Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 438

Fifth Vital – Episode 439

439. Willing to Cross Mountains

“Jaehyun, I’m not kidding. I’m sorry to say this, but this is on a different level from the times you messed up a few hospitals. If this goes wrong, we’re really screwed.”

The usual Park Jun-seok, who would laugh it off, was nowhere to be seen.

Seeing his serious side for the first time, Lee Jaehyun didn’t say anything more.

Having barely made it into the operating room, Park Jun-seok’s fearful heart was holding him back.

“Let’s just tell the guardian [legal representative] and transfer him to the mainland.”

It was an operating room obtained through a call to Gam Deok-chan.

He couldn’t just stand still without trying anything.

But if neurosurgeon Park Jun-seok was out, this surgery couldn’t proceed.

No matter how good Tae-kyung was at surgery and how outstanding his medical knowledge was, this surgery needed Park Jun-seok’s help.

He had to get him to participate in the surgery no matter what.

Tae-kyung knew very well why Park Jun-seok was hesitating. Moreover, if anyone were in his situation, it wouldn’t be easy to think of the patient first.

Tae-kyung was exceptionally nosy when it came to patients, but in reality, other doctors would have said the same thing as Park Jun-seok.

He must be filled with complicated worries about what would happen if things went even more wrong when he was already at rock bottom.

Park Jun-seok’s expression still suggested that he wanted to leave the operating room.

If he left the operating room like this, it was over. Now, there was only one thing Tae-kyung could do.

It was to ease Park Jun-seok’s anxiety.

“Hyung [older brother/respected colleague]? And Jaehyun, listen carefully to everything I’m about to say.”

“……?”

As the two looked puzzled, Tae-kyung took out his cell phone.

And looking at the two of them alternately, he said clearly with unwavering eyes.

“Current time, 202x, 00:00, I, Kim Tae-kyung, am responsible for all medical procedures performed in the operating room of the OO Public Medical Center in Heorak Island, and I clearly state that everyone else here acted under my instructions.”

Tae-kyung, who turned off the phone’s recording function, said to Park Jun-seok.

“Hyung, did you see that? I just recorded what I said. I’ll send a message to both of you, so don’t worry. If something goes wrong with the patient, you can use it in court. And I’ll take responsibility for whatever financial or other issues you’re talking about.”

“Kim Tae-kyung… you’re so cool.”

“No, Tae-kyung!”

Unlike Lee Jaehyun, who was somewhat moved by Tae-kyung’s appearance, Park Jun-seok, who still had no change in expression, added with a frustrated look.

“What you just recorded is all good. Thank you. Thank you, but this… doesn’t make sense. I have to do the surgery, so how can I not take responsibility?”

“I’ll do it.”

“What?!”

“I’ll do the surgery.”

“Hey! Tae-kyung, what nonsense are you talking about?”

“It’s not nonsense. I’ll do the surgery, so just tell me what to do from the side. Then, if a problem occurs, all responsibility lies with me, right?”

“You… you, do you think that makes sense?”

“Why doesn’t it make sense? It makes sense!”

“No, not that, you! You’re not even a neurosurgeon!”

“Hey, hyung. Tae-kyung is a surgeon, but he’s also in emergency medicine and orthopedics…”

“Just be quiet.”

Park Jun-seok cut off Lee Jaehyun when he was about to correct Tae-kyung’s board certifications.

“Yeah, I know you’re capable and have many board certifications. But… that’s the head!”

“I know. It’s the head. But you’re not going to do it, are you?”

“Huh?!”

“I want to save Lee Jun-hyeok, and you can’t do the surgery, and to do the surgery, we need a neurosurgeon, and that’s our situation right now. Right? I’ll do the surgery. You just tell me what to do. Then it’s simple. There’s nothing more to say, right?”

“Ha! Do you know you’re crazy?”

Looking at Tae-kyung, who spoke as if it were natural, Park Jun-seok sighed briefly and cursed.

