Chapter 51: Medical Dispute

Guicui cried out, "Oh no! They really are here to make trouble!"

With that, she hurried out the door.

Zhang Jing also stood up from his seat and walked quickly into the clinic's waiting hall.

At a glance, he saw a middle-aged man wearing a duck-billed cap supporting a woman with a headscarf, pointing right at Huang Biao's nose and cursing furiously.

"You quack! Playing the role of a senior expert—I bet your associate chief physician title is fake too! A shady shop, a shady clinic! I'm going to report you to the Health Bureau!"

Huang Biao's expression was unsightly, and he repeatedly explained, "Sir, don't be impulsive, don't be impulsive. Let's talk things over calmly, let's talk things over."

"What is there to talk about?! My wife originally came here to regulate her menstrual cycle, but instead of curing her illness, she's been bleeding incessantly from below since last night!"

Seeing people gathering around to watch, the man in the duckened cap grew even more vehement. "Come and take a look, all of you! Look at how weak my wife has become! Let me tell you, if she hadn't just finished an intravenous nutrient infusion this morning, she wouldn't even be able to stand up!"

Zhang Jing stepped closer and saw that the woman in the headscarf was as pale as a sheet, with lips devoid of color—a classic sign of severe Qi and blood deficiency.

He quickly spoke up, "Sir, let's put the complaints on hold for a moment. I can see that your wife's condition is indeed very weak. How about we have her sit down and rest for a bit first?"

Upon hearing this, the man in the duck-billed cap initially thought Zhang Jing was someone in charge of the clinic.

However, taking a look at how young he was, he clearly didn't look like it.

So he asked, "Who are you?"

"Oh, just like Director Huang, I'm a doctor here. My name is Zhang Jing."

"I don't care what your name is! Where is the owner of your clinic? Where has she gone? Why have I been here for ages without seeing a hide nor hair of her? Do you look down on me? If she doesn't come out right now, I'm calling the police!"

"Sir, please don't be impulsive. Our owner usually only comes to the clinic when there's business. I'll call her right now," Guicui said, sensing that the situation was turning ugly.

"Xiao Cui..." Huang Biao desperately wanted to stop her. After all, this was clearly a medical dispute. If it reached Boss Ma, making a fool of himself would be the least of his worries.

Given Ma Hui's consistently benevolent and kind temperament, curing a patient to this state meant there was a very high possibility she would throw him out on his ear directly.

Furthermore, everyone had witnessed Zhang Jing's true medical skills.

He was fully capable of replacing him as Mingdetang's "face of the practice" and "top internal medicine specialist."

Precisely because of these considerations, when the patient's family initially suggested discussing compensation with the owner, Huang Biao had dragged his feet and refused no matter what.

This was what had caused the conflict to escalate further.

However, the patient's family was now threatening to report them to the Health Bureau and call the police—it sounded terrifying.

After all, having spent many years in large hospitals, Huang Biao knew that these threats were by no means idle talk. If this wasn't handled properly, there was a strong chance they would follow through.

Once the higher authorities intervened, his medical practice license might even be revoked.

By then, it wouldn't be a matter of whether he was fired or not; he could forget about ever being a doctor again for the rest of his life.

Therefore, weighing his options, Huang Biao didn't dare stop Guicui anymore.

The words of discouragement on the tip of his tongue changed into: "Call her right now. Tell her the situation is extremely urgent and we can't do without her."

Hearing this, the man in the duck-billed cap was stunned for a moment, and his tone immediately softened. "If you'd just said that earlier, we wouldn't be in this mess. We're reasonable people too, but since you prescribed the wrong medicine, you have to take responsibility, right?"

"Right, we doctors must take responsibility for the prescriptions we write," Zhang Jing stepped forward and said firmly.

Although Huang Biao knew Zhang Jing's words were entirely correct, he couldn't help but feel a sudden, violent jolt in his chest upon hearing them.

Because just a few years ago, he had heard a nearly identical sentence. And precisely because of those words, he had been forced to leave his former workplace.

This was one of Huang Biao's secrets, one he had never shared with anyone.

During his interview at Mingdetang, when explaining the reason for his departure, he had lied that he failed to secure the department director position in the internal competition and had resigned in a fit of anger.

