Accusations and Obstacles
In the hospital corridor, the Monkey's heart-wrenching cries had not completely subsided; the whimpers, like those of a wounded wild animal, still emanated intermittently from his curled-up body.
He slumped to the ground, his hands hanging limply at his sides, his eyes staring blankly at the white wall, as if it reflected the tragic state of his sister Xiaoya, who had been wantonly tormented. That flimsy diagnosis report, at this moment, was like a red-hot iron, branding his heart and leaving an indelible scar.
The Monkey's parents, who rushed to the scene after receiving the call, witnessed this very moment.
"Xiao Jun! How is Xiaoya?" Monkey's mother, a woman weathered by life's hardships, called out anxiously, her voice trembling with tears, even before she arrived. When she saw her son slumped on the ground, looking utterly lost, her heart skipped a beat, and a sense of foreboding washed over her like ice water.
The Monkey's father, a taciturn man whose back was already somewhat hunched from the weight of life, also hurried to catch up, his face filled with solemnity.
"Dad... Mom..." The Monkey heard the voice, looked up blankly, and saw his parents. The tears he had been holding back burst forth again. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but his throat seemed to be blocked by something, and he could only utter broken syllables.
Seeing this, Lawyer Zhou sighed, stepped forward, and handed the final diagnostic report, stamped with a bright red seal, from the top-tier provincial hospital to the Monkey's parents, explaining in a somber tone:
"Mr. Hou, Mrs. Hou, please don't panic. Xiaoya's vital signs are stable now, and she's not in any danger. But..." He paused, knowing how devastating the next words would be for these simple, honest parents, "This is the final diagnosis from Professor Liu's hospital. Xiaoya... doesn't have lymphoma."
"No... no cancer?" The Monkey's mother was stunned for a moment, then her face lit up with an incredulous light, a mixture of immense joy and bewilderment. "Really? God has eyes! I knew our Xiaoya wouldn't..."
Her joy lasted for less than two seconds.
Because what Lawyer Zhou said next was like the coldest Iron Hammer, shattering their newly risen hopes:
"However, Xiaoya was misdiagnosed with stage III lymphoma at Ankang Hospital and... underwent multiple rounds of high-dose chemotherapy and drug treatments specifically for cancer."
"What?!" The Monkey's father's pupils constricted, and he exclaimed in shock.
Lawyer Zhou pointed to the shocking data and conclusions in the report, his voice low and laced with suppressed anger:
"These unnecessary treatments severely damaged Xiaoya's body. She developed problems with her liver, digestive system, and kidneys; her white blood cell and platelet counts were extremely low, and she suffered from severe anemia. And..."
He took a deep breath and revealed the most appalling part. "High concentrations of anesthetic drugs were detected in her system. Her previous claim of being 'critically ill and admitted to the ICU' was most likely caused by deliberate drug administration!"
"Chemotherapy... not sick... being given chemotherapy?" The Monkey's mother murmured these words repeatedly, the color draining from her face at a visible speed, turning her ashen white.
Her eyes were wide open, but her pupils were dilated, as if she couldn't comprehend that such a horrifying thing could exist in the world. She opened her mouth, trying to breathe, but felt as if a huge rock was pressing down on her chest, and a violent dizziness struck her.
"His mother... his mother!" The Monkey father's terrified cry rang out from the side.
Suddenly, the Monkey's mother swayed, her eyes rolled back, and she fell straight backward like a puppet with its strings cut!
"Mom!"
"The child's mother!"
The Monkey and her father rushed forward, frantically catching her as she collapsed. Lawyer Zhou also quickly joined in, pinching her philtrum and calling for medical personnel. The corridor erupted into chaos once more.
After emergency treatment and oxygen administration by medical staff, the Monkey's mother slowly regained consciousness. When she opened her eyes, instead of feeling relieved to have survived, she grabbed her husband's arm, tears streaming down her face like broken beads, but she couldn't cry out loud; only her chest heaved violently, a sign of extreme grief.
The usually honest and Monkey father, who was used to swallowing his anger, was now seeing his wife's pale face, hearing his son's suppressed sobs, and thinking of his daughter lying on the hospital bed, looking weak and innocently ravaged. An unprecedented, fiery rage, like magma, instantly overwhelmed all his reason and restraint!
His eyes instantly became bloodshot, veins bulged on his forehead, and his clenched fists trembled violently from the force.
"Beasts! A bunch of beasts!!!" He let out a low, guttural roar from deep in his throat, like that of a wounded beast.
