The Physician of Traditional Medicine Returns from Murim - Chapter 354

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 354

Yu Minseong was working diligently as always that day.

With a patient load that was somewhat tight but still allowed him to give sufficient attention to each individual person, things were now quite stable.

When he first opened the Seongsuhanuiwon Daejeon Branch, he had many concerns about whether a two-Korean medicine doctor system would be viable, but looking back, it had been quite a good choice.

Being able to trust and leave the clinic and patients in capable hands on days off, plus having someone in the next room to comfortably consult with when there were concerns about treatment, was far more reassuring than he had expected.

“Shin Jinhee, I’m coming in~.”

Shin Jinhee, 32 years old.

A patient with a gentle impression entered Yu Minseong’s examination room.

Since she had come for diet consultation and said she found them through the internet.

He could roughly guess the patient’s type just from her chief complaint and appearance.

“Hello, Shin Jinhee.”

“Oh my, hello. Doctor, you’re incredibly handsome…?”

“Haha, thank you. You came today for diet consultation. Have you ever tried herbal medicine diet before?”

Yu Minseong naturally led the consultation.

According to the body composition test results, the patient was 160cm tall and weighed 68kg.

She seemed easy to talk to and gave the impression that she would lose weight smoothly.

“Ah, yes. I was taking medicine until last month.”

However, Yu Minseong paused momentarily at Shin Jinhee’s answer.

“Did you come here after dieting at another Oriental Medicine Clinic?”

Dieting naturally takes time, and even with just a little weight loss, most people would continue taking medicine at the same place.

Could she have a sensitive personality despite her appearance?

“Yes. I took medicine for a month at Haneul Clinic, but… there was some trouble. I wanted to continue with herbal diet medicine, so when I looked into it, Seongsuhaneui Clinic seemed really good at it. This was the closest branch, so I came here.”

“I see. Your address is in Cheonan?”

Shin Jinhee nodded awkwardly.

“How were the effects while taking Haneul Clinic’s medicine? What was your weight when you started?”

“It was 72kg. The one-month goal was 67, and I’m 68kg now, so I’m reasonably satisfied.”

What on earth. It’s not like she didn’t lose weight?

“May I ask why you want to switch? Did you have any side effects?”

Yu Minseong asked directly.

If a patient receiving diet herbal medicine wasn’t satisfied, it ultimately came down to one of two things.

Either the medicine’s effectiveness was poor so weight loss didn’t occur, or the side effects were too severe.

And the former had been ruled out.

Since the range of herbal medicines used for diet is somewhat predetermined, knowing what side effects occurred would allow for complementary prescriptions.

Yu Jinseong gently explained the intent behind his question.

“No. I was fine. It’s just that my friend had some… problems, so I felt uncomfortable continuing to take medicine from there.”

However, Shin Jinhee shook her head, saying she hadn’t even had side effects.

“I see. I’ll prescribe well so you can continue losing weight successfully. How was your appetite before taking the medicine?”

Since she seemed unwilling to discuss it further, Yu Minseong naturally returned to the medical consultation.

“Yes, yes. Originally I couldn’t control my appetite well, but once I started taking herbal medicine, it dropped completely.”

“How about digestion…”

There were concerning aspects, but focusing on the patient in front of him was important.

He did his best in the consultation and prescribed what he thought was most appropriate medicine for Shin Jinhee.

“It was really good! My stomach feels comfortable and I’m losing weight well too!”

Shin Jinhee’s diet progress was good.

She had body composition tests every two weeks, and each time she was measured, her body fat had decreased by at least 1kg.

She was a patient with strong willpower who worked hard on diet and exercise, and the medicine worked very well for her.

“That’s fortunate. Let’s work hard until you reach your goal.”

As she lost weight, Shin Jinhee’s guard-like wariness also relaxed.

“By the way, what exactly happened at Haneul Clinic?”

Yu Minseong casually asked about the part he had been curious about all along.

“Oh, about that!”

As if it hadn’t been a secret to begin with, Shin Jinhee eagerly began telling her friend’s story as if she had been waiting for this.

* * *

After seeing Yu Minseong’s message, I immediately called and had a conversation.

“So she was dieting together with her friend?”

Regardless of everyone being trustworthy people, this wasn’t a story to discuss openly in a group message room with over ten people.

– Yes. Her friend saw an Instagram ad and suggested they try taking herbal medicine together at Haneul Clinic. They both prepaid for 3 months, but the friend was rushed to the hospital due to medicine side effects.

“…Rushed to the hospital? By ambulance?”

While medicine sometimes doesn’t suit people well and side effects can vary.

It was an accident serious enough to call an ambulance?

I recalled the possible side effects of diet medicine in my mind.

– From the first or second day of taking it, the heart palpitations were too severe, and after about a week, she suddenly couldn’t breathe so she urgently went to the hospital. It was pulmonary congestion.

Pulmonary congestion is a mild stage of pulmonary edema, referring to a condition where blood flow in the pulmonary capillaries is excessively increased.

It’s a condition that can cause not only edema and chest pain but also difficulty breathing, and if fluid accumulates in the alveoli from here, it progresses to full-blown pulmonary edema.

“You continued taking it even though your heart was pounding severely?”

– Yes. I called the hospital and they said I would adapt to it and told me to keep taking it.

Just hearing about it was dizzying.

“That was unlucky…”

Even with the utmost care and precaution, it’s impossible to reduce the possibility of medical accidents to zero.

Heart palpitations are common symptoms, and since it’s often the case that side effects from diet pills appear for the first few days and then the body adapts, it wasn’t incomprehensible teaching, but.

