Chapter 524: Terrible Ignorance
Hearing Yao Zhiwen recite the patient's history, suddenly, his two daughters stood up, their faces red and necks swollen with agitation.
"It's not that we're worried about the money, money is not the issue, we just don't want our father to suffer anymore!"
"He's already of such an old age, still undergoing thrombectomy and such, it's too agonizing."
Chen Cang couldn't help wanting to laugh at that comment. The old man was already hemiplegic and had a cloudy consciousness, incontinent or urine and feces, and yet you say he shouldn't suffer?
However... getting angry with the patient's family was purely a brainless move. Chen Cang took a deep breath; he didn't want to speak another word to such a family and turned around, unable to refrain from asking Yao Zhiwen, "Why wasn't he transferred to the neurology department?"
Yao Zhiwen also appeared quite helpless and sighed, "There are no beds available upstairs at the moment; they've prescribed fluids, and we're treating him here for now. He'll be transferred tomorrow."
Chen Cang looked at the infusion order and smiled. Indeed, they were wealthy. Dibenzoside injections, 300 per bottle, self-paid medication for nourishing the nerves, two bottles a day.
This undoubtedly saved Chen Cang and his colleagues a lot of trouble; thankfully, there were no economic issues to cause headaches!
Usually, because of many acute conditions, numerous expensive and good-quality medications are needed for treatment, but they are very costly and many families cannot afford them.
The patient was spared this trouble, but unexpectedly they encountered a bigger problem: ignorant relatives!
Yao Zhiwen continued, "Because the stroke was accompanied by bulbar paralysis, the patient chokes on water and food, and he can't speak. He's semiconscious and incontinent of urine and feces."
Hearing Yao Zhiwen's words, Chen Cang immediately said, "The patient needs to have a nasogastric tube placed."
At this moment, one daughter objected, "He's already like this, having a gastric tube inserted would be so uncomfortable! And... he can drink water by himself."
Chen Cang continued to inquire, "With the fecal and urinary incontinence, has a catheter been inserted for urinary drainage?"
Yao Zhiwen shook his head and said helplessly, "No! The family doesn't agree, fearing the patient would be uncomfortable!"
Chen Cang almost exploded with anger at this statement!
To him, these seemingly respectable family members were acting like imbeciles!
Chen Cang held his breath, looked up at the family and said, "The patient is incontinent. If we don't catheterize, he could suffer from urinary retention!"
The elderly lady shook her head, "I've put a diaper on him; don't worry, a catheter would be so uncomfortable, I feel pained just thinking about it... no, no, he wouldn't agree to that if he were awake."
With everything out of the question, Chen Cang had no choice but to take Yao Zhiwen and leave.
At that time, Lele brought over the consent form for the refusal of treatment.
The patient's family member was quite cooperative; the elderly lady's signature was beautiful, clearly a "cultured" individual.
But Yao Zhiwen still felt uneasy and went back and forth three or four times to communicate with the family, spending twenty minutes each, and like this, more than two hours had passed.
When Yao Zhiwen returned to the office, he was so angry he almost threw the medical records.
"What kind of people are these? Afraid of suffering, not wanting the old man to endure pain, are they intent on killing someone?"
Listening to the constant coughing and wheezing in the corridor, Chen Cang also sighed deeply.
Sometimes, the true killer of patients isn't the doctor; it's their family members.
Chen Cang also noticed that the more "knowledgeable" a person seemed, the more troublesome they were, always challenging the doctors' expertise with half-baked knowledge sourced from Baidu or hearsay.
Around two in the morning, the door to the duty room was knocked on incessantly.
Chen Cang and Yao Zhiwen promptly got up and walked out.
"What's happened?"
Lele said, "The patient keeps tossing and turning, unable to sleep. He's pulling at the IV stand with his hand and his coughing has gotten even worse!"
Hearing this, Chen Cang and Yao Zhiwen's expressions changed, and they hurried back to the patient's room.
Upon entering, they saw the two daughters holding the old man's hands, preventing him from touching anything.
The elderly lady was there, gently consoling the old man, "It's okay, it's okay!"
Then she took his hand and massaged it softly.
Chen Cang paused; it was clear that the family was interpreting the old man's situation as simply being tense and anxious.
Chen Cang lifted the blanket and saw the diaper was clean, but the small abdomen had noticeably swelled.
Chen Cang immediately freaked out. So much fluid had been infused, yet there was no urine. It would be odd if he wasn't agitated!
Chen Cang hurriedly said, "The patient needs to be catheterized now; he's experiencing severe urinary retention, and there's obvious distention in the bladder region. That's why he's restless in bed!"
"And another thing! We completely understand the feelings of the patient's family,"
"But there's a fact you need to understand: no treatment is without pain,
"We can't let the patient suffer more just because of this little pain, especially when we can foresee the greater pain."
After some explaining, they finally agreed to insert the urinary catheter.
But... when Lele was ready to insert the catheter, the old lady disagreed again!
"Do you have a male nurse?"
Chen Cang and Yao Zhiwen were taken aback, and even Lele was stunned.
The old lady's mind was already cloudy, and you're asking for a male nurse?
Chen Cang sighed, "Lele, give it to me."
He adeptly connected the catheter, and the urine finally started to flow.
And the restless old lady finally calmed down.
But...
An hour later, there was a knock at the door again.
Lele said anxiously, "Dr. Chen, the patient has a fever now!"
Chen Cang and Yao Zhiwen looked at each other and hurried into the ward.
The patient's temperature was 38.3 degrees Celsius, and he was accompanied by constant coughing!
Generally speaking, for patients with cerebral infarction, paralysis isn't the most terrifying part—rather, it's the potential for choking during eating due to bulbar palsy and resulting in a pulmonary infection.
And a pulmonary infection, for patients with acute stroke like this, is often fatal.
Chen Cang looked up and asked, "Did you give him water?"
The family member hesitated, his face reddening, "I thought he..."
Chen Cang sighed, "Prepare the nasogastric tube."
This kind of family, sooner or later, will endanger the life of the patient.
Chen Cang continued to explain, but the family was obstinate until the end.
Seeing Chen Cang and Yao Zhiwen getting somewhat angry, the old lady said, "Doctor... we don't understand, you can't blame us... we really don't understand!"
Chen Cang almost laughed with frustration, weren't you acting like you knew everything just now?
All night, there was back-and-forth all night long, and antibiotics were used too.
The temperature was initially brought under control, but... this was just the beginning.
The patient was now experiencing respiratory failure and had developed a pulmonary infection; tomorrow surely meant a transfer to the ICU.
Transferred to the neurology department?
Dream on, they definitely wouldn't take such a seriously ill patient.
Sure enough, after handing over at nine in the morning, the patient was sent to the ICU amid the family's regrets—there was no way the neurology doctor could take such a severely ill patient into the ward.
Most importantly, the patient still hadn't been intubated!
Several family members were still arguing with Dr. Zheng from the ICU...
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Chen Cang shook his head.
Sometimes, the ignorance of a family really can cost their loved one's life.
Entrusting them with the consent rights, that really felt somewhat worrisome...
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