Chapter 442: The Trouble with Difficult Patients

Zhou Can juggled the complaints of a woman who knew how to play the victim while checking on the boy.

Through the questioning, he found out the nine-year-old had fallen off his bike, landing hard on his left arm—which he now couldn’t lift at all.

“Hey kiddo, where do you feel pain right now?”

As Zhou Can continued his assessment, he noticed the boy’s mother kept answering for him. Wanting to be thorough, he turned the question to the boy himself.

Most children, after all, don’t lie about pain.

“It just hurts here. But as long as I don’t move, it’s not too bad. And I feel a bit heavy—like I want to throw up.”

The boy replied in a small, nervous voice.

The moment Zhou Can heard this, his guard went up.

A simple arm injury, even a severe fracture, usually doesn’t cause vomiting or chest tightness.

Of course, there are rare cases where the pain triggers gastrointestinal spasms and makes someone throw up. It’s uncommon, but it can happen.

“Did you hit your head when you fell?”

“I think the back of my head hit the cement.”

The boy was honest, saying exactly what happened.

“You silly child! You don’t have to mention every little scrape. Every kid gets banged up growing up!” The boy’s mother shot him a glare, telling him to keep quiet.

Zhou Can understood where the mother was coming from—she worried the doctor would order a stack of expensive tests.

Families stretching their budgets often want to treat only the obvious injuries and save money everywhere else.

Some will only agree to treat the most serious injury, even if there are multiple wounds or fractures.

“Ma’am, your child’s honesty about his injuries is actually a good thing. Our hospital is responsible for every patient and needs to find and manage potential risks early.”

While speaking up for the boy, Zhou Can stood and checked the back of his head.

The boy had surprisingly long and thick hair.

After a careful look, Zhou Can didn’t spot any obvious swelling.

“Let’s start with an X-ray on his left arm to check for fractures. Since he’s feeling sick and tight in his chest, I’ll also order a CT scan of his head to make sure there’s no internal bleeding, and run some blood tests too.”

He rattled off three test orders at once.

He nearly added a chest CT, but the look on the mother’s face was already stormy, so he held back on that for now.

Dealing with family members could be a battle of wits. Sometimes, you had to take things one step at a time.

Zhou Can wasn’t afraid of complaints—but if he could avoid them, why not?

“Dr. Zhou, can we skip the head exam? My kid just has a broken arm. There’s no need for all that. And that blood test—what’s it even for? I’ve heard you doctors order all sorts of useless checks just to make more money. Even the fees for tests can add up to hundreds or thousands.”

The woman wore an expression that said, ‘I know all your tricks, you won’t scam me.’

Doctors really dreaded these kinds of patients.

“A CT scan doesn’t actually cost that much, but with it, we can rule out a brain injury. Internal bleeding in the head can be really dangerous…”

Before Zhou Can could finish, the woman cut him off, impatient. “Alright, alright! Stop trying to scare me. I know all your tricks—you blow things way out of proportion to push every little test. I’m only agreeing to the arm check, nothing else. Heck, we don’t even need that—you can just set his arm yourself and we’ll be done.”

She was clearly frustrated with Zhou Can.

Zhou Can was out of words.

He had already guessed she’d be difficult, but this was turning into a headache.

“If you refuse the necessary tests and something goes wrong, I can’t take responsibility. Maybe you should find another doctor.”

He was thoroughly annoyed.

Normally, checking someone with an injury like this would take ten minutes tops. But this mother? Demanding, suspicious, disagreeing at every turn—half an hour had slipped by.

He just didn’t have time for this.

Specialist doctors could cap their patient rosters, seeing just fifteen or twenty a day.

Zhou Can, though, was known as a ‘traffic king.’

He saw at least a hundred outpatients a day—sometimes close to two hundred.

“What’s with your attitude? Are you just trying to bully us into paying for your pointless tests? Is it all about money for you? Cancel my appointment, not a cent of my twelve yuan will go to you.”

Now furious, she slammed the table and shouted.

This woman was terrifying.

Whoever married her was either very lucky—or totally doomed.

“Fine, I’ll cancel your appointment!”

If you can’t win, just walk away.

With a person like this, reasoning is useless. Best to steer clear.

Zhou Can processed the refund right away.

He’d spent nearly thirty minutes on the case—twelve yuan for a half-hour’s work was hardly unreasonable. He’d done the medical checks and written up the electronic records; that was his time and his energy.

His skills rivaled any chief physician. Twelve yuan registration for that level of care was a steal for the patient.

And honestly, she had refused treatment. That was a flat-out denial.

Now, asking for her money back? There was just no reasoning with someone like her.

He quickly finalized the refund and figured she could go hassle another doctor.

“Honestly, I doubt any doctor here will see your child. I hear the Provincial Children’s Hospital is super professional—give them a try. Maybe they’ll even waive your registration fee.”

Zhou Can worried she’d keep causing problems for other pediatricians.

He decided, like the comedians at Golden Basin Foot Bath City, to just let her be someone else’s headache.

“Hmph, I’ll never come back to this money-grabbing excuse for a hospital.”

With an angry snort, she left with her son.

That poor kid had to run around with a broken arm, dragged by his own mother. And children often imitate their parents. If this boy picked up his mother’s bad habits—her defiance, her outbursts—he’d suffer for a lifetime.

After finally getting rid of the headache of a parent, Zhou Can got back to seeing patients.

Not long after, he got a message—he’d been reported for a complaint.

Tuyu took its customer service seriously. If you were reported, you had to log into the internal system and file a statement right away or risk penalties.

Repeat complaints from different patients or family members could land you in real trouble.

