American Medicine: I survived the death knell thanks to the devil.

Juan is a former illegal immigrant who finally managed to gain permanent residency.

Even relatively inexpensive public hospitals are difficult to afford without health insurance.

The cost of amputation surgery and subsequent treatment will be at least $5.

This is the excellent American healthcare system that readers and magazines like Yilin praise.

"Without treatment, sepsis could very well take your life. It won't take more than a week."

Juan, his hands trembling, pulled a crumpled $20 bill from his pocket and tried to stuff it into Lynn's hand, pointing pleadingly to the door.

He wanted to leave.

He was more afraid of death than death.

He feared that the impending huge bill would lead to his entire family being deported back to Mexico.

For them, what's more terrifying than the IRS is ICE, the immigration service.

Lynn helped him put the money back.

He turned around and took a "Notification of Discharge from Hospital in Violation of Medical Advice" from the nurses' station.

"Sign here and you can leave."

Two minutes later, the security guard pushed him out.

Lynn watched the hunched figure disappear through the automatic doors.

This is a typical day at an American public hospital.

Doctors are workers on an assembly line, and patients are parts waiting to be sorted.

Repair what's valuable, discard what's not.

Lynn typed "Patient refused treatment and left the hospital voluntarily" on the medical record, then picked up the alcohol gel and mechanically rubbed his hands.

It wasn't that Lynn was indifferent; it's just that after seeing so many patients, one becomes numb.

He also helped some unfortunate people pay their medical expenses in advance in the country.

In America, however, the cost of being kind is too high.

Here, 37% of adults cannot afford a $400 unexpected expense in cash.

67% of people live paycheck to paycheck.

Total American household debt reached a new high of $18.6 trillion in 25 years, with credit card debt exceeding $1.23 trillion.

The poor in America do not deserve to be sick.

Seeing Juan off doesn't mean we're resting.

Conversely, the emergency room hall experienced a "morning rush" typical of the United States.

The peak belongs to the "walking dead".

They had spent all the relief money they received last night, and the effects of the medication had worn off, or perhaps the medication was too strong, so they flooded into public hospitals like a tidal wave.

Over the next three hours, Lynn dealt with two homeless men who were high on drugs and stabbing each other.

Three college students foamed at the mouth due to drug overdose.

There was also a schizophrenic patient who claimed that there were aliens in his stomach and demanded open abdominal surgery.

The smell of disinfectant in the hospital gradually became unable to mask the stench of alcohol and vomit.

Lynn and the other medical staff kept the city’s sanitation system running smoothly.

Most of those who come to public hospitals are newly homeless people, and they will soon lose their health insurance.

At that time, all they will have left to deal with disease is prayer.

The average lifespan of homeless people in the United States is about 3-5 years after becoming homeless, and 75% of them die within 3 years.

Until noon.

A shout broke the noise in the emergency room.

"Doctor, come quick! Someone's dying!"

It's in Chinese.

With a heavy Minnan accent.

Two men in greasy chef's uniforms were supporting a young man.

The young man was deathly pale, with a thick towel wrapped around his left arm, and blood was still flowing uncontrollably, dripping onto the white floor tiles.

The surrounding medical staff subconsciously looked at Lynn.

"Get him to the trauma room quickly, and remember to check the safety devices."

The attending white physician, Smith, frowned and roared, taking two steps back with a look of disgust on his face.

Lynn quickly stepped forward.

"let me see."

He used Chinese.

Upon hearing the familiar accent, the middle-aged chef, covered in sweat, grasped at a straw.

"Doctor, this child has had a tough life; he's sent all the money he's saved home. You must save him!"

"Quiet down, how did you get hurt? Is the knife clean?"

Lynn cut to the chase; at this point, finding out the extent of the injury was the most important thing.

"Clean, clean, this child is very diligent, he sharpens his knives often. All the knives in our shop are like new."

Meanwhile, Lynn carefully pulled open the blood-soaked towel.

The ulnar artery was completely severed, and the severed end retracted into the deep muscle layer, causing fresh blood to gush out continuously.

If the bleeding isn't stopped immediately, the child won't last ten minutes.

"Prepare the operating room for vascular anastomosis," Lynn called out, turning around.