– I don’t think that’s what happened.

“What?”

– It wasn’t just a coincidence, but my friend… the patient who had breathing difficulties originally had heart disease, and she clearly disclosed that to the Korean Medicine Doctor.

Since ephedrine contained in ephedra stimulates the cardiovascular and nervous systems, one must be careful even with just high blood pressure or arrhythmia.

“But they prescribed diet pills? What kind of heart disease was it?”

Yu Minseong made a sound that was neither laughing nor crying.

– It was hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and originally she had no symptoms so they were just observing.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a condition where the left ventricular wall becomes abnormally thick, mostly occurring as a genetic disease.

Since the heart’s efficiency in pumping blood decreases, even without symptoms, fatigue, edema, difficulty breathing, chest pain, fainting and other symptoms can suddenly appear.

It’s a structural disease that also carries the possibility of sudden death from heart failure or even cardiac arrest.

– That patient originally wanted to try traditional Korean diet medicine, but was refused at the neighborhood clinic. Phew, I would refuse too. But apparently Haneul Clinic had medical advertisements saying that non-ephedra diet pills could be prescribed even for cases where ephedra formulas couldn’t be used due to thyroid disease or underlying conditions.

“Oh, yes.”

– She saw that and asked if she could also diet, they said yes, so she got a prescription.

“You’re saying her heart was stimulated even though she took non-ephedra medicine?”

For diet purposes, I probably wouldn’t have prescribed it either, but having hypertrophic cardiomyopathy doesn’t mean all traditional Korean medicine should be prohibited.

Just like among Western medicines, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or aspirin can burden the heart but acetaminophen has no particular problem.

There were also ways to compose prescriptions with medicinal herbs like Euiiin (Job’s tears) that have no burden at all while providing satiety.

Of course the effects are weak, but if the diet motivation is strong.

– That part is ambiguous.

But Yu Minseong chose his words carefully here again.

– The Korean Medicine Doctor who prescribed it naturally says he didn’t use ephedra, but the medication instruction sheet said symptoms like palpitations, insomnia, and constipation could appear in the process of adapting to the medicine.

“Those are side effects of ephedra formulas?”

– Yes. He said only the same instruction sheet went out but it wasn’t actually in the medicine, so it probably wasn’t because of the traditional medicine… honestly, I don’t know.

“You’re saying there was negligence in the accident but they hid it?”

– At least my friend thinks so. The patient agreed to accept treatment costs and settlement money and let it go, but said it feels very unsettling.

She even told them about her heart disease, and inquired about side effects in the middle, yet such an accident happened.

The prescription, teaching, and follow-up response were all inappropriate.

If the patient had made up her mind, it wouldn’t be strange for the internet to be in an uproar or for her to appear on an exposé program.

“Did she recover completely?”

– Yes. When she went to the emergency room, her pulse had risen to 140, but fortunately she was treated and got better quickly, so she was discharged after two days.

“That’s really fortunate…”

It was amazing that after seeing her friend go through such an ordeal, she just switched clinics and continued getting prescriptions.

‘Sigh…’

It seems they managed to handle this one way or another too, but.

Just counting what I’ve seen directly and indirectly, how many times is this already?

How exactly are things being run that the same network keeps having these problems?

“There was a similar incident before. The Vice Director at headquarters received a written pledge and prescribed diet pills to an anorexia patient.”

– …

From the patient I saw, to what happened with Haneul Clinic in Daegu, and what I encountered during the Ulsan Branch contract termination.

I told Yu Minseong why Chu Miyoung and I don’t have good feelings toward Haneul Clinic.

And as I talked about it, I got even angrier.

“They’re walking a tightrope, but if this is just what I’ve heard about major and minor incidents, it wouldn’t be strange if a big accident happened anytime.”

– …I think so too.

“Thanks for telling me about it first. Take good care of that patient, and I’ll think a bit about whether there’s anything I can do.”

After hanging up with Yu Minseong, I was lost in thought for a moment.

In this incident, whether it was lack of sincerity or lack of knowledge, there was clear negligence on the part of the Korean Medicine Doctor who prescribed it.

And headquarters wasn’t managing at all, or rather, wasn’t trying to manage.

If incidents of this level reached my ears when I’m not even an insider, how many more things must be happening?

‘What should I do?’

I started to call Choi Eunhee but stopped.

It was the simplest method, but also a method with no effect.

I had already given enough warnings.

Even if she wasn’t involved in this incident, that was problematic in its own way.

There had been many opportunities to get involved and fix things.

‘What would I have done if I were still in the Martial Arts World?’

I fiddled with my throwing knife.

A world where might was logic and law.

Though there was its own order and negotiations, when values collided, ultimately the strong were right.

When I had no power, there were countless unfair things, but after learning martial arts, just as many things became comfortable.

‘Right, back then I could have just beaten them up and reformed them.’

A medical practitioner who worsens patients’ conditions?

The Sichuan Dang Family’s Medical Hall blocking their medical practices could be considered not just possible, but a form of coercion.

But in a world where law and public authority operate.

‘The patient I just heard about reached a settlement.’

If the patient’s side had no intention to sue, it would be nearly impossible for a third party to proceed with criminal charges and prove medical malpractice.

But should I just leave it alone until a really big problem occurs?

[Haneul Clinic Medical Accident]

I searched with a few keywords, but there weren’t any particular news articles about it.

Even at this very moment, patients might be seeing advertisements and receiving inappropriate treatment.

‘…Right, I can’t just leave it alone.’

I broke the concealed weapon I was holding in my hand.

On this side, I need to solve things in this side’s way.

“First, I should collect some cases.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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