"Your cold words have left me feeling terrible, reckless boy. Besides, I don't even think you're a doctor yet. How can they let students see distinguished patients? I can't believe it—this feels like a nightmare."
When would young doctors be able to defend themselves?
When would discrimination against interns finally disappear?
Elion stood up, intending to ask the mother—who did not believe the doctor's diagnosis—to leave.
But when he saw her son, who knew nothing and was staring at him, Elion instantly calmed down.
What if a child's life were put in danger because his mother refused to continue medicating him with an aerosol inhaler?
If he could successfully persuade the mother to change her mind, wouldn't that be considered saving a child's life and, therefore, prolonging his own?
Sitting back down in his chair, Elion decided to try again using his professional knowledge:
"Ma'am, do you know what asthma is? Or do you know and simply don't care at all? Do you realize that what you're doing is playing with your child's life?"
"Are you trying to scare me with your medical words? Believe it or not, you won't convince me so easily."
"Listen to me for one second!" Elion, who since childhood had never gotten so worked up with a person, shouted as he pointed at the woman in front of him.
"When the cells in your son's trachea are stimulated, they secrete special substances that cause inflammation and contraction of the trachea."
"At the same time, increased mucus secretion and the shedding of layers of cells can cause tracheal inflammation. However, steroids can stop the inflammatory response."
"If you don't stop this reaction, your son will suffocate and die sooner or later. Have I explained myself clearly enough? What you want to do is end your son's life, and no one will accept that."
The child's mother was stunned by everything Elion said in one go.
Although she didn't understand any of it, she was deeply shaken. Elion's confident and professional speech made the young doctor in front of her suddenly seem much more impressive.
She, who had just been shouting threats, suddenly became truly frightened.
"Dr. House… No, Whitmore, is there really no other option?"
Seeing the change in her attitude, Elion thought, I wish I could see my face. I rarely get truly angry, so I must look a little scary for this woman to finally listen to me.
Elion knew that only when patients had enough confidence would they believe his diagnosis. Using a consultative tone would only make people think he was mechanical and ignorant and therefore doubt the diagnosis.
After gaining this experience, Elion used only firm, unquestionable statements when he spoke again.
"Believe me, there is no better way to treat asthma! It is currently recognized that steroid inhalers are the best way to treat asthma!"
"If you want your child to grow up healthy and strong, you must start using an aerosol inhaler right now—right now! Otherwise, you will regret it for the rest of your life!"
After saying that, Elion pointed and added, "Even if Dr. House were here, he would make the same diagnosis as I did!"
Hearing Elion's resolute words, a clear look of hesitation appeared on the mother's face.
"Is there really no other way?"
Elion pointed directly toward the door.
"If you don't trust the doctor's diagnosis, and you don't trust the safety of aerosol steroid inhalers—"
"If that's how you think, then please leave. Let us donate our time to others who need more help. Thank you for your visit!"
Faced with Elion's ultimatum, the mother finally backed down.
She stopped shouting and complaining about Elion, and she stopped saying she would wait for House to return and give a diagnosis.
Taking her son by the hand, she obediently took the diagnostic prescription written by Elion to the pharmacy to get the medication.
However, the life reward Elion had anticipated never came.
It seemed that the child's symptoms were not severe at that moment. It seemed that the path to obtaining life-saving rewards through clinical services was very difficult.
After all, when there are real signs of imminent death, the emergency room is the first choice, not a specialized clinic with long waiting times.
Elion looked at his watch. It took him thirty seconds to diagnose the disease, but nearly thirty minutes to persuade the mother to accept the medication.
Just as House had predicted.
Even with the advances of modern medicine, many people still distrust doctors.
Doctors often spend far more time explaining why they are doing something than making the diagnosis itself.
This sometimes leads to long lines for the next patient in the outpatient clinic.
Just as Elion was thinking about this—
House complained as he pushed the door open and walked in, indicating that Elion's trial card had expired.
Elion, who had expected to sit there until 4 p.m. when he would get off work, asked somewhat confused, "What's going on?"
House snorted coldly. "Hmph. That guy, Kadi, threatened me, saying that if I let you see patients alone again, he'd strip me of all my authority in the hospital."
"Damn it, he's playing with patients' lives!" After cursing a couple of times, House seemed to suddenly remember something. He walked up to Elion and picked up the record that had just been completed.
He examined it very carefully, trying to find any oversight in Elion's diagnosis.
That would help Elion improve if he had made any mistakes.
But no matter how he looked at it, there was absolutely nothing wrong with his work.
Except for the time.
House looked at the calm Elion and then spoke. "Asthma? Isn't that a very easy symptom to diagnose? Why did it take so long? Does that mean the mother didn't agree?
You still lack experience. You should practice more when you have the opportunity to see patients in the future."
"The next time this happens, just tell her that if she doesn't listen to the doctor, she shouldn't come to the hospital—she can go to a coffin shop and prepare one. Alright, I'll keep you informed about the next diagnostic meeting."
"Now go to the pharmacy and get the albendazole you prepared for Rebecca." House closed the patient logbook, pointed toward the door with his cane, and indicated that Elion could leave.
Elion shrugged, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with House's suggestion.
If he told a patient to go buy a coffin, he would probably be sued. What guaranteed that he would be treated the same way as House?
If the patient had been even more aggressive, Elion might have been shot in the street after getting off work.
In this medical world, that was something that could very well happen.
The illness tormenting Elion was not his only threat.
After obtaining the medication, Elion took the X-ray images to Rebecca's hospital room.
At that moment, Rebecca was staring blankly at the ceiling, showing no concern about the results of the radiograph.
Elion was very familiar with this situation.
He used to be the same way—living in a state of waiting to die.
However, Rebecca was much luckier than he was: she had a cure.
Elion made a noise to draw Rebecca's attention.
He hung the X-ray results on the board, turned on the light, and pointed at the white spots on the X-ray film that looked like bullet casings, saying: "Rebecca, we already have the results. Look, it's a larva—a tapeworm larva."
Hearing Elion hum a tune, Rebecca's gaze finally focused on him.
When she saw the white spot, a flicker of hope seemed to appear in Rebecca's eyes, but it quickly faded.
She was afraid that her hope would fade away once again.
Seeing that Rebecca remained silent, Elion continued, "This is the proof you wanted: you have larvae in your thigh. Therefore, there must be more larvae in your body, even in your brain. And they have most likely been living there for six years."
Rebecca's expression changed slightly. "Really?"
Elion smiled, turned around, and poured Rebecca a glass of water. Then he handed her two pills. "Of course. It's albendazole. Take two tablets after meals every day for a month, and you should notice improvement."
"Just two pills?" Rebecca's eyes were filled with disbelief, compared to the pain she had endured during the many previous treatments.
It was unbelievable that two pills could cure her illness.
She had reason to suspect that the intern in front of her, Elion, was lying to her.
Thinking of this possibility extinguished the hope in Rebecca's eyes once again. She pushed the medicine Elion offered away and said with a bitter smile:
"I understand that you mean well, but what I need least right now is comfort from others."