You could get disciplinary action, even be suspended.

You had twenty-four hours to reply, or they’d consider it an admission by default.

Zhou Can didn’t have time to deal with it now, so he let it be.

As a recognized expert, his perks were much better than the average doctor’s. If he missed the window, the Medical Department would just call to check in—they wouldn’t dock points without a reason.

So, he didn’t give those complaints much thought.

You see all kinds of patients and families in this line of work. A doctor isn’t a servant—no one can please every patient, every family. All you can do is give your best care.

And if you fall short, fix it for next time.

Patient after patient filed in. Zhou Can kept up his blistering pace. With familiar cases, he could make an accurate guess without even needing details from the family.

Treating this type of patient was always quick.

Sometimes, he could finish a consult in under two minutes—it wasn’t just idle bragging.

The tricky cases, though, could be real time sinks.

Around nine-thirty, the young woman who’d first sought his help returned, holding her child.

When Zhou Can saw the bloodwork results, his face grew grim.

It looked like the child really might have neonatal sepsis.

There’s a gold-standard test for that: a blood culture.

The problem? Blood cultures usually took two days—forty-eight hours. This child was already in bad shape. Two more days would be dangerous, maybe fatal.

The blood test results showed a band cell count way higher than 0.16.

Neonatal sepsis was bad enough, but the real nightmare was purulent meningitis. Even though the child’s temperature was okay for now, his energy was terrible and his gaze lifeless.

A newborn’s blood-brain barrier is weak; if sepsis took hold, meningitis could set in fast.

Without immediate intervention, even with treatment, a child like that could end up mentally impaired or disabled for life.

“Dr. Zhou, is my child’s illness serious?”

The young woman watched Zhou Can’s expression change and already sensed the worst.

“Your child needs to be admitted for immediate treatment. It’s very serious. Based on the bloodwork and his symptoms, I strongly suspect neonatal sepsis. There’s a gold-standard test, but it takes two days. He can’t wait that long; we have to start right away. I’ll report this to my supervisor. Please don’t panic—if we act quickly, there’s every hope for recovery.”

Zhou Can knew he had to be candid with the family now.

At the same time, he quickly reported to the department chief, Tang Fei.

The young woman wiped away tears while making a call.

She didn’t step out, just dialed right there in the exam room.

“Didn’t I tell you only to call me if it’s something serious?”

“The baby’s really sick. We’re at Tuyu Hospital, the doctor says it may be neonatal sepsis and we need to get admitted for treatment. What do I do? Can you come?”

“I can’t come right now… I’ll transfer you one hundred thousand yuan so you can get him admitted and follow the doctor’s guidance. I’ll visit tonight.”

“But…”

She was only about twenty-two or twenty-three, just a girl really, and faced with this, she could barely hold herself together.

She wanted to say more, but the man on the line cut in—”Alright, that’s enough for now.” Then the call ended.

From the sound of his voice, the man must have been much older—middle-aged or old.

He spoke with a steady, commanding air—a voice aged and authoritative.

Nearly two years in the pediatric clinic had made Zhou Can numb to complicated family stories—mistresses, secret kids—he’d seen it all.

He kept a serious expression, working at his computer—updating records, writing orders, preparing for the admission.

The young woman dried her tears, collected the paperwork, and silently left the exam room with her child.

She must have been feeling terrible inside.

Over forty minutes later, the inpatient unit let Zhou Can know the baby had been admitted, on a temporary bed.

From here, the inpatient doctors and nurses would handle the treatment.

If they ran into trouble, they might call Zhou Can for guidance when writing medical orders.

In this system, outpatient doctors actually outranked the average inpatient physician.

On paper, all outpatient doctors were at least associate chiefs, with years of experience. The inpatient department’s real workhorses were the interns and trainees.

Even clinical fellows did tons of work; when short-staffed, they could be pressed into service as full-fledged attendings.

It wasn’t unusual for the department to have fellows mentoring the interns and trainees.

After finishing his shift at noon, Zhou Can had just stepped out when Dr. Zhuang stopped him.

“Dr. Zhou, the child we talked about this morning has been transferred in. Can you come to Cardiothoracic Surgery and help out?”

“Of course!”

Zhou Can didn’t hesitate.

Some favors couldn’t be ignored.

When someone asked for your help, it showed respect—and trust in your skills.

Pulling off a successful hospital transfer and getting Tuyu’s Cardiothoracic Surgery to take the child in a single morning meant the family had real influence.

Standing next to Dr. Zhuang was a man in his fifties, sharply dressed with an impressive presence—a man with a clearly high standard of living.

He was trying hard to smile, his eyes fixed on Zhou Can.

Of course, Zhou Can couldn’t just ignore someone like that.

“And this is…?”

He turned to Dr. Zhuang for an introduction.

“This is the child’s grandfather.”

Once introduced, the man broke into a wide smile and offered his hand. “Dr. Zhou, I’ve heard so much about you! Dr. Zhuang says your medical skills are extraordinary. Meeting you in person, I never expected you to be this young. My name’s Chen Shaoqiang—it’s an honor to meet such a talented doctor.”

He was eloquent and tactful, making a solid first impression.

His charisma and effortless presence left a mark on Zhou Can.

When they shook hands, the man’s grip was firm, his gaze steady and friendly.

He radiated a warm, welcoming energy.

All in all, Zhou Can felt completely at ease around him.

“You’re too kind! Pleased to meet you.”

With strangers—especially influential ones—Zhou Can always kept conversation to a minimum.

The whole ordeal with Dr. Xu had made Zhou Can wary of people with power.

He stayed on alert when dealing with anyone important.