"Fine, at least there's a sensible person here. Let's go sit down and wait, and tell your boss to hurry up," the man in the duck-billed cap said, before supporting his wife over to the waiting bench in the hall.

By this time, Guicui had finished her phone call.

She hurriedly fetched her own cotton cushion from the pharmacy and handed it to the man in the duck-billed cap. "The chairs are a bit hard and cold; put this under her, it'll be more comfortable. I've reported the situation to the boss, and she said she's driving over right now. Please wait a moment, I'll pour you a glass of warm water first."

The man in the duck-billed cap remained silent, but the woman in the headscarf moved her lips and softly uttered two words: "Thank you!"

With Guicui taking care of things here, Zhang Jing didn't need to worry.

The crux of the matter now was whether Huang Biao's prescription contained any major errors.

Logically speaking, his colleagues all knew that whenever he treated gynecology cases, his prescriptions were always steady and conservative, and shouldn't go terribly wrong.

If Zhang Jing remembered correctly, nine out of ten of Huang Biao's prescriptions bore the mark of the "Classic Four Decoctions."

That was to say, original formulas, combination formulas, or modified formulas of the Four-Substance Decoction, the Six Gentlemen Decoction, the Eight-Treasure Decoction, and the Ten-Complete Great Tonifying Decoction.

Troubled by this question, Zhang Jing stepped close to Huang Biao and asked in a low voice, "Director Huang, may I see the prescription you wrote for the patient?"

Huang Biao was slightly startled at first, but he immediately understood and nodded. "I've already retrieved the prescription from the pharmacy and placed it in the consulting room. Let's go inside and talk."

The two of them, one after the other, walked quickly into the internal medicine consulting room and came up to the consultation desk.

"Here, this is the prescription." Huang Biao reached out, picked up the prescription slip, and handed it to Zhang Jing.

When Zhang Jing looked at it, just as he expected, it was indeed the Four-Substance Decoction with the addition of two herbs, peach kernel and safflower—also known as Peach Kernel and Safflower Four-Substance Decoction.

Peach Kernel and Safflower Four-Substance Decoction is one of the essential formulas for regulating menstruation, originally appearing as a formula cited in *Yuji Weiyi* from *Yilei Yuanrong*. However, in later generations, it first appeared in the *Golden Mirror of Medicine*, where it is also known as the Modified Four-Substance Decoction. Its efficacy is to nourish blood and invigorate blood circulation.

Normally, if the patient truly had blood stasis in her body, taking this would often increase her menstrual flow to a certain extent or expel some blood stasis clots. However, to say that it caused continuous metrorrhagia and metrostaxis in the patient was extremely unlikely.

Moreover, Zhang Jing noticed that in the prescription Huang Biao had written, safflower, which possessed the strongest blood-invigorating power, was only used in a dose of 3 grams, and the peach kernel was only 6 grams. Logically speaking, the consequence of metrorrhagia was even more impossible.

"Dr. Zhang, look, with a prescription like this, how could it possibly lead to massive bleeding? At the time, I was afraid an accident might happen, so I specifically didn't dare use too many blood-invigorating herbs," Huang Biao added defensively and with a guilty conscience when he saw Zhang Jing remained silent.

"Hmm, what is the patient's usual constitution? Did she have any symptoms of severe Qi deficiency and fatigue?" Zhang Jing asked.

Huang Biao recalled thoughtfully for a moment and immediately replied, "No, I remember she only said she was relatively sensitive to the cold in winter. But aren't women all like that? How many of them aren't afraid of the cold in winter? Am I right, Dr. Zhang?"

Unexpectedly, Zhang Jing shook his head slightly. "Director Huang, this cannot be judged purely by experience. Being afraid of the cold also varies in severity. For example, some people just feel a bit chilly on their bodies, but others sleep under the covers at night and their feet cannot warm up even after half a day. Can you say those are the same?"

Huang Biao nodded somewhat awkwardly and muttered, "That's true, that's true."

Just as his voice trailed off, he wore a puzzled expression again. "Still, even if she is deficient in Yang and afraid of the cold, it's still unlikely that taking this formula would lead to ceaseless metrorrhagia, right?"

"Based on that factor alone, of course the possibility is small. But what if it further damaged her Yang Qi, such as being exposed to severe cold or consuming overly cold substances?" Zhang Jing asked rhetorically, his brow furrowing slightly.