Regarding this surgery, Zhou Mo Sen actually has four taboos.
The first is violation.
The second is breaking the law.
The third is a shortage of surgical staff. There are only three doctors, not even a nurse, and no crucial anesthesiologist.
The fourth is that Zhou Mo Sen originally was a general surgeon and has never performed cosmetic surgery.
But now, with a gun pointed at him...
Zhou Mo Sen chose to remain silent and raised his hands.
The guy holding the gun to Zhou Mo Sen’s head had a face full of rough skin and a scar on his neck that looked like a gunshot wound. Surviving a shot here, he’s really lucky.
This guy wasn’t short, with thick, muscular limbs and eyes full of murderous intent.
"What?"
Someone spoke, but it wasn’t Scar Neck.
The person standing at the operating room door was a short man, with typical Old Mo features, around his thirties, relatively more pleasing to the eye.
He had no scars on his body and had someone on either side.
One was a little girl, about ten years old, already a beauty in the making.
The other was a middle-aged man looking about forty or fifty, short and stocky, also with typical Old Mo features, somewhat resembling the speaker.
But his eyes were extremely cold, holding a large leather suitcase in one hand and covering his abdomen with the other, with bloodstains.
Most likely shot.
Zhou Mo Sen immediately determined that this middle-aged man was likely the ’patient’ needing cosmetic surgery.
Not because he was shot, but due to his aura.
Calm and steady, yet unapproachable.
Most likely a drug lord!
Zhou Mo Sen quickly assessed the ’patient’s’ team and was, of course, also thinking of a response strategy.
But... no matter how he thought, the outcome didn’t look good.
"What’s going on? What happened?" The short man who had just spoken evidently also noticed something unusual in this operating room.
Monroe immediately put on an ingratiating smile, "Nothing, we’re discussing the details of the surgery."
Obviously, this was a lie. He was trying to calm these people down.
Unfortunately, the ’patient’s’ team wasn’t so easily fooled.
The speaking short man pulled out an M9, "Do you think I’m an idiot?"
Monroe was quite embarrassed and had to assure, "Rest assured! The surgery is absolutely fine!"
The short man didn’t point the gun at Monroe but walked closer.
"You’d better let me hear the truth."
The tension eased slightly.
Monroe just wanted to explain further, but Kate burst out!
"Don’t listen to him! This bastard is lying to you!"
All of a sudden, the atmosphere was tense again!
"Amigo! Don’t listen to this bitch!"
"He’s lying!"
"Shut up!"
"We can’t perform surgery now at all!"
Monroe and Kate were arguing, but they were both addressing the short man.
The result was quite interesting... the short man pointed the gun at Monroe.
Then glanced at Kate.
"What on earth is going on?"
Zhou Mo Sen saw clearly that Monroe’s lips were turning purple with tension.
Kate didn’t delay and directly said:
"A surgery requires at least three doctors, the main surgeon, an assistant, an anesthesiologist. Also, a nurse is needed. We simply can’t gather them here! Moreover, the sterile environment of this operating room has been compromised. And, the patient is shot, this is not something a cosmetic surgeon can handle!"
Quite unexpectedly, that made sense.
But surprisingly, after hearing this, Monroe seemed relieved.
"Haha... Amigo, rest assured, my friend here..." Monroe pointed to Zhou Mo Sen, "To him, gunshot surgery is very simple, we’ve endured three years of residency together, gone through so much."
Monroe clearly had great confidence in Zhou Mo Sen’s medical skills.
The short man also looked at Zhou Mo Sen and signaled Scar Neck to lower the gun.
They wanted to hear Zhou Mo Sen’s opinion.
Yet at this moment, Kate suddenly started screaming like crazy:
"What about anesthesia? The patient needs general anesthesia now! How could you possibly do that!"
Then calmed down at lightning speed, speaking at a normal pace to the short man: "My suggestion is to go to a better-equipped hospital first, to treat the gunshot wound..."
Kate said this for the ’patients’ benefit, but in fact, everyone understood her motives.
She just didn’t want to be involved in this surgery, or at least not here, or maybe find a chance to slip away.
"Shut up!" Monroe shouted, then smiled at the short man, "Amigo, you know, for this surgery, I’m the anesthesiologist, trust me, it’s just general anesthesia."
Kate didn’t believe Monroe could perform general anesthesia at all, but just when she was about to say something more.
Monroe smiled at Kate, "Actually, I originally planned to become an anesthesiologist."
Hearing this, Kate was about to break down. She looked toward Zhou Mo Sen in extreme helplessness.
She was seeking help, even begging.
But the short man moved to block Kate’s line of sight.
Zhou Mo Sen knew he had to say something.
"As a doctor, I must point out the current situation. Dr. Kate is right; the operating room is compromised, the staff is insufficient, especially with the patient suffering a gunshot wound, the risk is very high."
Zhou Mo Sen didn’t say to do it, nor did he say not to do it.
What he was doing now was akin to a surgical procedure, which is informing the patient and family of the surgical risks.
And indeed, that short man and the drug lord really started discussing it.
Seizing this opportunity, Zhou Mo Sen thought of many things.
The conversation between Kate and Monroe just now made Zhou Mo Sen recover many memories.
Moreover, it also involved a lot of knowledge about the American medical system.
First, it’s important to understand a concept.
In the United States, only by becoming a specialist does one count as a real doctor.
However, there are indeed ’general practitioners’ in the United States.
One is the ’family doctor,’ the other is the ’resident doctor.’
Family doctors: basically rely on Google for diagnoses.
Resident doctors: to enter specialty training, must endure at least three years of residency.
In short, these two types of ’general practitioners’ are both rookies.
