Surgery Godfather
Chapter 1084 - 884: Director Tang’s Top Disciple_2

Chapter 1084: Chapter 884: Director Tang’s Top Disciple_2

Director Qian said earnestly.

After what Director Qian had said, Nong Zhiwen indeed felt very guilty. He couldn’t delay his father’s treatment because of financial concerns. The disease had been treated to this extent—was it really just the last bit of money holding them back? Clenching his teeth, Nong Zhiwen decided he needed to find another way.

"You’d better think it over. If you’re really strapped for cash, we could cut some corners, take a more passive approach. He’s already in his fifties, right? We could just do a simple nerve repair to improve the symptoms. As for the rest, it’s unfortunate, but there’s no helping it; I understand. But if you can somehow come up with the money, I think you shouldn’t handle it in a negligent way. You should treat it seriously. Your father is only in his fifties, and you children are so filial, right? Grit your teeth and this amount of money can be dealt with—but it’s a life you are saving."

Director Qian guided him kindly.

"I’ll think about it."

Nong Zhiwen was hesitant.

"Take some time to consider, and try to make a decision before getting admitted to the hospital. Your father is my regular patient, which is why I’m telling you so much. It would be a shame to handle it carelessly. Other doctors wouldn’t talk to you like this. They’d just deal with the nerve issue simply, and you would be grateful to the doctors for saving so much money. Talking about this is a thankless task for me; those who don’t understand might think the doctor is up to something."

Director Qian was eloquent and his tone sincere, so Nong Zhiwen remained undecided.

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Director Fang found it strange; Nong Zhiwen was taking so long to get the pathology report and hadn’t replied.

Using the phone number he’d left, Director Fang called Nong Tiesheng’s son, Nong Zhiwen. From the other end of the phone, he learned that the pathology report hadn’t been found, but Director Qian from Affiliated Hospital No. 4 had already agreed to admit his father to the hospital. Director Fang tried to understand the situation—Director Qian had mentioned needing to prepare over a hundred thousand yuan.

Why did it take so much money? Director Fang didn’t quite understand.

Nong Zhiwen explained: targeted therapy drugs alone would cost tens of thousands; the liver tumor needed surgery, and it was best to have Da Vinci Robot surgery for the best effect. If it were standard surgery, the location of the tumor was too deep, making it impossible to resect cleanly, diminishing the surgery’s effectiveness.

After hearing this, Director Fang almost cursed out loud. Director Qian had a bad reputation in the circle, which used to be just talk. Director Fang had never dealt with him, but now, through this patient, he really saw what was meant by ’a fly in the ointment.’

For God’s sake, wasn’t this patient only supposed to undergo a recurrent laryngeal nerve repair? How did a liver tumor surgery come into the picture? Wasn’t it just a cyst? Regular check-ups should suffice; it wasn’t a big deal at all.

And now there was also targeted treatment involved. The drugs for the targeted treatment were all self-financed, costing tens of thousands in drug fees. How could a patient from a rural area afford that? This was literally going bankrupt to treat a disease.

Absolutely not; he couldn’t allow someone with the surname Qian to do whatever he pleased. This patient was quite pitiable and must be taken into care.

If he performed the surgery himself, a few thousand yuan could cover it with rural cooperative medical care, but now it’s over a hundred thousand, most of it to be paid out-of-pocket. The robot surgery was self-financed, the targeted drugs were self-financed, and there were many other miscellaneous self-financed items.

Since Director Fang’s thoughts had evolved after his recent advancement, his entire perspective had changed. If he was to become a world-class doctor in the future, how could he tolerate such despicable behavior?

"Have you completed the hospital admission process over there?" Director Fang asked.

Nong Zhiwen replied, "Not yet, but we should get a bed soon."

"I’m telling you, just spend a few thousand yuan to solve this problem, no need to spend hundreds of thousands," Director Fang urged. "Find some time to come see me, and we can have a good chat about it."

Nong Zhiwen was utterly baffled. Why were the doctors’ opinions so vastly different? Who should he trust?

After all, it involved a sum of over a hundred thousand yuan, so Nong Zhiwen decided to take a moment to think it over and get a clearer understanding before making a decision. He resolved to find some time to meet with Director Fang and listen to his advice.

