Evolution 2030: Studying Medicine Won't Save Americans

This statement came so suddenly that Chen Yisen was completely caught off guard.

"Who?" he asked instinctively.

“Bern Sanderson, that Senator,” Amber Zheng explained, “the details are being tightly controlled, but he probably won’t live past November… A lot of people are waiting for him to die so they can seize his political legacy.”

Chen Yisen was stunned when he heard this.

You're telling me this?

But he quickly realized that although he couldn't directly verify its authenticity, the news matched what Zuma had relayed about the "trumpet" that morning.

New York is the stronghold of the Democratic Party, and there is no external competition.

But what if they fight amongst themselves for the primary results?

Both sides are in the blue camp, so a more detailed political spectrum profile is needed than ever before, which can also explain why such a somewhat unusual large-scale outreach program was launched.

Because seeing a doctor is the only scenario where people can voluntarily leave their identity information without arousing excessive suspicion.

"That female doctor probably never showed you the registry on her iPad, right?" Amber Zheng spoke again after catching her breath.

Chen Yisen did not answer, because he knew that the other party did not really want to ask him.

Sure enough, Amber Cheng quickly continued: "Because that medical debt relief program doesn't give direct rewards, but rather uses a community participation points system to earn performance bonuses, which are then converted into relief amounts... 500 points for attending a health education seminar, 2000 points for community health training... but the actual content is definitely voter mobilization training."

As they spoke, the two had already arrived at the temporary observation area.

Amber Zheng struggled to lie down on the bed.

Because she had returned to a resting state, her complexion was slightly better than before.

"Doctor, what...what illness do I have?"

Chen Yisen barely managed to suppress a laugh: "You haven't given me any details about your condition, how could I possibly know just by looking at you... Let's examine you again first."

That's what he said, but considering the traces of long-term blood transfusions on Amber Zheng's body, he already had a guess.

Transfusion-related circulatory overload.

The abbreviation for this disease is also quite interesting.

TACO.

In layman's terms, it means that the amount of blood transfused exceeded the patient's heart and kidneys' compensatory capacity, causing the lungs to be "flooded".

The outward manifestation is precisely cardiogenic pulmonary edema.

This was not derived using special abilities or by searching the original owner's memories.

Rather, it was because in his past life he was a battlefield medic who gave too many blood transfusions, and he had seen most of the complications.

That's why the shelter was asked to prepare oxygen machines immediately.

Once a few standard indicators are measured, this big problem can be solved.

Seeing Chen Yisen's lukewarm response, Amber Zheng quickly continued the previous topic, hoping to pique his interest:

"There are many legal disclaimers at the end of that form, and I can understand some of them... The entire project is a social determinant health assessment system managed by Civis Health Analytics (CHA), but a lot of the information in it is unrelated to medical care, such as the community concern survey, which has more than 30 questions. It is essentially a detailed profile of voters' issues... If you don't believe me, you can ask someone else to verify it."

At this point, the credibility of the story is already quite high.

Even if it's not the complete truth, it's at least logically sound.

Chen Yisen wasn't targeting any big shot. If he could find a loophole in the form and connect it to the subsequent community activities, as long as there was genuine content related to election education, it would be enough to disgust Natalia.

However, on the surface, one must still maintain the image of being a virtuous and righteous person.

"Don't say anything yet." Chen Yisen pretended to be completely indifferent. "Incentive voting with in-kind compensation is a federal felony, and making accusations without evidence is considered false accusation. I can pretend I didn't hear anything just now..."

This is certainly not a genuine attempt to dissuade someone.

Instead, it's an implication that "if you can talk, then talk more," but it's not something I actively want to hear; it's something you insist on telling me.

Amber Zheng also understood the implied meaning.

"Among the potential successors to Sanderson's legacy, the most ambitious is Representative Emilia Octavia Castillo of New York's 34th district, who hopes to replace Charles Emerson Stone in the Senate, or at least become the House Majority Leader..."

"I saw it outside before; the sponsor for this medical tour is the New York Health Equity Foundation, the financial backer behind Amelia..."

Chen Yisen continued to coax him gently: "Don't talk nonsense. Councilor Castillo is a spokesperson for the underprivileged residents of the South Bronx, and his funding comes from the community and the streets..."

"That's the past!" Amber Zheng said, her voice trembling with emotion, which immediately triggered a fit of coughing.

After calming down, she spoke again angrily: "A congressman can live without big donors, but it's impossible to advance further... The Asian Women's Protection Association I joined donated over two million dollars to them at the beginning of the year, and I also made a personal donation, and the result was..."

She didn't continue.

But the meaning is clearly, "Now that I'm in such a sorry state, nobody cares."

Chen Yisen thought to himself, "Then who can you blame?"

He's a Latino congressman, and his base is almost entirely made up of people of color.