"etc."

Didn't you hear what I said?

Smith glanced at the wound, then looked at the group of Chinese people in front of him.

"Lin, don't you know the rules? Check the Social Security number first."

"This surgery will require a microsurgical team and is estimated to cost $80,000. Our hospital doesn't have that much budget to be ripped off by your compatriots."

The other two looked somewhat bewildered, clearly unable to understand English.

But the middle-aged chef who was leading the group immediately turned pale.

"Eight...eighty thousand."

That's all the money they can scrape together from their Chinese restaurant in a year.

Smith understood from his expression.

"No insurance? Get a pressure bandage and transfer to a charity hospital. Or just amputate, that's cheaper."

The middle-aged man immediately translated for the young man, saying that amputation was necessary.

After hearing this, the young man's tears mingled with cold sweat as he looked at Lynn in despair.

I hope my fellow countrymen can lend me a hand.

He can only make a living by selling his physical labor here; without his arm, he has nothing.

After so many years of crossing oceans and working in the dark kitchen chopping vegetables, wasn't it all for that American dream?

I hope to turn my life around here, get married, and bring my mother over.

They borrowed money from all their relatives to send me here.

He has no money to pay for medical insurance, nor is he eligible to pay for it.

Lynn spoke up, addressing the nurse who was not far away.

"Please help disinfect."

"Give me another pair of couli hemostats, 4-0 sutures, and lidocaine."

Smith paused for a moment:

"What are you trying to do? This is the emergency room, not an operating room. How are you going to find the severed blood vessel without a microscope?"

"That's my business."

Lynn ignored Smith and grabbed a long, thin pair of hemostats from the surgical nurse's cart.

[Coolly Vascular Clamping Technique - Master Level]

Lynn looked at the injured patient in front of him and found that the muscle texture, the direction of the fascia, and the location of the retracted artery were much clearer than before.

He did not use a tourniquet.

He inserted his left thumb and forefinger into the wound and pressed precisely into the pool of blood.

The jet of blood stopped instantly.

Smith's sarcastic remark got stuck in his throat.

Blindfolded manual compression?

luck?

Immediately afterwards, Lynn held the pliers in his right hand and flicked his wrist.

The forceps tip penetrated deep into the muscle and precisely clamped the retracted ulnar artery stump, which was only 3 millimeters thick.

"Click".

A crisp metallic clicking sound.

Lynn released her left hand.

The bleeding has completely stopped.

It did not damage a single nerve in the surrounding area, nor did it involve any extra muscle.

Even the renowned cardiothoracic surgeon, Hudson, might not be able to achieve such effortless control over the hemostat.

"Is a $2,000 emergency room treatment fee acceptable?"

As Lynn spoke, he began to suture.

[Simple Interrupted Suture - Master Level]

Needle tip shuttles.

Lynn used surrounding tissue for ligation to stop bleeding and repair.

Although the function of the arm may be slightly affected, the hand was saved, and so was the life.

"Yes, yes, yes! Thank you so much, doctor!"

The middle-aged chef felt as if he had been granted a pardon and hurriedly ran to pay the fee.

Ten minutes later.

Lynn cut the last thread.

Smith watched the whole thing unfold, his expression shifting from disdain to utter disbelief.

Asians are indeed the curliest, and Chinese are the curliestest among Asians.

When did Lynn reach this level of skill?

"Lin...when did you go for advanced training in vascular surgery?"

"I practice on my own every day after I finish working overtime."

Lynn gave a perfunctory reply, took off his blood-stained gloves, and threw them into the yellow medical waste bin.

After working continuously for 16 hours, Lynn finally walked out of the hospital building.

The wind in New York at night was still chilly.

On the way to the subway, I passed by the staff parking lot.

A wrecked ambulance was parked in the parking lot.

Rough wire mesh was welded to the windows, and the front bumper had been modified into a shovel-shaped structure with spikes.

The roof of the vehicle was fitted with a row of bright lights, which turned out to be shadowless lamps taken from the operating room.

This is a bit outrageous.

Lynn frowned.

Has a zombie apocalypse really broken out? How can something like this exist?

The air in front of me distorted slightly, and the familiar red text reappeared.

[Demon detected...]