Uninvited Guest in the Hospital Corridor: The Old Lady's Medication List

In the past few days, we received a patient injured in a car accident, probably around forty years old. The injuries were not serious, but the patient's situation was quite tricky. As a victim of a traffic accident, the medical expenses should have been borne by the party at fault. However, both sides have been unable to reach a compensation agreement, and neither was willing to pay. After numerous delays, the patient's medication was finally stopped yesterday ==|

In fact, the family of the victim is in a very difficult situation, and it is likely that they are truly unable to pay. The hospital, however, is powerless in this matter. Rules and regulations cannot be changed for any individual, especially when even the traffic police have not been able to resolve the dispute. The hospital really can't intervene, and we have also received notifications to turn a blind eye to the situation.

I heard that the responsible party may be a relative of the head nurse in our hospital's orthopedic department. They have a strong background and are usually quite overbearing. Initially, they thought to quickly resolve the matter. However, the other party, even though they don't have the money, insisted on claiming compensation for lost wages and other expenses. The two families are now at odds, and are even considering taking the matter to court.

In our view, the responsible party is always at fault, and even if they offer a sincere apology and compensation, it should be enough. It is really unethical to take advantage of the situation at a time like this. However, the stubborn car owner does not see it this way at all. They even brought in the head nurse of the orthopedic department, supposedly for mediation, but their words were disrespectful and displayed a sense of superiority. We were all quite angry watching, but no one dared to intervene, after all, this is just how things are nowadays.

At noon, after having just eaten, I was dozing off in my chair when suddenly an old lady arrived at the door. She was wearing a blue, worn-out coat with patches under the elbows. Despite the temperature being close to twenty degrees, she was even wearing a brown knitted hat, which made her look strangely out of place. Without knocking, she just walked in upon seeing someone inside and started to pull out a pile of papers from her pocket. She said to me, "Doctor, this needs a stamp! A stamp is needed for compensation..."

I was at a loss for words and subconsciously took a look. It was a few medication requisitions, but the heading was from XX clinic, not from our hospital. I was really surprised and asked her, "This isn't from our hospital. Are you mistaken? Are you a family member of one of the patients?"

Upon hearing this, she immediately put on a big smile and spoke a bit obsequiously, "Um, I can't read, I don't understand! It's just that my son was hit by a car. It's too expensive to seek treatment here, so I asked a acquaintance to get some medicine from somewhere else. They said it needed to be stamped by the hospital, otherwise we wouldn't get compensation. Can you take care of this for us?"

Honestly, facing such a humble plea from someone several years older than me, I couldn't refuse. However, her request was really absurd. Traffic accident compensations are typically calculated by the insurance company, so how could they accept her baseless documents? Moreover, I had no authority to stamp medication requisitions for others.

Helplessly, I had to patiently explain to her, "Ma'am, this is not my responsibility. Why don't you go to the administrative building and see if they can help you there?"

After that, I gestured to show her out, and she seemed disappointed as she slowly turned and left. On her way, she approached someone in a white coat and handed the papers over, chattering away, "Take a look, I can't read. This is bad..."

As I watched her walk away, I regretted being too harsh just now, but also felt powerless. Brooding over it was useless, so I shook my head and put this matter out of my mind.

The next day during the regular rounds, a nurse informed me that the accident victim's expenses had been settled. I went over to his bed to conduct a check-up. When I got there, I suddenly remembered the old lady. I casually asked, "Has your mother been worried lately? Is her health alright?"

The patient was lying in bed at that time, and his wife was sitting next to him. When they heard what I said, both of them looked stunned. After a brief hesitation, the patient spoke, "Are you mistaken? My mother passed away a few years ago and has always been buried in our hometown. This time, I just wanted to find a place at the suburban cemetery to relocate her burial site. I was accidentally hit by a car!"

I was immediately embarrassed upon hearing this. Of course, the hospital sees many car accident patients, so how could it just happen to be this one? It was my fault, I had spoken without thinking! I hastily apologized and awkwardly left the ward.

Passing by the nurse's station, I saw the head nurse of the orthopedic department chatting with someone. It might be that she came up with another excuse for her relative, but I couldn't be bothered, so I just went straight past her.

When it was time to clock out, my senior came to take over the night shift. As soon as he entered, he had a smug grin plastered on his face.

"What's up? You found some money?" I teased him.

"Haha, even better than that! I'm feeling so good today," he said while putting on his coat. "When I came in, I overheard the head nurse from the orthopedic department complaining. It turned out that a old lady had been pestering her relative's family at their home since last night. She wasn't noisy, just kept begging them to pay up. She was tearfully lamenting her poor son, and kept saying it was her fault for not being able to read, which caused her son to suffer. Anyway, she kept going on and on like that, and all the neighbors gathered around. The family was really upset, but they couldn't bear to be rough with an old lady and felt ashamed to make a scene. So, early this morning, they settled the entire amount, saying they fully accept the victim's terms! Ha ha ha ha~"

I was pleased to hear that, but I couldn't help feeling that something wasn't quite right. "I saw an old lady yesterday claiming she couldn't read, but the patient said she wasn't his mother. Really, I asked him personally!" I said this out loud, but in my heart, I doubted it. Could they have intentionally arranged for someone to ask for money? However, the couple was honest and simple, and it didn't seem like they were capable of such scheming. Besides when they looked surprised, it seemed genuine.

However, my senior didn't seem to care at all, "Tsk, this is what they call karma! They act all high and mighty normally, but when they do something wrong, they want to wriggle out of it. Great satisfaction—whether she's a person, a ghost, or a hired hand, it feels good to release some pent-up frustration!"