Chapter 419: [419] What is a Pathologist? Chapter 419: [419] What is a Pathologist? “She’s being foolish,” Aunt Zhang said, not only unpleased but also angry upon hearing her daughter’s thoughts. “Last night her own life was at risk, enough is enough, that’s plenty to repay your teachers for nurturing her. Let her go abroad!”
A group of teachers didn’t know how to respond to the student’s parent’s words.
“Auntie,” Xie Wanying said, always empathizing with her second senior sister’s words from the night before and tried to argue her case by using her own example, “not everyone in my family supports my decision to study medicine.”
Her dad, her grandfather, not one of them thought studying medicine was a good idea. For a girl to waste eight years studying medicine rather than going to a normal university with subsidies was senseless. Besides, the most important thing for a girl was to get married; whether a girl becomes a doctor didn’t really matter. A boy’s career was what was truly important.
“But my mom supports me, she herself studied medicine and knows this path is hard, she knows how difficult it is for me. She had her doubts, but when she found out I was happy studying medicine, she shared my happiness. No matter what, she wanted her child to be happy. That’s how she thinks as a mother. I believe Auntie, you feel the same as my mom.”
Aunt Zhang said, “Of course I feel the same as your mom, it’s for her own good. What’s wrong with going abroad? Everyone knows it’s good to go abroad. Doesn’t everyone want the opportunity to go abroad? I’m not asking her to give up medicine, isn’t it good for her to do medical research abroad?”
“But second senior sister isn’t happy abroad. Auntie, do you really want to make her continue to go out there?”
“You don’t understand, the laboratory facilities are so much better overseas, allowing her to produce greater results and contribute to all of humanity.”
“Auntie, perhaps you don’t quite understand what second senior sister wants to do. She wants to be a pathologist. Pathologists abroad are the same as those here; they are clinical doctors. Their greatest value lies in the clinic. Second senior sister has studied for so many years with one goal: to save lives in the clinic, not to stay in the lab. If she had wanted to stay in the lab, she wouldn’t need to waste all this time.”
“What clinical, what lab? Aren’t they the same?” Aunt Zhang asked hastily.
“No, they’re not the same. Clinical doctors go to the clinic; they serve the patients directly. Laboratory research is about staying in a lab, and even if they occasionally meet patients, they are not responsible for treating them. Both job positions have their own value; we can’t say which is more valuable than the other. When laboratory research leads to major breakthroughs, everyone is overjoyed. But without clinical medicine to provide individualized treatment to patients, how would that work? There will always be outliers in research results that can’t be applied to all patients. So, there is no such thing as one research finding that can benefit all of humanity; there will always be deviations.”
Aunt Zhang’s throat seemed to catch; it was clear she didn’t understand medicine or what laboratory research entails, and she belonged to the type that believes something is good just because someone said it is.
Seizing the opportunity, Xie Wanying explained thoroughly, hoping to help her second senior sister: “The greatest pride of pathologists lies in being able to accurately diagnose a patient’s condition in a timely manner. Do you think that diagnosing cancer as a malignant tumor is enough? For breast cancer patients, if estrogen and progesterone receptor tests can be conducted on tumor tissues, it can help clinical doctors determine whether to adopt hormone therapy. For patients, it’s like having an extra lifeline. Through multiple biopsies before and after treatment, the most effective treatment strategy for the patient can be determined. With the number of cancer patients increasing, and more rare diseases being diagnosed, it’s all thanks to the individual contributions of pathologists to each patient.”