To be honest, in the matter of treating illnesses, there is an asymmetry of information between doctors and patients. Doctors have an overwhelming advantage while the patients’ knowledge is almost nil, leaving them with no option but to follow the doctors’ plans. In other words, the doctors are essentially in a position of absolute power, and without self-restraint or external checks, it’s easy for them to engage in excessive medical treatment, especially when driven by economic interests.

Director Qian’s mentor was the renowned Director Tang, who had a formidable reputation within the circle. Until his retirement, he had not a single complaint, no medical disputes, and belonged to that legendary category where even if a patient died, their family would still present a pennant in thanks.

After retiring, Director Tang was hired by a private hospital at a high salary to serve as its chief expert. With his personal charisma, he attracted a large number of patients, generating revenue that accounted for eighty percent of the hospital’s income.

Seeing this, the boss readily offered shares to bring Director Tang on board and even built a hospital specifically for him, allowing him to fully utilize his expertise. Indeed, the retired Director Tang kept up with the times, harnessing the power of the internet to turn himself into a celebrated internet-famous doctor, drawing massive traffic and making the hospital incredibly profitable.

Originally, Director Tang was in general surgery, but doctors in that era were more versatile. He would do orthopedics, urological surgery—really all sorts of operations. So when he went to the private hospital, he was like a panacea, capable of performing any surgery.

The owner of the private hospital has now specially established a cancer specialty hospital for him, and he has transformed into a cancer expert. It’s said that the hospital’s beds are now fully occupied by patients.

Director Qian may not be as impressive as his master, Director Tang, but he certainly received the true teachings and had some skills. True to his name, his sole purpose was to make money.

His General Surgery Department generates exceedingly high revenue each year, ranking first year after year in both sales and the number of surgeries at Affiliated Hospital No. 4 of Nandu Medical University, earning him the Award for Outstanding Department Director annually.

Because the department’s revenue was high, the bonuses for the doctors were also substantial. Although his reputation in the inner circle was poor, not a single doctor in the department spoke ill of him—who would want to fight with money? The income of a regular physician in their department exceeded that of senior doctors in other departments.

Everyone, from the leadership to the doctors and nurses, adored Director Qian; he was a capable man.

For patients like Nong Tiesheng, who would only spend twenty thousand yuan for a recurrent laryngeal nerve repair, that was something Director Qian could simply not accept. He believed that every bed should generate the maximum economic value.

Moreover, Nong Tiesheng’s case was somewhat unusual. The recurrent laryngeal nerve injury had occurred during surgery performed by Director Qian himself, who had accidentally cut away a rather long piece.

Since it was his first time using the Da Vinci surgical robot to perform radical surgery for thyroid cancer, he was inexperienced and struggled through it, cutting the recurrent laryngeal nerve haphazardly. However, Director Qian wasn’t worried. His surgical notes were very clear: "The tumor had invaded the left recurrent laryngeal nerve, which was segmentally resected."

In such cases, if one were to perform a direct anastomosis, the two ends wouldn’t come together properly, making direct anastomosis impossible. Using a nerve graft for bridging would also result in poor postoperative outcomes due to the excessive length required for bridging.

As for the third method, using another nerve to connect to the damaged one, it seemed that the appropriate nerves for nerve transposition had also been severed during the initial surgery. Now, without a suitable nerve available for transposition—even if one was found—since the main nerve wouldn’t originate from the parent vagus nerve of the recurrent laryngeal nerve with different brain functional areas, after anastomosis of the nerves, a series of exercises would still be necessary.

Director Qian knew this case was hopeless, thus he never intended to perform any recurrent laryngeal nerve repair on Nong Tiesheng.

Director Qian thought he could simply drag it out and let the matter pass, but unexpectedly, Nong Zhiwen took his father to Sanbo Hospital for treatment and even consulted Yang Ping. This was troublesome. Who was Yang Ping, and what was his caliber? Wasn’t Director Qian aware? Once Yang Ping stepped in and performed surgery, nothing could be concealed from him.

So Director Qian had no choice but to admit the patient into the hospital. But, of course, he couldn’t just let a bed be occupied for nothing, right? Therefore, adhering to his own principles, Director Qian presented Nong Zhiwen with a hefty treatment plan bill totaling a hundred thousand yuan.