Surgery Godfather
Chapter 1245 - 955: Don’t Ask Me for Medical Expenses_2

Chapter 1245: Chapter 955: Don’t Ask Me for Medical Expenses_2

A solitary kidney is considered an anatomical variation in clinical practice. Anatomical variation means that the anatomy of certain body parts in some individuals differs from the norm, yet does not affect their function; on the other hand, an anatomical malformation is also a difference in anatomy that adversely affects normal function.

If the only kidney is healthy, even with just one kidney, a person can still perform the work of two kidneys, meaning that only one healthy kidney is needed to live healthily.

This is the medical basis for living-donor kidney transplants: a healthy person can donate one kidney to someone else and maintain a healthy life with the remaining kidney.

Only having one kidney, although it does not affect healthy living, still has its drawbacks, as there is no "spare"; if the only kidney has problems, there is no other kidney to take over.

Now the patient’s urinary system CT images appeared on the screen. Yang Ping stood up and walked closer:

"Look, there is a clear difference between a solitary kidney and a kidney resection. The basis of any imaging is anatomy. The biggest distinction is that a solitary kidney is naturally single, the side without a kidney never had one, so naturally, there are no accompanying blood vessels and nerves; whereas with kidney resection, regardless of the surgical technique that was used, there will definitely be remnants of the original blood vessels and nerves. Can you see any parts of the residual renal artery and vein on the side without a kidney?"

Yang Ping liked to see the essence through the phenomena, which is why he always tried to grasp the most fundamental aspects during discussions, believing that thorough research of a subject would allow one to grasp its essence.

Everyone immediately looked at the tablets in their hands, and since they all had proficient anatomical knowledge and were extremely skilled in reading images, it was not difficult to discern. Indeed, there were no traces of renal arteries and veins on that side. The differences between natural blood vessels and the remnants of cut blood vessels were substantial, not the same at all.

"Zhang Lin, talk to the Urology Department and ask them to help pull up some imaging of post-kidney resection, including images from within one week after surgery, after three months, six months, one year, and three years, to have a representative sample. Let everyone see what the imaging looks like after kidney resection. It would be even better if we can also get some images of solitary kidneys for comparison," Yang Ping instructed Zhang Lin to do this.

The principle of science is to seek truth, to be factual and realistic. Medical records are the best basis for explanation.

The HIS system is networked within the hospital, so Zhang Lin made a phone call right there. With the influence of Teacher Zhang from the Surgical Research Institute, a graduate student on duty in Urology immediately retrieved and sent some imaging over to Zhang Lin.

After diligently reviewing these images, there was indeed such a fundamental difference. Solitary kidneys lacked accompanying blood vessels and nerves, while the side that had undergone kidney resection still had remnants of the original blood vessels and nerves. This difference was like that between men and women; even if a man has gender reassignment surgery, his chromosomes are still XY, which is the most fundamental aspect that cannot be changed.

A truly wise statement! The doctors present immediately committed to memory what Yang Ping just said.

"City People’s Hospital is now in a dialogue with the patient’s family. The hospital requests a medical evaluation to determine whether the bone defect is related to the kidney, whether solitary or surgery-related. After the medical evaluation, we will proceed, but the family refuses to go through the medical evaluation process and rejects the legal route," Song Zimo explained.

"They know what’s what, realizing that this has nothing to do with the hospital, so they pretend to be confused. Once it goes into the evaluation process, everything gets exposed. Similarly, once it enters the legal process, everything comes to light, and they won’t be able to continue pressuring the hospital for money," Zhang Lin said angrily.

"Don’t think of people as so bad! Human nature at birth is inherently good!" Little Five said like a philosopher.

Zhang Lin immediately retorted, "Human nature is evil, it’s not me thinking badly of them, it’s just really that bad."

