Fifth Vital [EN]: Chapter 24

24. HIV

Something’s not right.

“I don’t have money.”

“Assistant Manager Jeon, what are you saying?”

Amidst the strange feeling, the patient’s firm words followed.

“I can’t because I don’t have money. So, please just quickly finish here. Quickly!”

Taekyung’s eyes closely watched the patient’s expression.

‘No matter how I think about it, something is definitely wrong.’

He had seen countless people reluctant to receive treatment due to lack of money, and he could vaguely tell just by their attitude. But this was different.

‘There’s something here.’

The patient’s anxious eyes and sensitive behavior.

It seemed like he was using the common excuse of money to hide something.

‘What is he hiding?’

Along with the patient, there was something else that bothered him.

“……!”

The smell is subtly different.

‘It’s an ammonia smell, but something is off.’

The usual Stage 2 smell was present. But he began to feel like a different smell was faintly mixed in.

Of course, Taekyung, as a doctor, makes judgments only based on test results. But he couldn’t ignore the Fifth Vital, which had always been certain until now.

‘This patient definitely has something.’

Thanks to this smell, he had been able to understand and save patients’ conditions, so it was natural to be concerned.

“What is the relationship between the patient and the guardian who came with you?”

“I am his direct supervisor.”

“Excuse me, but could the guardian wait in the waiting room outside the emergency room for a moment?”

“I came as my employee’s guardian, shouldn’t I be able to stay by his side?”

“We need your cooperation for the procedure.”

“Ah, yes. I understand.”

After the guardian left the treatment room, Taekyung firmly blocked the gushing blood with sterile gauze.

And just as he was about to ask the patient a question, he looked at the staff and said.

“Everyone else on duty, please step out for a moment.”

“……Yes?”

“All of us?”

It was an excessive measure. The staff’s bewildered expressions were understandable.

“Yes, all of you.”

Still, he thought it was necessary to obtain the patient’s hidden feelings and information.

“Are you going to be okay?”

Nurse Im Jeong-suk asked. She meant, would he be okay alone with the sensitive and anxious patient.

“Of course.”

“Okay. Then everyone, let’s step out for a moment.”

“Yes? Are we really all going out?”

“Are you going to pretend to go out? Come on, let’s go quickly.”

As expected of a veteran nurse. She trusted Taekyung implicitly, asking no questions and taking the staff outside.

Thud-

The door of the intensive treatment room closed completely, and Taekyung met the patient’s eyes.

“Patient Jeon Geon-myeon, now it’s just you and me here.”

The anxious gaze wandered aimlessly around the treatment room.

“Is there anything you want to tell me?”

“…….”

Stopping his anxious gaze, the patient lowered his head instead of answering.

“Can you tell me what you’re worried about?”

“Just… just treat me quickly.”

“Patient, don’t worry and feel free to speak.”

“Doctor, our factory is swamped with orders right now, and we keep working overtime. My boss even came to the hospital with me, so I need to get back quickly.”

The patient suddenly poured out a lot of words, still wanting to leave quickly.

“I have nothing to say. So please, just treat me. If you don’t treat me anymore, I’ll just go.”

Taekyung wanted the patient to tell him, but his attitude remained defensive and firm.

‘I have no choice.’

In the end, he decided to find out directly through testing.

“Okay. Let’s treat you. When you come to the emergency room, we do a simple blood test. I’ll see if we can do it right here.”

“Yes.”

“Instead, since there’s no equipment here, we’ll only anesthetize the area near the wound, not your entire arm.”

“Yes.”

“So it will hurt more. Are you okay with that?”

“Um… Doctor, what is that test?”

“……!”

At this moment, Taekyung knew instinctively.

When typical patients say the above, the first question is whether it will hurt a lot. But to ask about the type of test.

It was no longer a guess. This patient was definitely hiding something.

“I asked what kind of test it is.”

“It’s not a confirmatory test to look for a specific disease, but it’s for things necessary for simple treatment, like white blood cells and red blood cells.”

Taekyung was worried that the patient might refuse even this test. So he deliberately added the unnecessary words that it wasn’t a confirmatory test.

“Are you okay with that, patient?”

“Yes, I’ll do that.”

The patient’s test was conducted quickly, and the results came out shortly after.

Taekyung’s eyes were quite serious.

‘His white blood cell count is low.’

The patient’s white blood cell count was too low.

These cells are directly related to life, and they usually increase when a wound occurs.

‘On the other hand, his inflammation level is rising…….’

Among the diseases that lower the white blood cell count, there was only one disease he would want to hide.

* * *

“Excuse me?”

The guardian who had been in the waiting room came into the emergency room.

“I’m the guardian of patient Jeon Geon-myeon, is he not doing well?”

“You’re the company supervisor who came with him earlier, right?”

Nurse Im Jeong-suk, who was watching the treatment room situation and working at the station, replied.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“You’ve been waiting a long time, haven’t you?”

“No, it’s not about waiting, I’m fine with waiting, but he was bleeding a lot earlier, so I was wondering if he’s not doing well.”

“The doctor is disinfecting and may be suturing depending on the patient’s condition, so it may take some time.”

“It’s not like his arm is severely injured, is it?”

“Don’t worry too much, he’s still being treated, so please wait a little longer in the waiting room.”

“Is there any way I can go in and see him?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think that would be possible.”

“I understand.”

The guardian was most curious about the patient’s condition.

