening.”

“Who else but you?” Mirabella looked at Susana, clearly not taking her seriously.

“You-” Susana was so angry she was hopping mad!

Mirabella crossed her arms over her chest and casually said, “At this point, surgery is the only option for him.”

“Surgery? You make it sound so simple, kid.” Susana laughed in anger, “This old man has already undergone five heart surgeries. There isn’t a shred of intact heart muscle left. No hospital in the country, no doctor would dare to operate on him for the sixth time!”

“Forget it, Susana.” The male doctor wanted to calm things down, but Susana’s temper was obviously out of control.

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