Yang Ping was not interested in these side conversations: "We only study the illness. We should leave things outside of the illness to City People’s Hospital. My responsibility is to thoroughly research the illness and then try my best to cure it. As for other matters, they are not our job. This is a case discussion, so we only talk about the illness! However, during the diagnostic and treatment process, everyone must strictly follow the procedures, and we cannot skip any steps. It’s okay to be slow, but steps cannot be omitted. The attending doctor should schedule a meeting with the patient’s family, and I will talk to them face to face about the patient’s condition. The subsequent treatment costs will be higher and take longer, and there is also a certain risk of failure, so it must be clearly communicated in advance."

While such cases may be rare diseases, the greatest difficulty in their treatment isn’t necessarily medical but sociological. Yang Ping classified these patients as sociologically high-risk because it’s possible that after significant effort by the doctors, they may end up with unreasonable entanglement and complaints.

After the case discussion ended, Yang Ping met the patient and his family in the Meeting Room. The patient was a twelve-year-old boy, and the family member was the boy’s father. Upon seeing Yang Ping, the boy’s father began to incessantly complain about the various shortcomings of the City People’s Hospital, cursing the doctors there as incompetent quacks.

"This hospital is managed so chaotically, I heard that the previous director was even arrested. My child’s kidney must have been stolen by them, I won’t let this go," the boy’s father said with fervor, grinding his teeth.

When speaking these words, the father looked fierce and vindictive.

"Let’s not talk about these things for now; let’s discuss the little friend’s illness," Yang Ping reminded the boy’s father to get back on topic.

"We need to learn some information from you now, has the little friend ever had a CT scan or ultrasound of the kidney?" Yang Ping asked.

The child licked his dry lips, wanting to speak, but his father immediately glared at him, "He has been! The ultrasound before showed two kidneys, I remember clearly, there’s no mistake. It’s just after the surgery that one kidney disappeared, look, even this bone is gone."

"Where was the ultrasound done before, and do you still have the report?" Yang Ping asked further.

"It was done a long time ago, the report has been lost, but I clearly remember there were two kidneys," the boy’s father asserted confidently.

"Do you remember which hospital it was done at?" Yang Ping continued to ask.

"I don’t remember! Who would remember something so long ago, but I am certain that there were two kidneys at that time," the boy’s father insisted.

Such an important matter, logically the child’s father should not have forgotten it, because having an ultrasound is not something that happens casually or frequently. This experience should have been very clear. Now that the child’s father claimed not to remember, Yang Ping suspected the father was lying.

In fact, from the imaging, it had been confirmed that the child was definitely a solitary kidney, but the child’s father adamantly insisted that there used to be two kidneys and that one was lost after the surgery. If the previous examination results could be found, the matter would be much easier to handle.

"Let’s not discuss this matter for now. Regarding the issue of missing right femur in the child, we are planning to do a biopsy to take a bit of bone for examination. Only after the examination can we definitively determine what the disease is." Yang Ping just wanted to clear up the situation about the solitary kidney.

"What’s the purpose of this examination?" the boy’s father asked warily.

"To help find the reason for the child’s missing femur," Yang Ping explained.

"Isn’t the bone stolen by the doctors? Is there still a need for diagnosis? We are not here for any diagnosis, we’re here to treat the illness. As long as you cure the child’s illness, we don’t need you to trouble yourselves about how it happened, we have our own ideas," the boy’s father said impatiently.

"Look, this is an X-ray of the child right after the surgery. The femur was fine then. It was never re-examined after that, and the X-rays a year later show that most of the femur is missing. We suspect that the child has a rare disease called idiopathic osteolysis, so we need a biopsy of the bone to confirm, and currently, based on the medical history and symptoms, it’s very likely this disease," Yang Ping said.

"Well, you can say the femur has been absorbed, but surely the kidney hasn’t been absorbed too," the boy’s father said, looking at the X-rays.

"Let’s not talk about the kidney right now, as you said, it’s not within the scope of this diagnosis and treatment. We’re only discussing the issue of the missing femur," Yang Ping temporarily did not press the issue further.

Next, Yang Ping outlined the subsequent treatment plan, and after some thought, the boy’s father said, "How much will this cost? A lot, I suppose! I’m telling you, don’t look to me for the medical expenses, go ask the City People’s Hospital for it, I won’t pay a dime."