Sent to the countryside, I turned the health center into a top-tier hospital.

"Dear teachers, I saw the patient this morning and reviewed all his medical records from the past two years."

"My conclusion is that this patient was misdiagnosed for two years. He does not have rheumatoid arthritis, nor does he have organ failure."

"His problem is a herniated third and fourth cervical disc compressing the anterior horn of the spinal cord, leading to nerve conduction disorders in the limbs."

"Muscle atrophy and joint stiffness caused by prolonged bed rest are mistaken for rheumatism, and liver and kidney damage caused by improper medication are mistaken for organ failure."

"If we don't correct the course and continue treating him with the same treatment plan for rheumatoid arthritis and organ failure, he won't live more than a year."

Chen Ping's words were firm and resolute, filled with confidence.

The head of the rheumatology and immunology department pushed up his glasses, his voice skeptical, "You say it was a misdiagnosis, but where's the evidence? Positive rheumatoid factor, elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and elevated CRP—how do you explain these indicators?"

"You need to understand how many people will pay the price for your one misdiagnosis? Those of us sitting here might even be fired."

Chen Ping knew, of course, how devastating a misdiagnosis would be for a hospital and for a doctor.

However, it is irresponsible to make patients bear all the consequences if one is afraid of setbacks and taking responsibility.

Chen Ping picked up the laser pointer and placed it on the cervical spine MRI scan. "There are two reasons why these indicators are elevated. First, prolonged bed rest can lead to a systemic low-grade inflammatory response, which can cause CRP and erythrocyte sedimentation rate to rise."

"Secondly, a large number of antirheumatic drugs and hormones have been used in the past two years, and these drugs themselves can interfere with the normal values ​​of immune indicators."

"So the positive results you're seeing are false positives. The real question we should be asking is: why would a simple rheumatoid arthritis patient's lower limb muscle strength drop to grade zero?"

"Rheumatoid arthritis mainly affects small joints and does not lead to paraplegia. He can't stand up not because his joints are damaged, but because nerve signals can't be transmitted."

The attending physician in orthopedics picked up the thread, saying, "Even if it's a cervical spine problem, the degree of disc herniation isn't severe. Clinically, this level of herniation usually doesn't lead to complete paraplegia."

Chen Ping pointed to a less noticeable area on the film, saying, "You're right, judging by the degree of protrusion alone, it's not serious."

"But have you noticed the T2 signal in the spinal cord? There are high signal changes here, which indicates that the spinal cord has developed ischemic changes due to long-term compression."

"It's like a water pipe; it doesn't look broken on the outside, but it's been clogged for two years, and the pipe is deformed. It's not about how severe the protrusion is, but about how long it's been compressed."

"Two years, more than 700 days, a nerve compressed for more than 700 days, how can you expect it to still transmit signals normally?"

The meeting room was silent for a few seconds.

The clinical pharmacist in the pharmacy department glanced at the medication records and muttered, "We did indeed administer large amounts of hormones and immunosuppressants..."

Chen Ping didn't stop and continued, "I only suggest two solutions. First, stop all antirheumatic drugs and immunosuppressants, gradually reduce their dosage and withdraw them, and replace them with drugs that nourish the nerves and improve spinal cord blood supply."

"Secondly, acupuncture is used in conjunction with traditional Chinese medicine to replenish qi and blood, dredge the meridians, and rebuild neural pathways."

"If you agree, I can perform acupuncture on the patient right now in front of you, and you can see the results afterward."

The experts in the conference room looked at each other. Director Liu was silent for a few seconds, then nodded. "Okay, let's take a look."

The group moved to the ward.

Chen Ping stood by the bed, took out silver needles from his needle case, disinfected them, and first needled Fengchi (GB20), then Tianzhu (BL10), and then Dazhui (GV14).

After inserting the first three needles, he added one needle each to the Hegu and Zusanli points on both sides. The range of his finger twisting was not large, but the frequency was extremely stable. After each needle insertion, he gently flicked the needle handle, allowing the needle sensation to travel deeper along the meridian.

The needles were left in for 20 minutes, during which Chen Ping rotated them again every five minutes.

During the third round of twisting, Lao Zhao's right hand, which had been curled up, began to slowly extend. The hand that had been tightly gripping the bed sheet loosened a little. Although the movement was slow, everyone present saw it.

Chen Ping told him to try moving his fingers. Old Zhao moved his fingers once, then again, with a much larger range of motion than before.

The head of orthopedics walked to the bedside, bent down to look at it, and raised an eyebrow slightly.

The head of the rheumatology and immunology department stood at the foot of the bed, without saying a word, his gaze fixed on Old Zhao's finger that was moving slightly.

Director Liu stood to the side, still clutching the medical record in his hand, but his lips were slightly parted, and he didn't say a word.

Chen Ping carefully put away the needles and then looked at the experts: "Dear teachers, this case is worth recording and promoting as a teaching case throughout the hospital and even the province."

"Rheumatoid arthritis and cervical spinal nerve injury have a lot of overlap in early symptoms, but the treatment approaches are completely different."

"If treated as rheumatoid arthritis for two years, the patient will be ruined. Cases of misdiagnosis like this are not many nationwide, but behind each case is a real person."

"I suggest that this case be compiled into an article so that more colleagues can see it and avoid the same mistake from happening again."

Everyone fell silent; no one spoke, because they had no say in the matter.

If they now admit that Chen Ping was right, it means they themselves were wrong and would have to bear the consequences of the misdiagnosis.

Perhaps one or even several of them will never be able to become doctors again.

The ward remained quiet for a long time; no one spoke.

Chen Ping carefully put the silver needles back into the needle case, zipped it up, and stood there waiting.

He didn't urge him or say anything more.

He knew these people needed time to process what they had just witnessed.

A patient who had been bedridden for two years, whose fingers had been curled up for two years, and who had been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and organ failure, regained the movement of his fingers after receiving six acupuncture needles for twenty minutes.

This is not something that can be dismissed with the word "coincidence".

The head of the rheumatology and immunology department spoke first, "I'll go make a phone call."

After saying that, he walked straight out of the ward. He wasn't the attending physician, so there was no need for him to get involved.

Seeing this, the head of orthopedics said, "I have other patients waiting, I need to go see them."

After saying that, he left.

Seeing this, the clinical pharmacist from the pharmacy department quickly followed.

Soon only Director Liu and Chen Ping remained in the ward, along with Old Song, who had been sitting in a chair without saying a word.

Director Liu pondered for a moment before finally speaking, but every word he uttered seemed to be the safest choice he could make.

"Dr. Chen, we need to discuss what you've said further."

"You are not a doctor at our hospital, so the treatment plan cannot be adopted directly. This matter needs to be decided by the hospital director."

"Don't tell the patient and their family too much yet. Let me discuss it with the hospital director first," Director Liu said.