Chapter 549: Patient 549 disappeared Chapter 549: Patient 549 disappeared Xie Wanying was unusually calm, her voice gentle. She wouldn’t get excited, nor would she get into any arguments with a patient.
Zhang Wei’s mother was surprised by her unperturbed demeanor, unable to understand why she didn’t start arguing. Yes, the provocative words she had just spoken were meant to agitate Xie Wanying into an argument. The bigger the scene, the better, so that everyone else would be drawn in. Then she could reveal their past relationship and make everyone realize that Xie Wanying was a bad person.
Now, with Xie Wanying like a still basin of water refusing to ripple, Zhang Wei’s mother was almost at her wit’s end.
“Auntie, do you have any other questions for me?” Xie Wanying asked. “If you’re still worried, shall I get Teacher Sun to come and talk to you later? However, I believe Teacher Sun will share the same opinion.”
Thinking of how Doctor Sun would criticize her, a family member, for not being cooperative, Zhang Wei’s mother lacked interest: “Is there another doctor?”
“Doctor Sun is the doctor on duty. Unless the patient’s condition becomes critical and requires resuscitation, other doctors won’t be called over. Otherwise, even if other doctors come, they wouldn’t be happy, because there’s nothing for them to do,” Xie Wanying explained, offering an analogy. “Auntie, it’s like if you, in your unit, asked a superior to handle something trivial.”
The comparison was apt and struck a chord with Zhang Wei’s mother. The ones who would suffer the consequences would likely be the patient and the family members, not the on-duty doctor, because everyone would think that she, as a family member of the patient, was being unreasonable.
“Fine then, if anything happens to my mother-in-law later–”
“We will be here immediately, Auntie,” Xie Wanying promised, a responsibility she naturally had to fulfill as a doctor.
People around were looking over. Zhang Wei’s mother furrowed her brows. All the good words had gone to Xie Wanying, making her appear extremely unapproachable. She had no choice but to let go of Xie Wanying’s arm.
Once the family member calmed down, Xie Wanying went to the nurse station and picked up the phone to report to Teacher Sun about the patient’s treatment. Just as she finished reporting, a cry for help came from behind: “Dr. Xie.”
After hanging up the phone, Xie Wanying turned around to see it was Sister Lingling and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“It’s not good, the person in bed 38 is missing. I found out when I was doing my rounds and rushed back here,” Sister Lingling said with a pale face, covered with cold sweat. If anything were to happen to a patient, their medical staff, especially the nurses, would bear the greatest responsibility.
“When did the person go missing?” Xie Wanying was taken aback. “Did she have any issues before?”
While asking, she recalled the details herself. During tonight’s shift change rounds, Li Yaxi, a female university student in bed 38, was happily chatting on her mobile phone with a classmate. The doctor who was handing over the shift had said her condition was not a big problem, and after all examination results came back, she was scheduled to be discharged on Monday or Tuesday.
Sister Lingling shook her head: “When we did the rounds more than half an hour ago, she seemed to be asleep in bed. Later, the family member of the patient in bed 9 called for help saying the patient had diarrhea, and all of us on duty rushed to handle the situation in bed 9. Could it be that while we weren’t paying attention, she sneaked out of the ward?”
If the nurses weren’t busy with other patients, they would have noticed if a patient was moving around in the ward.
“Do the other patients in her room know anything?”
“All the other patients in her room were asleep. There was no one in the ward’s restroom,” Sister Lingling said, puzzled. “She didn’t seem to be in a bad mood.”
The last thing medical staff wanted was for a patient to suddenly have a lapse in judgment and run off to leap off a building. Even if the patient didn’t intend to commit suicide, wandering out in the middle of the night could lead to accidents, and the on-duty staff would be accountable.