Chapter 648: Interview

Chapter 648: Chapter 648: Interview

After the doctor signed, the patient’s family solemnly signed the liability waiver as well.

A group of traditional Chinese medicine doctors, looking as if they were marching off to a tough battle, surged downstairs and headed straight for the pharmacy.

Liu Kan personally oversaw the operation, directing the Pharmacists as they prepared the medicinal herbs.

Finally, the prescription was filled.

A large, heavy bag of herbs carried everyone’s hopes.

They didn’t use an electric decoction pot. Instead, they found a clay pot and personally decocted the herbs in the pharmacy’s decoction room, following Li Xu’s special method.

They started with 2,500 milliliters of cold water, first adding the toxic herbs like Aconite, along with honey, to decoct together.

Simmering over a low flame, it was decocted for a full two hours.

Then, they added the other herbs and continued to decoct until the liquid was concentrated down to 500 milliliters.

Finally, they mixed in 500 milliliters of yellow wine.

This is called a "half-wine, half-water" decoction. The wine helps circulate the medicinal properties, boosts the Yang Qi, and opens the blood vessels.

Following the ancient method from Zhongjing’s *Treatise on Cold Pathogenic and Warm Pathogenic Diseases*, Li Xu prescribed a dosage of three times during the day and once at night.

Each batch of medicine was decocted only once to extract its essence, then divided into multiple doses to ensure the purity and focused potency of its effects.

The first bowl of medicine was ready by early evening.

Li Xu picked up the bowl and, without any hesitation, took a large gulp in front of everyone.

After a moment, he confirmed that he only felt a slight numbness on his tongue and signaled that it was safe to give to the patient.

After one dose was administered, everyone was focused on the patient’s condition.

The sky had grown completely dark, but the hospital building was brightly lit.

It was long past closing time, but not a single one of the TCM doctors—not Lin Guorui, Liu Kan, Hu Qiming, or even the interns—was willing to leave.

Everyone instinctively stayed at the hospital, waiting in the hallway outside the ICU.

They stood, squatted, or leaned against the wall. Though physically exhausted, their eyes were all fixed on that closed door.

They were all fulfilling their duty as doctors, all waiting for a glimmer of hope.

They wouldn’t leave until the patient was out of danger.

Time ticked by, second by second.

「Until eleven o’clock at night.」

The doors to the ICU finally opened.

A nurse ran out, her face beaming. "He’s awake! He’s awake!"

"After one dose of the medicine, the patient just broke out in a heavy sweat. His chest pain has significantly eased, his lower limbs aren’t as cold, and... he just said he’s hungry and wants some congee."

"Also, he’s fallen peacefully asleep. It’s the soundest sleep he’s had in the seven months he’s been hospitalized."

Li Xu’s medicine had worked.

At that moment, the hallway of the Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine erupted with cheers of long-suppressed relief.

Some doctors hugged each other; others secretly wiped away tears.

The patient’s wife was sobbing uncontrollably, her legs giving way as she collapsed to the floor.

She finally let out her cries.

This time, they weren’t cries of despair.

They were filled with joy and gratitude.

...

After two more days of observation, Wang Guoliang’s condition improved day by day.

His body temperature returned to normal, the chest pain completely vanished, and the coldness in his lower limbs gradually receded. New granulation tissue even began to grow around his ulcerated toes, and color returned to them.

Everyone could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

In this tug-of-war with death, traditional Chinese medicine had won.

In the dean’s office, Dean Song slammed his hand on the desk in excitement after hearing the report.

"Excellent! This is fantastic! We didn’t just save a life; this is a golden new sign for our Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine!"

Dean Song keenly recognized the promotional value. "Have the administrative office draft a press release immediately. Write this case up as an academic paper and submit it to national medical journals. At the same time, contact the local media. Let’s publicize this with a big splash."

Soon, a news van from Wind City TV Station pulled into the Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The reporter who came was Lin Xiaoyu. It’s always easier to work with someone you know.