How could anyone possibly give a friendly look to a madman who openly promotes white supremacy?

And this lunatic isn't even white.

After adjusting her mindset, Amber Zheng got back to the point: "In short, since the doctor who treated me this morning was able to get the approval authority, it means there must be connections. But people with real backgrounds wouldn't be struggling to get to the front lines. So if you go back and check, you'll definitely find that she registered a company or joined a non-profit organization, and that company or organization has a cooperative relationship with the foundation or CHA company."

Now we've finally gotten to the key point.

The internal struggles within Congress are too far removed from Chen Yisen's current situation, but through Amber Zheng's route, it is indeed very likely that it will be discovered that Natalia "knowingly attempted to use protected health information for non-medical purposes."

The reason I say "attempted" is because it is neither possible nor necessary to prove that she has succeeded.

That would be like pulling up a radish and bringing out the mud along with it, causing the situation to spiral out of control.

Let the later investors sense the risk and sever ties with Natalia's righteous cause.

The subordinates acted on their own initiative, and the councilor was completely unaware of it.

Public Employee Ethics Act, Public Officials Conflict of Interest Act, Health Insurance Facilitation and Liability Act...

There's always a hat that suits her.

Moreover, either of these is far more serious than discovering tax evasion.

This is enough to give Natalia a headache for a while.

"You need to rest now."

This time, Chen Yisen was genuinely reminding Amber Zheng to shut up.

But the latter seemed to get carried away with the conversation and couldn't stop talking, wanting to say something more.

Fortunately, at that moment, a nurse who was stationed at the shelter came in, carrying a small oxygen concentrator.

She immediately fell silent.

"Dr. Chen, the oxygen concentrator has arrived, but it's a bit outdated..."

Chen Yisen glanced at the other person's name tag, then made way for her: "Nurse Brown, right... It's okay, as long as she's here, I'll check her blood pressure later."

Brown and another staff member connected and installed the pipeline, then turned on the oxygen concentrator and prepared to conduct a basic physical examination.

After receiving oxygen, Amber Jung's condition visibly improved, further confirming the earlier speculation about TACO.

Chen Yisen then began the consultation process: "You've had blood transfusions, and quite a few times and in large volumes, right?"

Amber Zheng's eyes widened in surprise, as if she hadn't expected the young Asian doctor in front of her to be able to see through it.

"Yes, but how come you..."

Having gotten what he wanted to know, Chen Yisen didn't bother with her anymore: "When was the last time? How much did you lose?"

"Four...five days ago, I received a 300ml transfusion." Amber Zheng still didn't realize the problem and asked, "Is my illness related to the blood transfusion?"

"It's just suspicion at the moment, which is why we need you to provide this information." Chen Yisen adopted a completely businesslike attitude. "There's no relevant record in your medical history, so you lost because of yourself?"

The other person nodded.

"Whole blood or blood components? How was it obtained? Can its source be traced?"

"The blood plasma, bought from the Octefalma Plasma Center. They... well, they sell some custom-made blood products privately." Amber Zheng sensed something was wrong and answered honestly, "My requirements for customization were white, female, under 35, and childless, so it was much more expensive."

She was willing to reveal all that information just now in order to save her own life, so naturally she would never cover up for a blood-selling company now.

But when it comes to customizing white blood, she still has a tone that says, "I'm a cut above all of you."

Brown, who was of Caribbean descent, almost suffered a PTSD attack, thinking to himself, "No wonder you've ended up living in a shelter. You can't even afford food, yet you still remember to buy blood transfusions for yourself..."

"I also have the basic information of the blood donors here, if you need it..."

Worried that Brown might upset him further, Chen Yisen quickly waved his hand to indicate that he didn't need it: "They might need it at the hospital, but I don't."

At this point, the medical examination results came out.

"Dr. Chen, the patient's temperature is 37.5℃, and blood pressure is 85/47 mmHg..."

"Hmm..." Chen Yisen was about to nod when he suddenly realized something was wrong. "Hmm?"

The nurse thought he had made a mistake and quickly bent down to check again.

But that is indeed the number.

"That's right, it's low blood pressure, but it's not serious, far from shock."

In an instant, Chen Yisen broke out in a cold sweat.

This number itself is not dangerous, but the cause of TACO is that the blood transfusion was too fast and too much, causing the heart to not be able to pump it out in time, and the blood stagnated in the lungs.

Even from a purely physics perspective, it should definitely manifest as high blood pressure.

And now that I think about it, Amber Jung seemed much more relaxed after lying down, which doesn't fit the characteristics of "sitting upright and breathing".

Therefore, Amber Zheng's problem is definitely not TACO.

But if it weren't for TACO...

That just shows that his guess was inaccurate.

This further demonstrates that Natalia's prescription was not simply ineffective, but rather that her conclusion of "cardiogenic pulmonary edema" was completely wrong!