“Yeah, I’m crazy. A crazy guy who wants to save a patient.”

“You crazy bastard! Ugh! I don’t know anymore. Fine, do whatever you want.”

In the end, Park Jun-seok surrendered to Tae-kyung’s unwavering heart for the patient. Instead, he still had no intention of performing the surgery.

“I’m really just going to talk. I can’t do the surgery.”

“I know. I’ll do the surgery.”

“But we drank alcohol, right?”

As the two finished disinfecting and turned around, Lee Jaehyun asked with a truly curious expression.

“Is it okay?”

“Of course, it’s not okay to provide medical care after drinking, but there are no exact regulations under current law yet.”

That was not wrong.

Article 66 of the Medical Law lists several items that can suspend a doctor’s license for one year.

Among them, there is a clause that states that a doctor may be suspended for conduct that damages the dignity of a medical professional, and drinking alcohol may constitute damage to dignity.

There have been cases where patients have sued doctors for this, but if it is determined that the doctor has not lost the ability to treat the patient, they are not punished.

Conversely, if a doctor drinks to the point where they cannot treat a patient or make judgments about the situation, they will be punished.

So, if you ask if it’s okay to drink enough to treat a patient, the answer is definitely no.

You should not drink alcohol when treating a patient. That is the basis of a medical professional.

However, the situation was different for Tae-kyung and his friends.

It wasn’t like they were wearing gowns at the hospital and drinking while working as doctors, but they were on vacation and had a light drink with friends.

None of them were drunk, and there was no problem with their cognitive ability to treat patients.

And above all, Tae-kyung had clearly conveyed the fact that he had a drink to Kim Han-sol earlier while explaining her husband’s situation.

‘I know you drank, doctor. I brought you the bottle. But you weren’t drunk, and if it doesn’t interfere with your treatment, please take care of Jun-hyeok.’

Kim Han-sol judged that Tae-kyung and his friends were not drunk at all and did not object to them treating her husband.

“I told the guardian [legal representative], so don’t worry.”

“Geez! When did you say that again? Kim Tae-kyung is a terrible guy.”

“No time. Let’s gown up quickly.”

“Tae-kyung, one last question.”

Park Jun-seok called out to Tae-kyung, who was about to enter the operating room.

“Is this really the right thing to do?”

“Lee Jun-hyeok is likely to become a vegetable if he’s transferred to the mainland, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Hyung, do you remember Ji-sang’s face when he met his dad this morning and was happy?”

“Huh? Yeah.”

“If you remember that face, this is the right thing to do. Let’s go in quickly.”

The three finally entered the operating room.

Unlike Lee Jaehyun, who had no memory of entering the operating room since his internship, and Park Jun-seok, who was not completely comfortable, Tae-kyung was different.

He was the only one who was calm.

In fact, it wasn’t that Tae-kyung had no worries at all. However, the patient’s life was more of a priority than those worries.

“Tae-kyung. Just a minute!”

“Yeah, hyung. Why?”

“First, you and I will gown up, disinfect the patient’s head, and I’ll give you instructions from outside.”

“Hyung, do you know how to operate the general anesthesia machine? We don’t have an anesthesiologist either.”

That’s right. To have surgery, there must be an anesthesiologist, but there was no anesthesiologist in the hospital.

“How would I know about anesthesia machines? You do surgery like you eat, Tae-kyung. Don’t you know better than me?”

“I’m not an anesthesiologist either.”

Anesthesia was the domain of doctors Eui-jin and Lee Dong-hoon at Our Hospital, so Tae-kyung didn’t know as much as they did.

“Then, how do we do it without an anesthesiologist?”

It was really one mountain after another.

It was as if they had barely crossed one big mountain, but another mountain was blocking them. But it didn’t matter.

No matter how many mountains there were, Tae-kyung was willing to cross them.

“Let’s just put him to sleep deeply.”

“What? With sleep?”

“Yeah. And we have to inject him with narcotics.”

“Is that okay?”

