The Princess and the Pauper (Arabella and Romeo) novel Chapter 5

As long as the family signed off on the surgery consent form, the doctors could go all out to save the patient. Even if they couldn’t pull the patient through, they wouldn’t be held responsible because they had given their best shot.

However, judging from Phillip's current condition, there was no way he could wait for his family to arrive. If no action was taken, he could stop breathing in ten minutes.

"Dr. Greg, should we wait for his family to show up?" Susana, a young associate chief physician, tentatively proposed. "If we proceed with the surgery without authorization..."

If anything went wrong, Mr. McMillian would surely give them hell!

In this situation, it was not just about their wish to save him. Phillip's life could just end here today.

"I suggest that we give him a shot to calm his nerves and another to soothe his heart. We can make the decision when his family arrives!" Susana proposed again.

The other doctors didn't have any better ideas, they all silently watched Dr. Greg, waiting for his decision.

Seeing that Dr. Greg didn't respond, Susana instructed the nurse standing by, "Go and get the meds."

The nurse was about to fetch the medicines.

At that moment, Arabella, standing at the door, spoke up again, "If you inject him with these now, he'll surely die."

As soon as the meds were administered, even the best doctors wouldn't be able to save him. Because Phillip's current physical condition was so frail, it couldn't handle the effects of the drugs. Once these two injections were administered, shortly after a brief period of lucidity, he would stop breathing within half an hour.

"Who are you, get out of here. We're busy, and we don't have time for chitchat."

Susana had been annoyed with this girl since the beginning, feeling like she was causing trouble here.

"Incompetent doctors." Arabella didn't waste time with them and was about to leave.

Unexpectedly, Susana couldn't help but speak out, "Who are you calling 'incompetent doctors'? Stop right there!"

"Susana, don't pick a fight with a little girl, Phillip's condition is more important right now." Another doctor advised.

"She called me incompetent!!" Susana was furious, her eyes full of discontent when she looked at Arabella. She was the most talented, youngest associate chief physician among this group of doctors, had won numerous awards, received lots of praise, and this girl was questioning her medical skills?!

"She doesn't understand the situation, why bother with her?" The chief doctor said anxiously. He was only concerned about how to deal with the old man's problem.

Anyway, the patient couldn’t die in the hospital, because everyone present would be implicated. Now they couldn't operate, nor could they let him die, and their only option was to administer the sedatives and heart-soothing injections.

"Who did you just call an incompetent doctor?" Susana walked up to Arabella and asked defiantly, "Go on, I'm listening."

"Who else but you?" Arabella looked at Susana, clearly not taking her seriously.

"You--" Susana was so angry she was hopping mad!

Arabella crossed her arms over her chest and casually said, "At this point, surgery is the only option for him."

"Surgery? You make it sound so simple, kid." Susana laughed in anger, "This old man has already undergone five heart surgeries. There isn't a shred of intact heart muscle left. No hospital in the country, no doctor would dare to operate on him for the sixth time!"

"Forget it, Susana." The male doctor wanted to calm things down, but Susana's temper was obviously out of control.

"This old man's condition, no similar cases have been documented in medical literature, both domestic and international! You could say that since the inception of medicine, he's the only one!" Susana said each word firmly, "Do you know how difficult the surgery is? We've consulted with many renowned heart surgeons both at home and abroad, but no one could propose a better treatment!"

Arabella raised her brows and said, "That's because you're incompetent."

"So, you think you can save him? Confident little girl?" Susana sneered, "Then you give it a try!"

Arabella glanced at the old man on the bed, exuding unbridled confidence, and casually said, "You can't afford me to perform the surgery."

"Huh." Susana found it ridiculously funny, "This old man is no ordinary person. No amount of money is an issue for him. If you can save his life, money is not a problem, even I am willing to kneel down and call you God!"

Arabella raised her eyebrows, "Alright, you said it."

"Hey, you're really confident, aren't you!" Susana didn't take her seriously. "Did you graduate from high school? Do you know where the heart is? Surgery is not about making a few random cuts with a knife. Do you think this is like cutting a steak in a restaurant, and you can just do whatever you want? I don't care where you're from, apologize and leave, then I'll pretend this never happened!"

Arabella glanced at the work badge on Susana's chest and dismissively said, "You're an associate chief physician in cardiology and you don't even know how to perform artificial valve replacement surgery, and you want me to apologize?"

"You--"

"Calling you a quack doctor is an understatement."

"Did you guys hear what this brat just said?" Susana was gritting her teeth in anger.

The female chief physician murmured to herself, "She actually knows about artificial valve replacement surgery..."

Such a professional term, coming out of a little girl's mouth, could she really know medicine?

The male doctor also realized this. He looked at Arabella with surprise and shock, and he whispered to Susana, "Why not, let her try, maybe she really has a way?"

"You've lost your mind! You actually believe what a little girl says!"

Before Susana could finish, she heard another doctor whisper, "If anything goes wrong, we can blame her..."

"She's not a doctor at our hospital!" Susana turned around and lowered her voice, "Do you know who this old man is? If anything happens, all of us here will be responsible! Do you think you can just find a little girl to be the scapegoat?"

She glanced back at Arabella, her eyes full of disdain, "If she really knew her stuff, she'd be famous by now, and she'd be the one running this place! Would we even be needed here?"

The male doctor shrugged helplessly, "But right now, we don't have any better options..."

"Or maybe..." the female director carefully suggested, "We could ask Dr. Caden for his opinion?"

Dr. Caden was widely recognized as a brilliant doctor in the hospital, but...

"Dr. Caden is really full of himself. If it's not his patient, he won't lift a finger to help us."

Susana knew this all too well, which was why she never bothered him with any issues. He had a bad temper and was likely to kick people out, not caring about embarrassing others at all.

"So what should we do now?"

...

Not sure if their voices were too loud, but outside the ward, there were some people huddled together, whispering about something.