Residents are much better than family doctors. Strictly speaking, calling them general practitioners isn’t accurate, because they are divided into major categories, such as internal medicine and surgery.
In today’s hospitals, specialties are very finely divided, such as proctology, hepatobiliary, digestive tract, etc., but these are actually all surgical domains.
As a result, the busiest in the hospital are resident doctors.
If there is an emergency and they need to act as a nurse, it’s not surprising.
Zhou Mo Sen and Monroe did their three-year residency together, so Monroe naturally knew his friend’s skills.
The truth is, as a Chinese, he was often bullied during his residency, being assigned all kinds of work.
And when things got busy, meaning he did all sorts of tasks, that’s when a large-scale "biubiu" incident happened.
So, Monroe was very confident in Zhou Mo Sen.
A minor gunshot wound, nothing to worry about.
But no matter how ’jack-of-all-trades’ a resident is, they can’t administer general anesthesia.
Many specialists can administer anesthesia, but only anesthesiologists can administer general anesthesia.
That is, unless one has received specialized training in anesthesiology, one can’t master the knowledge and skills related to general anesthesia.
Kate made a valid point, but unfortunately, she didn’t count on that bastard Monroe.
The three of them met in high school.
They were all from well-off families, attended good schools, and later pursued a career in medicine, which was quite normal.
But in the United States, becoming a specialist doctor takes at least 11 years.
Kate is a psychiatrist, so her process was different, but the years weren’t any fewer.
Now all three of them are just in their thirties, meaning they haven’t been real doctors for long.
Even for a well-off family, studying medicine means taking on student debt.
It’s too expensive.
Which means a happy life was just about to begin.
Yet it was going to be cut short!
Kate’s actions were futile, or rather silly.
But it was understandable.
Originally, this surgery had nothing to do with her.
Monroe and Zhou Mo Sen had drawn up a detailed plan and gave everyone the day off.
They even had the ’patient’ come over by themselves and left the key in a backdoor spot.
Who would have thought Kate would unexpectedly return to get something?
And just so happened to catch them changing into scrub suits.
In an instant, she understood.
And so, things came to be.
The short guy and the drug lord discussed in Spanish for a while, then the short guy turned to Monroe.
"If there’s danger, minimize the danger!"
Monroe gave a fawning smile, then put his arm around Zhou Mo Sen’s shoulder and whispered:
"You’re already a partner, and the 300,000 is almost yours. You still want more?"
Monroe’s words triggered Zhou Mo Sen’s memories of the United States once again.
Three days ago, Monroe mentioned this surgery to Zhou Mo Sen.
And he directly laid out two conditions.
Partnership in the clinic.
And a 300,000 US Dollars surgery fee!
More than a year ago, Old Monroe passed away.
Monroe Jr. became the owner of the clinic, and this guy actually wasn’t very skilled.
Zhou Mo Sen was basically the one doing the surgeries.
Being a partner was deserved!
But what really made Zhou Mo Sen agree to this surgery.
Was that 300,000 dollars.
In the US, Zhou Mo Sen’s parents died in a car crash six months ago.
The Zhou Family was a well-off family, with a modest inheritance.
The crappy part is that there’s inheritance tax in the US!
The most painful part about inheritance tax is that you have to pay the tax first.
The deadline is nine months.
Inheritance tax plus legal fees amounted to over 200,000 dollars.
Zhou Mo Sen hadn’t been a real doctor for long, and he simply didn’t have that kind of money.
He agreed!
Once the partnership contract was signed, Monroe told the truth.
As it turns out, this guy, idle as ever, went off to Tijuana with nothing better to do.
Tijuana is a good place, good because it’s not the United States, it’s Mexico.
Gambling, drugs, and prostitution are trivial there, you can even play with some... well, as long as you have money, anything goes.
Monroe lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in Tijuana.
If he didn’t pay it back, he’d be dead!
And at that time, the ’patient’ appeared.
Their offer: the debt could be erased, with extra rewards to boot.
At this point, Zhou Mo Sen finally understood everything that had led to this.
But then, Monroe suddenly turned to the short guy and said, "The most useless one here is that bitch! She’s a psychiatrist, aside from getting in the way..."
Before he could finish, the short guy signaled for Scar Neck to raise his Desert Eagle, aiming at Kate.
Scar Neck probably couldn’t speak, and quiet people are very straightforward.
He immediately started to pull the trigger!
Facing the deadly black muzzle, Dr. Kate Stone closed her eyes in despair...
"Stop! Or the surgery can’t be done!"
Zhou Mo Sen shouted loudly.
Scar Neck actually didn’t shoot, and the short guy even smiled.
"Isn’t she a psychiatrist? What difference does it make if she’s gone?"
Zhou Mo Sen answered directly, "She can stand in as a nurse."
With that said, Zhou Mo Sen locked eyes with the drug lord.
"I need more hands, didn’t you say to minimize the risk?"
The drug lord nodded.
The gun was finally lowered.
Kate opened her eyes.
Having survived, her emotions were extremely complicated.
And Zhou Mo Sen was the hero who saved the damsel in distress?
He didn’t want to be a hero, this was just saving someone.
Simply the most basic quality of a doctor.
"I reflexively dodged at the time, sorry about that." Kate meant that...
Understood now, it was Monroe who accidentally shot Zhou Mo Sen.
But at this moment, Monroe laughed heartily, "Ha! I knew it."
The guy looked smugly at Kate again, "You definitely didn’t expect that this dude wrote you a love letter when we were in school. Only he wanted me to deliver it, haha, I tossed it in the trash bin."
What? Another old scandal?
Zhou Mo Sen and Kate looked at Monroe, staying silent.
In one mind: Damn!
In another: F*ck!