“We’re going to use a sedative anyway, and if there’s respiratory depression, we can intubate him now, and for pain, do you have dexmedetomidine (a sedative anesthetic) here?”

“Ah, yes. We have it.”

When Tae-kyung asked the nurse who was with him in the operating room, she answered vigorously.

“What’s that?”

“Don’t you know, hyung?”

As Park Jun-seok asked, Tae-kyung poured povidone [antiseptic solution] on Lee Jun-hyeok’s head and said.

“Hey, I’m not doing surgery.”

“It’s a popular sedative these days. Compared to propofol, it doesn’t cause respiratory depression and has an analgesic effect, so there are fewer side effects when the two are mixed, so they are often mixed these days.”

“Really? In the past, narcotics and propofol were the official formula.”

“That’s how it used to be.”

“Oh! Wait. Tae-kyung, just a minute!”

Suddenly, Park Jun-seok gestured for Tae-kyung, who was disinfecting, to move aside. Then he took a razor and quickly shaved the patient’s hair.

“Okay. Disinfect again now.”

“Thanks.”

Everyone’s heads were complicated, but they were doctors nonetheless.

Lee Jaehyun, who was flustered by the unfamiliar situation, and Park Jun-seok, who was reluctant to even enter the operating room, put on surgical gowns, and once the surgery began, they only saw the patient.

They couldn’t help but have occupational diseases.

“But, doesn’t that dex-whatever have side effects?”

“There are people who experience side effects from taking simple medicine, so what medicine in the world doesn’t have side effects.”

“That’s a wise answer to a foolish question. You’re right. I was just asking if the side effects were severe.”

“Not really. There are side effects, but it’s a mild bradycardia (a condition in which the heart rate slows down), so it’s okay. Oh! Jaehyun. You can’t touch there. Be careful.”

Tae-kyung raised his voice at Lee Jaehyun as he explained.

“Sorry. I’ll be careful.”

“Tsk tsk! You should have gone into the operating room to know. Be careful, you idiot!”

“Hyung, were you so good in the operating room that you got sued?”

“This, this bastard is talk…”

“Both of you, stop it.”

Tae-kyung shouted, stopping the two.

“We’re in surgery right now. Stop talking nonsense and concentrate.”

“Okay, let’s concentrate.”

“Okay. I understand.”

“Jaehyun, that thing I have. The one I put in the back…”

“Hyung, this?”

Following Park Jun-seok’s finger, Lee Jaehyun saw a drill-like steel surgical tool wrapped in sterile packaging.

It had a handle that turned like a drill, and there was a round thing at the end, and there were countless grooves in the round part to grind something.

“Oh! That’s it. That’s right. Open it carefully. So that the sterilization doesn’t break. That’s right. Good job.”

As Lee Jaehyun carefully tore open the packaging, a tool about 40cm long and weighing 4~5kg was placed in Park Jun-seok’s hand.

He placed the tool on the sterilized table and went to Tae-kyung.

“Scalpel!”

Tae-kyung, who received the scalpel, deeply incised the patient’s surgical site with the scalpel so that the bone was immediately exposed.

After that, he grabbed anything he could get his hands on and scraped between the periosteum [membrane covering the bone] and the skin to peel it off.

It was right to say anything because Tae-kyung was doing head surgery for the first time, so he didn’t know exactly what each instrument was used for.

But he knew when to do what, so he was using similar-looking instruments that were needed there.

Fortunately, the sensible operating room nurse had placed all the instruments needed for head surgery on the sterile table.

“Hyung, now we just drill a hole here with this drill, right?”

“Huh? Yeah. I guess so?”

“Answer properly, you bastard.”

“I guess so? What kind of answer is that.”

Tae-kyung spoke in succession as soon as Lee Jaehyun finished speaking.

“Hyung, don’t you know?”

“Oh, I don’t know…”

Tae-kyung was about to be speechless for a moment at the unexpected answer.

“You don’t know? Why don’t you know that?”