Chapter 693: Master does not give way to master. Chapter 693: Master does not give way to master. “Yes, Professor Zhao, I can’t deny what you said,” Zhijie Tao nodded and spoke, “but if the patient needs it, we must make an effort.”
“Dr. Tao, I know my grandson is impatient, and I have criticized him for that. He may be impatient, but you doctors can’t let that affect your judgment. To remove the stones, surgery isn’t the only option. I brought Doctor Yu here today to discuss non-invasive stone removal,” said Zhao Huaming.
He Guangyou couldn’t help but interject, not wanting Zhao Huaming to misunderstand that they hadn’t thoroughly considered the options. He said, “Professor Zhao, regarding whether to perform invasive or non-invasive procedures, we definitely discussed this at noon. ERCP involves making an incision in the duodenal papilla, but it’s better to open up the bile duct internally to remove the stones. If we damage the sphincter of the duodenal papilla, it could have a significant impact on him in the future. Moreover, just performing an endoscopy won’t allow us to observe his liver and gallbladder conditions–laparoscopic surgery provides clearer inspection and allows for immediate treatment of any problems discovered during the procedure.”
When the surgical team suddenly started pointing out fatal flaws in internal medicine’s endoscopic procedures, Yu Xuexian became unhappy. He raised his eyebrows, adjusted his glasses, and said, “Aren’t you all being a bit too hasty? Looking at his current test reports, his condition is improving. Why not wait a little longer with patience to see if it fully recovers? Maybe by then, even endoscopy won’t be necessary. Moreover, performing an endoscopy doesn’t necessarily mean we must make that incision; if you do laparoscopic surgery, you will definitely have to make several incisions, increasing the risk of infection.”
“As if your internal medicine endoscopies have no risk of infection at all? Any procedure that invades the body carries a risk of infection,” He Guangyou rebutted.
“But certainly less than the risk of infection in surgery!”
The masters of internal medicine and surgery suddenly went full firepower. It was as if sects on the martial arts scene had clashed, sparks flying everywhere.
Keep calm. Zhijie Tao gestured with his hand to tell his people to stop arguing with the other side and focus back on the patient.
“Right,” Zhao Huaming pointed at what Yu Xuexian had said, “That’s what I mean. I’m not saying I definitively won’t let my grandson have surgery. It’s just that at this stage, it’s not medically indicated.”
Regarding whether Zhao Zhaowei’s case required surgery, the situation seemed to have fallen into a Rashomon-like state, where both sides believed they had the right argument. Why did such a condition arise? In fact, this dilemma of whether to take more aggressive medical measures is quite common in clinical practice.
For example, doctors often say to patients: “For your condition, surgery is an option, but you could also try taking medication for a while to see if it improves.”
The main reason is that the patient’s condition isn’t urgent; surgery is possible, but not immediately necessary. In such cases, the general strategy that doctors adopt is as described above.
Because patients compare their situations, they might see another patient with the same illness recover with just injections and medication, and then wonder if the doctor is trying to take advantage of them by insisting on surgery.
It is true that clinically, some patients can recover from the same disease with just medication or injections, while others require surgery to address the problem. The doctor then thinks, I’m not a clairvoyant, I can’t predict which method you’ll need; we’ll wait until the situation becomes urgent and discuss surgery then.
Over time, this line of thinking has become ingrained in clinical practice. Obviously, the conservative treatment adopted by He Guangyou and his team for Zhao Zhaowei, as well as what Yu Xuexian had just stated and what Zhao Huaming wanted for his grandson, was all based on this traditional mode of thinking.