When I'm on the night shift, all the department heads can't sleep.

At 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, sunlight streamed obliquely into the emergency room doctor's office.

The sounds of conversation and keyboard typing filled the air, but Fang Rui, sitting in the corner, seemed out of place.

He was wearing a brand-new white lab coat, his eyes were sunken, and the dark circles around them were frighteningly heavy.

He didn't touch the steamed buns on the table, and rubbed his hands repeatedly on his thighs. His fingertips were dry and red from washing his hands with soap so much last night.

"Didn't sleep well last night?"

A cup of hot coffee was placed next to Fang Rui.

Fang Rui jolted, looked up and saw Lin Ye, his eyes darting away in panic: "Teacher Lin... every time I close my eyes, all I can hear is the sound of bones breaking last night. I spent the whole night researching medical malpractice cases related to cardiopulmonary resuscitation..."

Just as Lin Ye pulled out his chair, the office door was suddenly pushed open in a flurry.

Nurse Zhao strode in carrying a treatment tray, slammed the medical record folder on the table, and said with a livid face, "Lin Ye, the administration building is causing trouble again! Liu Zhenhua had a deadpan expression first thing this morning and called the triage desk directly, specifically ordering you to take Xiao Fang and the clerk from last night's bed and get up to the third floor right now!"

Ma Hao had just taken a bite of his steamed bun when he heard this and frowned deeply: "Sister Zhao, Liu Zhenhua personally went to find someone? Did that family member of the late-stage lung cancer patient really cause trouble last night?"

"It's more than just making a fuss, they're rushing to make a fortune overnight!" Nurse Zhao sneered, her eyes blazing with anger. "At one in the morning, they bombarded the 12345 hotline and the Municipal Health Commission's mailbox, accusing us of 'passively causing death, deliberately administering morphine, and intentionally crushing ribs,' demanding 580,000 yuan in compensation! The hospital office issued an urgent directive overnight and transferred it directly to the medical affairs department."

She turned her head and saw Fang Rui trembling all over. She reached out and snatched the coffee cup from his hand, which was about to spill.

"What are you shaking for?! Xiao Fang, I know you didn't make a single mistake during yesterday's emergency treatment! You were already showing restraint by not beating that bastard out last night. If Liu Zhenhua dares to nitpick about my residency assessment, I'll go up there and slam my fist on the table with him!"

Fang Rui's face was deathly pale, and his hands, hanging at his sides, trembled violently.

"What's the panic?" Lin Ye pressed down on Fang Rui's shoulder, took the medical record folder from the table and neatly closed it. "Deputy Director Liu is in charge of the rules and evidence. Take the surveillance footage and the approval form, and come upstairs with me."

……

The small conference room of the Medical Affairs Department is located on the third floor of the administration building.

Liu Zhenhua, deputy director of the medical affairs department, sat in the center of the long table, holding a black pen in his hand.

His expression was extremely cold, showing almost no emotional fluctuation. On the table lay a printed copy of the official document for supervision.

Two young medical staff members sat nearby, quickly checking the records in the quality control system on the computer.

The door opened, and Lin Ye led Fang Rui inside.

"Sit down." Liu Zhenhua raised his eyelids, his sharp gaze sweeping across the two faces, and pushed the document directly to the center of the table. "Take a look yourself. This is an urgent document forwarded by the Municipal Health Commission. A copy should also be sent to the hospital director's mailbox."

Fang Rui's gaze swept across the first page, and the words annotated in red pen made his heart clench:

[A formal complaint filed against the emergency department for alleged violence and deliberate damage to a deceased person's body: seeking 580,000 yuan in compensation and dismissing the staff on duty]

"Director Liu, the truth is not at all what they said..."

Fang Rui hurriedly spoke up.

"I don't want emotions, I want evidence and a closed loop of legal reasoning." Liu Zhenhua tapped the table with the tip of his pen, his tone flat and cold. "The family raised three fatal questions in their complaint letter, which are also loopholes that the opposing lawyer will definitely nitpick in the judicial appraisal."

Liu Zhenhua stared directly at Fang Rui, speaking rapidly, each word like a knife:

"First, when the patient was brought to the emergency room, he was in a deep coma and on the verge of respiratory arrest. Not only did you fail to establish an artificial airway immediately, but you also administered a small amount of morphine. The so-called last will and testament in the deceased's daughter's possession was not notarized and therefore lacks the legally binding, irrevocable validity of the document."

"Secondly, the eldest son was present and clearly requested that the entire CPR process be performed. Before you performed chest compressions, you did not have him sign the 'CPR High-Risk Complications Notification Form' on the spot."

"Third, and most seriously—the compression caused the patient to suffer twelve broken ribs and severe airway bleeding. If the opposing side were to walk into court today with an autopsy report, insisting that this was mechanical chest wall damage caused by violent manipulation, the judge would only look at the signatures and the autopsy results! What would you use to support your legitimate defense?!"