There was no way Nurse Im Jeong-suk wouldn’t know that. She wanted to tell him about the patient to ease his worries, but the situation was similar.

As of now, the only person who knew exactly what condition the patient was in was Taekyung, who was inside the treatment room.

* * *

Taekyung faced the patient with an even more serious expression.

“Patient?”

“Yes, doctor. What were the results?”

“They’re out.”

“How did they come out?”

“Before that, I have something to say.”

“Yes? Something to say?”

“The blood test I did a little while ago did not diagnose any disease, and the information was not recorded.”

“Ah, is that so?”

The patient’s expression, which had momentarily felt relieved for some reason, soon crumbled at Taekyung’s next words.

“But since I am a doctor, I can infer several diseases from the results.”

“……!”

“Since those diseases are very important for treatment, I’m going to ask you now.”

“Wh-what?”

“Have you ever been tested anonymously at a public health center?”

“Pu-public health center test?”

“You haven’t?”

“Yes?! Wh-what are you talking about…….”

“I’ll ask you again. Have you had a rapid test?”

“……I have.”

The patient Jeon Geon-myeon, who saw the confident look in his eyes, answered as if he had given up.

“Is that right?”

Taekyung, who had found the patient’s diagnosis on his phone, turned the screen to the patient and asked.

“…….”

The phone screen read ‘HIV’ in small letters.

“Yes, doctor.”

The patient, who swallowed a brief silence, answered with trembling lips.

“That’s right.”

The only disease that public health centers test for anonymously, calling it a rapid test, and inform you of the results is one.

It was HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), which can lead to AIDS [Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome].

“Patient?”

“Hah!”

The patient choked and let out a deep breath.

“Sob!”

Then, he burst into tears of sorrow, unable to hold back his emotions any longer.

No one but himself would know how difficult and painful that feeling was.

“Sob! Sob!”

Taekyung got up without a word and handed him a tissue. He waited for a while until the patient calmed down.

“How long have you known?”

“It’s been a little over a week.”

“Did you only get tested at the public health center?”

“……Yes. I went to two public health centers, and the results were the same.”

“Did you have any symptoms?”

“I just had a lingering body ache.”

“How are you feeling now?”

“I don’t have any body aches now.”

“Then I’ll treat you quickly as you wish. But I’m going to prescribe a strong dose of antibiotics.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“And I would like to recommend treatment; how about it?”

“If that gets out, I’ll get fired from my company.”

Taekyung finds these times difficult. In fact, HIV is subject to more significant discrimination than one might think.

You can assume that you will be ostracized the moment it becomes known at work.

It was not that their personal lives were subject to discrimination, but because of a vague fear of the disease.

“Why did this happen to me…… Doctor, I’m so overwhelmed, scared, and terrified.”

AIDS is a very scary disease.

That’s why you have to be more careful when treating it. However, it is not something that should be discriminated against in daily life. Also, it does not have the level of contagiousness that would prevent you from sharing your daily life.

It is transmitted through blood or semen, and there is unlikely to be many opportunities to share that with coworkers while living.

But this patient was a little different.

This was because he had already bled a lot and could have gotten it on his coworkers.

“Doctor?”

“Yes, patient, feel free to speak.”

“I’m so overwhelmed and scared. Why did this happen to me…….”

The patient, who had been calming down for a moment, blamed himself and poured out even more resentment.

“I resent myself…… and I don’t know what to do in the future. Sob sob!”

The patient’s reaction was natural.

That’s why he could understand the patient’s feelings. He understands the feelings, but Taekyung is a doctor, so he had to persuade the patient to take appropriate action.

‘Let’s think about treatment first.’

Of course, the first thing to do was to treat the patient’s injured arm.

* * *

“Oh! The doctor is coming out.”

“Doctor, what’s going on?”

While the patient was gathering his thoughts, Taekyung came out for a moment. This was because the staff also needed to know about the patient’s condition.

“I heard crying, is the patient okay?”

“Everyone, please gather over here for a moment.”

Taekyung moved the staff slightly away from the intensive treatment room where the patient was.

“Doctor, what’s wrong with the patient?”

“He looked very anxious earlier…….”

“That’s right. Is he a PTSD patient?”

“That’s not it. Lower your voices from now on and listen carefully to what I say. We suspect that patient has HIV.”

“Wait a minute. If it’s HIV, are you talking about AIDS?”

“That’s right.”

“What!?”

“A, AIDS?”

“That can’t be. AIDS…….”

The staff widened their eyes like startled rabbits and didn’t know what to do.

The patient was a bit strange, but who would have known that he was a suspected AIDS patient.

“We’re going to suture and treat him in the intensive treatment room where the patient is now. So, appropriate protective equipment…….”

“Doctor. No way!”

“No way? What do you mean no way?”

“That’s…… we, we don’t accept AIDS patients.”

One staff member said cautiously, but the other staff members had the same thoughts.

The thing he had been worried about when leaving the treatment room had happened. The hospital he had worked at before was a university hospital, so there were often HIV patients. And of course, they treated them.

On the other hand, quite a few clinics refuse treatment. He understood their feelings and the feelings of the staff now.

“That’s right. We don’t accept those patients.”

“I think the same way.”

“We can’t accept them.”

Still, this is clear discrimination. Taekyung could not tolerate this attitude of the medical staff towards the patient.

“Who are we talking about?”

Taekyung’s tone towards the staff changed sharply for the first time.

“I asked who we are talking about.”