Seeking Truth with a Sword

Chapter 433 - 384: Morality

Could this be the Li Family’s passive skill?

Li Ang looked around with a peculiar expression. After Li Leqing settled in at the back of the classroom, he coughed lightly, glanced at all the students, his brows slightly furrowed, and quietly asked Qiu Feng, who was beside him, "Why hasn’t Ouyang Shi come?"

Ouyang Shi was a girl of Western Country descent, and her grades had always been among the top few in the entire grade.

"She took two days off sick, but today is already the third day."

Qiu Feng replied softly, "Shall we visit her home after class?"

"Sure."

Li Ang nodded, ended the conversation, and addressed the students, "We will now begin our lesson. Please turn your textbooks to page one hundred and nine..."

This class was an anatomy practice lesson, and they were to dissect experimental rabbits. But before that, Li Ang picked up a piece of chalk and wrote "Medical Ethics" on the blackboard.

"Who can tell me, from what allusion does the term ’Xinglin People,’ used by physicians to introduce themselves, originate?"

He turned around, put down the chalk, and asked indifferently.

The students raised their hands energetically, and Li Ang randomly pointed to one of them to answer the question.

"Ahem, ’Xinglin People’ originates from Dong Feng, a medical practitioner of Fujian Nationality from the Three Kingdoms Period. According to the ’Immortal Record,’ Dong Feng lived in the mountains and treated people without accepting money. Instead, he asked patients who had been gravely ill and were cured by him to plant five apricot trees on the hillside. Those with minor illnesses were to plant one young apricot seedling.

After several years, the number of apricot trees reached tens of thousands, forming an apricot grove.

Dong Feng also posted a notice outside the grove, telling those who came to buy apricots that they need not announce themselves; just leave a dou of grain and help themselves to a dou of apricots. He used the grains obtained from the exchange to aid the common people suffering from both poverty and illness.

Physicians everywhere respected his medical skill and ethics, and since then have referred to themselves as ’Xinglin People.’"

"That’s correct, please take your seat."

Li Ang nodded and motioned for the boy who answered to sit down. "Doctor Dong Feng’s medical ethics are admirable, and he has been revered by all physicians for hundreds of years.

But there is always a gap between reality and ideals. Especially nowadays, with the reformation of the sick houses, future Doctors—including all of you—will inevitably face more challenges.

These challenges include not only medical skill, physical fitness, knowledge reserves, and the pursuit of innovation, but also ethics."

Li Ang paused for a moment. "For instance, consider a patient plagued with numerous ailments, spending most of his life seeking medical treatment. Yet despite this, his body continues to deteriorate, living every day in unbearable pain.

Current medical methods are unable to cure his diseases. He soon becomes paralyzed and confined to his bed, unable to move. Eventually, he sincerely begs a Doctor to feed him a quick, painless poison to end his life.

If you were that Doctor, would you choose to feed him the poison?"

Li Ang looked around the classroom; many students were frowning, silently pondering.

Qiu Feng and Li Leqing were also deep in thought, frowning.

"If no one raises their hand, then I will pick someone at random."

Li Ang smiled lightly, tipping his chin up slightly. "Gu Xingming, your answer, please."

A frail-looking young man stood up and rubbed his palms together, cautiously asking, "Teacher Li Ang, does this question require us to consider the Yu Law?"

Li Ang laughed and said, "Heh, no need. Both you and the patient are in a closed room, with no one knowing what happens inside. The patient also has no family or friends to speak of. No matter the cause of death, it won’t draw an investigation from the officials."

The young man pondered for a while and replied, "Then I’ll create a device. I’ll put the poison in a glass bottle connected to the patient’s mouth via a tube with a valve.

I’ll explain the workings of this device to him.

If the patient truly desires death, he can use his tongue to open the valve at the end of the tube and drink the poison himself.

This way, I won’t be implicated in a murder, and I can also avoid possible punishment under the Yu Law."

"Ha, you’re quite something,"

Li Ang chuckled and continued, "Then let’s add another condition. The day after the patient requests you to administer the poison, all parts of his body, including his tongue, become paralyzed, and he cannot give you any indication of his wishes.

Or perhaps, the patient is constantly tormented by illness and firmly wishes to die, but his wife is adamantly against it.

In such a case, would you help him?"

"I..." The young man opened his mouth. Would I, or wouldn’t I...?

"Please, take a seat."

Li Ang gestured for the student to sit down. "Once you assume your positions, you will face various moral dilemmas day after day, month after month.

Two patients are rushed into the emergency room simultaneously. One is advanced in years, has a well-known reputation, and has made significant contributions to the Yu Country, but is now critically ill due to age. The other is young. As a Doctor, you can only perform emergency treatment on one of them.

Or, consider a newlywed couple where one partner is suffering from a severe contagious disease. As their Doctor, you possess this information. Should you disclose it when the other partner asks?

Or, when patients come to the sick house seeking treatment, they always hope to be treated by an experienced, older Doctor. However, young Doctors must accumulate experience through extensive practice.

Or, your colleague is a highly skilled Doctor who made a grave error during a surgery, resulting in a patient’s death from complications.

You can choose to expose him, which could likely ruin his reputation, leaving him unable to practice medicine ever again.

You could instead choose to help conceal the truth. The consequence would be that he continues practicing medicine, saving hundreds or even thousands of other patients—but the family of the deceased will never know the true cause of death."

Li Ang spoke earnestly, "Increasingly complex contradictions will permeate your careers as Doctors, eroding your enthusiasm, fighting spirit, and ideals, much like ants trying to move a mountain.

Among you, some may maintain their passion and stay true to their ideals.

Some may become numb, treating themselves as mere vessels of medical skill.

Some may use their expertise to amass wealth, seeking personal gain within the limits allowed by the Yu Law.

I can’t tell you what the standard answer is. Perhaps these questions don’t have absolute, uniform standards that can be applied for thousands of years.

I just want to make one point—put people first, and revere life."

Li Ang looked down at the students, some bewildered, others contemplative, and sighed softly in his heart.

He didn’t consider himself a Saint and couldn’t emulate those Kind Doctors from the annals of history who devoted their entire beings to the noble cause of helping others.

But with great power comes great responsibility. Whether willing or not, he already represented the image of the Imperial Medical Bureau and held the authority to cultivate the medical system of the Yu Country.

All he could do was to do good deeds without asking about what was to come.

Li Ang turned to glance at Qiu Feng, who immediately understood and slipped out of the classroom. Moments later, he pushed in a small cart filled with rabbits.