A series of rigorous and demanding legal questions forced the inexperienced Fang Rui into a cold sweat.

"Director Liu, your question is very professional, but the emergency department has a legal framework to address all three points."

Lin Ye pulled out a chair and sat down steadily opposite Liu Zhenhua.

His eyes were calm as a deep pool, without a trace of panic at being questioned.

Lin Ye opened the folder, his slender fingers precisely pressing on the medical records:

"First, the National Health Commission's 'Guidelines for Palliative Care Practice' clearly stipulates that for terminal malignant tumors with multiple organ failure and extreme respiratory distress, administering a small amount of opioids to alleviate near-death suffocation is a standard palliative and symptomatic treatment. Last night, the morphine dose was only one milligram, less than one-fifth of the usual analgesic dose. Pharmacologically, there is no basis for the premise of respiratory depression leading to death. The patient's handwritten will fully complies with the right to informed choice in medical ethics."

Liu Zhenhua's eyebrows twitched slightly, and the tip of his pen stopped on the paper.

Lin Ye continued without pausing, his voice steady and steady:

"Secondly, according to the latest international guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation, effective chest compressions must reach a depth of five to six centimeters. In an 85-year-old with severe osteoporosis and extensive bone metastases, the incidence of rib fractures due to effective compressions exceeds 70%. In forensic medicine, rib fractures are a known legal complication of effective resuscitation and are by no means a result of negligence. If the ribs are not broken, it's called fake chest compressions!"

Lin Ye looked directly into Liu Zhenhua's eyes, pulled out a second document, and slammed it onto the table with a "thud."

"Third, regarding why a high-risk complication informed consent form wasn't signed beforehand—the panoramic high-definition monitoring in the resuscitation room shows that at the moment the patient's heart stopped beating, the eldest son, Wang Qiang, repeatedly pushed and tore at the young doctor's collar, posing a serious threat to his personal safety and forcibly forcing him to perform CPR. Emergency resuscitation measures taken to prevent the escalation of doctor-patient conflict during a sudden emergency resuscitation are protected by the emergency treatment exemption clause of the Medical Practitioners Act!"

The surveillance footage clearly shows Wang Qiang's ferocious expression as he grabs Fang Rui by the collar.

The meeting room fell silent.

The two officers exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with shock.

Faced with the urgent directive from the National Health Commission, Lin Ye not only did not back down, but instead used guidelines, pharmacology, and medical law to build an unbreakable defense.

Liu Zhenhua stared blankly at the materials Lin Ye handed him, reading them word by word, his knuckles lightly tapping the table.

"Lin Ye, your clinical defense is excellent. But we both understand the rules of how the system works. Surveillance can prove the other party committed violence, and guidelines can prove complications, but the municipal bureau's supervisory letter requires a response within two hours. If we rely solely on these passive defensive medical common sense principles, the hospital will still be in a very passive position in the face of administrative review and public opinion fermentation."

Liu Zhenhua raised his head, his eyes deep: "Unless there is hard evidence directly refuting the other party's motives for the accusation."

"I've brought you the solid evidence!"

"Bang--!!"

With a deafening crash, the solid wood door of the conference room was kicked open by a violent force!

Qin Hai strode in, his white coat billowing in the wind, his face as dark as a thundercloud.

Behind him were two stern-faced police officers from the local police station, and his youngest daughter, Wang Mei, who had cried herself to sleep the night before!

Liu Zhenhua's eyes narrowed, and he stood up abruptly: "Qin Hai? You even brought the police from the local station?"

"If I don't call the police, am I supposed to just watch your medical affairs department use bones from the emergency room to fill the hole?!"

Qin Hai slammed the black tablet computer in his hand onto the table, the force of which made the teacup jump half an inch.

He pointed at the tablet, his gaze icy:

"Wang Mei went to the police station to report the case first thing this morning! The recording of Wang Qiang making a phone call in the emergency room stairwell last night, and the original insurance policy submitted by Wang Mei are all here!"

Qin Hai abruptly pressed the audio play button on the tablet, and a cold laugh echoed throughout the room:

"Liu Zhenhua, didn't you want to counter-evidence? Listen to this! The reason Wang Qiang acted like a mad dog last night, tearing at the doctor and forcing him to perform CPR, wasn't to fulfill his filial duty at all. He was trying to fraudulently obtain that accident and critical illness life insurance policy that would pay out 600,000 yuan if CPR was successfully performed!"

A crackling electrical noise flashed from the tablet's speaker, instantly followed by Wang Qiang's deliberately low but extremely vicious roar—

"That idiot Wang Mei doesn't know anything! As long as those doctors in the ER put him on a ventilator, even if the resuscitation fails, they can still stamp the 600,000 yuan accidental death compensation claim form... The old man is already dead, why shouldn't we get this money?!"