"Doctor Li, long time no see! I hear you’ve worked another miracle?"

Lin Xiaoyu teased with a smile as soon as she saw him.

After some pleasantries, the camera was set up, and the interview began.

Facing the camera, Li Xu didn’t overly embellish his medical skills. Instead, he objectively recounted the treatment process, emphasizing the value of integrating Chinese and Western medicine and the role of classic TCM formulas in treating acute and critical illnesses.

As the interview drew to a close,

Lin Xiaoyu asked, "Dean Li, I heard that your use of high doses of Aconite during this treatment caused some controversy. What are your thoughts on this unconventional use of medication? Or rather, is there anything you’d like to say to your peers and to patients?"

Li Xu fell silent for a moment.

"To be honest, the current medical environment isn’t very friendly to traditional Chinese medicine. We’re heavily restricted by the Materia Medica from above and cornered by forensic evaluations from below. It’s incredibly difficult for a TCM doctor to practice freely, especially when treating acute and critical illnesses."

"Often, in order to save a patient, a doctor must not only fight the disease but also gamble with the system, even risking their own career."

Li Xu looked at Lin Xiaoyu and asked, "Have you heard about the time Yong’an Tang clinic had to pay five million in compensation over 40 grams of Banxia?"

Lin Xiaoyu shook her head blankly. "I’m not familiar with it. Something like that really happened?"

Li Xu sighed and began to recount an incident that remains a painful memory for the TCM community to this day.

"In 2011, a patient named Zhang Xi suddenly felt chest tightness and weakness after washing up in the morning. He went to a clinic called Yong’an Tang Pharmaceutical Company’s Wangfujing TCM Clinic for treatment."

"At the time, the attending doctor probably never imagined that this seemingly low-risk illness would bring an unprecedented disaster upon the clinic."

"After the diagnosis, the clinic’s doctor prescribed Zhang Xi a seven-day course of medication. The prescription was:"

"40g Banxia, 20g Ruiren, 20g Danshen, 30g Gualou, 20g Chaozaoren, 10g Yuanrou, 15g Gardenia, 10g Ganfen, 30g each of raw Longgu and Muli, 20g prunella vulgaris, 30g raw Ocher, 15g Cinnamon Bark, 10g Poria Cocos, 10g Dried Tangerine Peel, 30g white peony, and 3 slices of ginger."

"However, the patient’s condition did not improve after taking the medicine for seven days, so he went to the clinic again. This time, the doctor prescribed a three-day course of medicine with the following formula:"

"15g Codonopsis, 30g Astragalus Root, 30g Gualou, 20g Ruiren, 6g Sanqi powder (to be steeped), 6g Leech, 10g Curcuma Rhizome, 12g Banxia, 15g Gardenia, 5g each of prepared and raw licorice, 30g white peony, 30g Dayun, 30g raw Ocher, 30g Caojueming, 30g each of raw Longgu and Muli, 10g Yuanrou, and 10g Hongjingtian."

"But unexpectedly, more than twenty days later, Zhang Xi filed a lawsuit against the clinic."

"It turned out that after leaving the clinic, Zhang Xi had gone to the Capital City’s Peking Union Medical College Hospital for a complete blood count, a kidney function test, and a three-item cardiac panel."

"The test results showed his creatinine levels were severely elevated and his hemoglobin was critically low."

"Finding it hard to accept this reality, he went to several other hospitals for examinations and was ultimately diagnosed with chronic glomerulonephritis and chronic renal failure (uremic stage)."

"That’s why he sued the Yong’an Tang Pharmaceutical Company’s Wangfujing TCM Clinic."

"He claimed that the TCM clinic had misdiagnosed his condition. He argued that they knew herbs like Banxia in the prescription had nephrotoxic properties, yet not only failed to provide adequate disclosure, but also administered an excessive dose without first checking his kidney function. He alleged this directly caused his kidney damage, leading to the adverse outcome of uremia."

"Therefore, he took the clinic to court."