He abruptly stood up, no longer looking at his weeping wife and children. As if having made up his mind, he staggered to the end of the corridor, and with trembling hands pulled out his old cell phone. Almost instinctively, he dialed those three numbers—
"Hello! Is this 110?! I need to call the police!!" His voice was hoarse, but with a desperate resolve, "Ankang Hospital! Ankang Hospital has harmed my daughter! They've been treating her irrationally when she wasn't sick! They're killing her!! Aren't you going to do anything about it?!"
When the Changyang Police Station received this emergency call, the caller was immediately struck by the indignant and almost incoherent accusations, which made the dispatcher realize the seriousness of the matter. In particular, the use of sensitive and egregious keywords such as "hospital," "misdiagnosis," "abuse of chemotherapy," and "artificial anesthesia" indicated that the incident had far exceeded the scope of an ordinary medical dispute.
The news was immediately reported. The police station leadership attached great importance to it, as this was very likely a case of extremely serious nature, involving serious medical malpractice or even intentional injury! They immediately assigned experienced police officers, including the team led by Captain Li had previously handled "medical disturbance" incidents, to rush to Ankang Hospital with equipment such as body cameras to conduct investigations and collect evidence.
However, when the police car, with its flashing lights, stopped again in front of Ankang Hospital, the officers felt a deeper sense of oppression, completely different from the "farce" that morning.
Faced with the formal police investigation, Ankang Hospital exhibited a disturbing degree of "cooperation."
A representative from the hospital, who identified himself as the vice president of administration, received the police officers. When the police requested access to all of Hou Xiaoya's original medical records, treatment records, medication lists, and ICU surveillance footage, the vice president displayed a perfectly measured expression of regret and helplessness.
"Officer, I'm so sorry." He adjusted his Glasses, his tone carrying a bureaucratic air of evasion. "Regarding the medical records of patient Hou Xiaoya in bed 18... we are searching for them, but for now... well, we've encountered some technical problems; some electronic medical records seem to be missing. We are also intensifying our search for paper records."
"Where's the surveillance footage?" Captain Li asked coldly, his ominous premonition growing stronger.
"The surveillance system... sigh, even worse." The vice president sighed. "Our ICU's surveillance system has been experiencing intermittent malfunctions since the night before last. After inspection, the technicians found that the storage hard drive had suffered physical damage. The data from the past few days... I'm afraid it's unrecoverable. We've already contacted the supplier to urgently replace it with new equipment."
Medical records are lost, and surveillance cameras are damaged.
It's that same old excuse again, one that's incredibly frustrating and infuriating!
Everything vanished "just right." All the paper and electronic evidence that might point to the core truth seemed to have been quietly wiped away by an invisible hand. All that remained were the hospital's high-sounding explanations and the empty servers.
Captain Li and his colleagues looked extremely grim. They knew this meant the investigation had stalled from the very beginning. Without direct physical evidence, it would be difficult to take any substantial legal action against the hospital and those responsible based solely on the family's accusations.
However, it's not entirely hopeless.
Captain Li produced an authoritative diagnostic certificate issued by the provincial top-tier hospital where Professor Liu Mingyuan works. The certificate detailed Hou Xiaoya's true physical condition, the results of tests for anesthetic drugs in her body, and clearly stated that she had never suffered from lymphoma.
"How do you explain this report?" Captain Li pushed a copy of the report in front of the vice dean, his eyes blazing.
The vice president picked up the report, glanced at it briefly, and maintained his usual composed demeanor. "Oh, this... Different hospitals and different specialists will have different assessments of the condition, which is common in medicine. We respect the opinions of the provincial hospital's experts, but this doesn't directly prove that our Ankang Hospital is at fault. After all, medical procedures inherently involve certain risks and uncertainties..."
Faced with such a watertight and irresponsible explanation, there is currently little the police can do.
After completing the initial on-site investigation and questioning (which yielded almost entirely official statements), Captain Li, with a grim face, said to the vice president, "Regarding the numerous suspicious points surrounding patient Hou Xiaoya's treatment at your hospital, our police have opened a case for investigation. We request your hospital's active cooperation in 'restoring' the relevant medical records as soon as possible. Furthermore, we need to take the attending physician, Qin Ming, and the relevant responsible medical staff back to the police station to assist with the investigation."
Although physical evidence is lacking, witness testimony remains. Taking the doctor who directly handled the case back for detailed questioning is currently the only way to advance the investigation.
A fleeting, almost imperceptible shadow crossed the vice-dean's face, but he ultimately nodded. "We will definitely cooperate with the police."
Soon, Doctor Qin, who was pale and had evasive eyes, along with two other medical staff who had participated in Hou Xiaoya's treatment and care, were taken away by the police in a police car.
The police car drove away from the gleaming white building, which might conceal endless darkness within. The investigation, amidst numerous obstacles, took its first difficult step. The justice that the Monkey family longed for still seemed far out of reach, the road ahead shrouded in mist and thorns.