novelraw Chapter 239: Who’s to Blame?
Chapter 239: Who’s to Blame?
Arrhythmia, a sudden drop in blood pressure, and steadily declining blood oxygen levels.
She then bent over, took out her penlight, pried open Dean Yuan’s eyelids, and shone the light into his pupils.
His pupils were sluggish, and his pupillary light reflex was diminished.
She quickly felt for his carotid artery. The pulse was faint and irregular.
Then, she pressed her ear to Dean Yuan’s chest, listening carefully to his heart and lungs.
His breath sounds were coarse, accompanied by moist rales. His heart rhythm was erratic, with a distinct murmur.
The situation was dire. He was deteriorating rapidly.
But... this didn’t seem to be caused by typical post-operative complications, nor did it look like shock from acute hemorrhaging.
Her gaze immediately shifted to the IV stand and the medicine vials on the bedside cabinet.
The labels on the vials were facing outward. Some had been opened, their contents dripping into the IV line.
She recognized one of them at a glance—it was a potent vasodilator, which should have been administered slowly under close monitoring.
And now, the drip rate was clearly too fast.
’I adjusted his medication this afternoon,’ she thought. ’Could it be an adverse reaction, or was the dosage wrong?’
Just as she reached for the dripping IV bag, she caught sight of Yang Meiling out of the corner of her eye, standing in the corner.
The woman was subconsciously picking at her own fingers.
Something stirred in Song Qingya’s heart as an intuition began to surface.
’This is definitely not just nerves.’
She slowly lowered the IV bag, her movements gentle.
The moment her fingertips left the plastic bag, her focus had already shifted to a vial of backup medication on the bedside cabinet.
It was a small, amber-colored glass vial, its label facing outward, standing silently in the corner.
But now, in Song Qingya’s eyes, there was something strange about it.
"Ajin, hold this for me. And make it brighter."
Fei Jin understood at once. She took the lamp without hesitation and raised it, her arm perfectly steady.
Song Qingya leaned in to get a closer look, the bridge of her nose almost touching the cool glass.
Her eyes were locked onto every single word on the label.
’The name of the drug is correct,’ she thought. ’It is indeed the core ingredient needed for his treatment.’
’But this dosage... it’s a complete mismatch with the order I wrote myself!’
’I distinctly remember the backup medication plan I submitted in the medical records system at exactly three o’clock this afternoon. The dosage was supposed to be 5 milligrams per vial.’
’Not this high-concentration vial labeled 10 milligrams.’
She carefully brought the vial close to her nose and sniffed gently.
The slightly bitter scent was laced with a sharp, metallic odor.
’That was the smell of certain chemical solvents. A proper medication shouldn’t smell like that.’
The moment she put the vial down, her gaze locked onto Yang Meiling on the other side of the room.
"Mr. Yang, after Dean Yuan’s medication was changed this afternoon, were you and Doctor Qi the ones who handled the charting?"
Yang Meiling’s heart plummeted.
She instinctively hunched her shoulders and swallowed hard, forcing a nod in reply. "Yes... Dean Song. It... it was mainly Doctor Qi doing the charting. I was on the side assisting, doing some basic nursing tasks."
’Same old story.’
Song Qingya sneered inwardly, though her expression didn’t change one bit.
’Trying to pin the blame on Qi Yuanyuan again?’
’You were the one watching over the patient in this room the whole time, and that’s your signature on the chart. And now you’re just breezily saying you were "assisting"?’
Her expression unreadable, she held up the vial and swirled it gently, sending ripples through the liquid inside.
"So, which one of you prepared this medication?"
"Why is it already open? And besides, I recall the medication order I wrote this afternoon clearly specified 5 milligrams per vial, while this one is 10. Explain to me how that discrepancy happened."
Yang Meiling’s eyes immediately began to shift.
"This... this medication was already in the cabinet. It hasn’t been touched... Maybe the nurse who retrieved the meds earlier didn’t see the correct strength? Or maybe... maybe Doctor Qi saw Dean Yuan’s condition was unstable and prepared a higher-concentration dose for an emergency? I... I was busy giving Dean Yuan a sponge bath at the time, so I didn’t notice what was going on over there..."
The moment those words left her mouth, Song Qingya already had a good idea of what had happened.
’A vial with the wrong dosage wouldn’t just materialize in the cabinet.’
’Nurses are required to have a two-person check when dispensing medication. It’s impossible they’d make such a basic mistake.’
’As for Qi Yuanyuan preparing it in advance—that’s even more ridiculous.’
’Doctor Qi is meticulous; she would never alter a prescribed dosage on her own authority.’
’There was only one true answer.’
’Someone had intentionally swapped out the vial.’
’And that person was most likely the "conveniently preoccupied" Yang Meiling standing right in front of her.’
But for now, Mrs. Yuan was still sitting by the hospital bed. Her expression was weary yet alert, and her hands were tightly gripping her husband’s.
If she forced a confrontation now, without concrete evidence, it would only backfire on her.
Song Qingya immediately adopted an expression of understanding.
"Oh, I see. I was just on edge and didn’t stop to think there might be extenuating circumstances."
She went along with Yang Meiling’s story.
"You said you were taking care of the patient; it’s true you can’t be in two places at once. I was being inconsiderate and shouldn’t have questioned you so rashly. Since this vial is already open, let’s just put it aside for now. We can have the pharmacy send up a standard-dose replacement later."
After she spoke, she turned to organize the medical chart, her movements unhurried.
Only she knew that deep down, the string of tension inside her had been pulled taut.
"Oh, is that so. Then there might have been a small error during shift change, or maybe someone forgot to mention it during scheduling. The wrong dosage for a backup medication is no small thing. We’ll have to get the head nurse to investigate later—find out exactly who retrieved the medication and who put it in here."
She paused, gently placing the vial back on the cabinet.
The vial made a soft CLICK as it touched the surface.
Her gaze swept over the faces of the few people around her, her tone serious.
"This is not something that can be treated casually, especially when it involves emergency medication. There is absolutely no room for error."
"But Dean Yuan’s condition is critical right now, so let’s not get fixated on this. The medication must be administered as prescribed; the dose cannot be increased arbitrarily. Saving the patient is the top priority."
When she finished speaking, her gaze fell on the fluctuating numbers on the monitor, and she frowned slightly.
The waveforms on the machine were erratic, and both his heart rate and blood oxygen levels were in the danger zone.
Every second was critical.
Any unnecessary argument would waste precious time.
She turned to the medical staff standing by the bed.
"Continue to closely monitor his vital signs and be prepared for any sudden changes."
Hearing this, Yang Meiling felt a great weight lift from her shoulders.
The tension just moments before had been almost suffocating.
She had been worried that Song Qingya would refuse to drop the medication issue, or even make a scene right then and there.
After all, if they started assigning blame, she, as the doctor on duty, would inevitably have to bear some responsibility.
But now Song Qingya had voluntarily taken a step back, pulling the focus back to saving the patient.
This undoubtedly took a great deal of pressure off her.
"Yes, yes! Dean Song is absolutely right! Saving the patient is the most important thing. Everything else is secondary!"
She nodded repeatedly as she spoke, a fawning smile plastered across her face.
"The most important thing for us right now is to stabilize Dean Yuan’s condition. Investigating the other stuff can wait until he’s stable. It’s not too late."
Mrs. Yuan’s head was starting to ache from listening.
All the technical terms, the buck-passing, the speculation—as a layperson, she couldn’t make heads or tails of any of it.
What she did understand was that her husband was gravely ill, and it seemed someone was responsible for this incident.
So... who was going to take the blame?