Chapter 106 - Unethical Clinic

Everyone looked over.

Belle stood at Humanity Hall’s entrance with a look of disdain. “You may not know that Clarence here is the son-in-law of the Murphy family. He’s merely junior-high-educated.

“He knows nothing about medicine. Do you dare to consult a man who knows nothing about medicine for free?”

The crowd exploded uproariously.

“What? Junior-high-educated?”

“He knows nothing about medicine!”

“Holy sh*t, no one would dare consult such a doctor unless they had a death wish.”

The patients who had wanted to try out Thirteen Hall gave up..

Free consultation was attractive, but their lives mattered more.

Seeing that the patients had walked back into Humanity Hall, Belle looked at Clarence defiantly. “Clarence, do you want to fight us? Wait till the next life.”

Just as Belle turned around to go back to Humanity Hall, the old lady Clarence had seen that morning ran out with her grandson in her arms.

“Hey, old lady. Why are you running? Your grandson’s still sick.” Melody ran after the old lady and grabbed her by the sleeve. 

The old lady’s face was full of supplication. “Forget it. We’re not proceeding with the treatment. We can’t afford it.”

Melody’s face was cold. “You’re not proceeding just because you can’t afford it? Are you kidding me?

“Humanity Hall’s doctors have been working on your grandson all morning.

“Now that we’ve identified the cause and designed a treatment plan, you’re saying you don’t want to proceed with it?

“Who’s going to be responsible for Humanity Hall’s loss?

“You have to proceed with the treatment today, even if you don’t want to!”

Melody’s pretty face looked solemn and mean.

A passerby stopped. “What happened?”

The old lady looked helpless. “My grandson has experienced a fever, a headache, and vomiting over the last few days, so I thought I’d bring him to Humanity Hall.

“However, Humanity Hall’s doctors examined him all morning and said he has polio.

“They’re charging me twenty thousand dollars for a treatment plan.

“My son died young, and my daughter-in-law left, leaving me only one grandson.

“I collect garbage for a living. Twenty thousand dollars is more than a year’s income.

“How can I afford such an expensive treatment?”

Melody folded her arms and looked at the old lady with amusement. “Twenty thousand dollars is a good price to cure your grandson’s illness. You’ll need spinal surgery if you go to the hospital, and you wouldn’t be able to do that without one hundred thousand dollars.

“Humanity Hall uses alternative medicine to help you cure illneses slowly.

“With all sorts of medicines available and famous doctors working on your grandson all morning, what’s wrong with charging you twenty thousand dollars?

“Even if you don’t want to proceed with treatment, pay the doctors’ labor fee. There are four doctors. Each cost two thousand and five hundred, so that would be a total of ten thousand dollars.”

“Huh?” The old lady turned pale with fear, trembling as she held her grandson in her arms.

“Grandma… My stomach hurts…”

Suddenly, the little boy in the old lady’s arms spoke up weakly. He was now a far cry from his lively appearance this morning.

The old lady hurriedly comforted, “You’re going to be fine. I’ll take you home and boil an egg for you.”

She had just finished speaking when the boy began to shake violently. He started throwing up, foaming at the mouth.

Melody shrieked as if she was escaping the plague. “Oh! Take your grandson away, you old hag.

“Don’t die in Humanity Hall!”

Onlookers glared at Melody with anger on their faces.

Belle realized something was wrong and quickly said, “As you can see, it didn’t happen to the little boy in Humanity Hall. He was fine when he left just now. It happened outside.”

Melody nodded. “Yeah, we have surveillance in Humanity Hall. You can’t blame Humanity Hall, you old hag.

“Hurry up and pay the ten thousand dollars fee. Then, take your grandson away.”

The passers-by around them could not stand it any longer. Someone stepped out and roared, “Is this how you run a clinic?

“You’re still thinking about money when the old lady’s already so unfortunate?

“There’s a saying that doctors care about their patients like they’re the doctor’s own children. Are you heartless?

“Humanity Hall used to be great under Dr. Wanda’s management. How come it’s turned out like this in your hands?”

Peony used to run Humanity Hall.

Peony was not well and had been staying at home to rest lately, so Belle and Melody were in charge.

Many patients had already begun complaining within a week.

Melody was stubborn. “What’s wrong with me? Doesn’t this old lady have to pay for a consultation?

“We run a clinic, not a charity.”

“Boo hoo hoo…”

The old lady held the little boy helplessly while the crowd argued. “Can somebody help me? My grandson is dying.

“Help!”

Her grandson was twitching in her arms while foaming at the mouth. He had rolled his eyes back into his head, and his face was deathly pale. It did not look good.

“Take him to the hospital!” Someone stomped their feet in panic and took out their phone to call an ambulance.

“Looking at the child’s state, it’s too late to go to the hospital now!”

“What should we do, then?”

Clarence walked over while everyone was at a loss.

Without another word, he squatted down beside the old lady and took one look at the little boy’s symptoms. “Old lady, there’s hope. If you believe me, take your grandson to Thirteen Hall.”

“Okay! Okay! Okay!”

The old lady nodded as if she was clutching at straws.

Clarence held the little boy and headed toward Thirteen Hall.

Belle looked at Clarence’s back and shouted, “Clarence, I’m warning you, polio’s an illness with a sudden onset and a very high death rate.

“If you take him back to Thirteen Hall and he dies there, don’t blame Humanity Hall.”

Melody added, “Also, don’t blame the Murphy family. If there’s a medical accident, you’re on your own. Don’t even think about making the Murphy family pay for you.”

Clarence ignored them and went straight back into Thirteen Hall with the little boy in his arms.

Trevor and Greyson watched the spectacle happening across from the clinic.

Trevor rushed out from behind the counter. “Nonsense! Hurry and send him to the hospital. Why carry him back?

“The medical care here isn’t fit enough to treat this level of illness!”

The scientific name for polio was ‘poliomyelitis’.

It was a neurotropic virus, primarily affecting motor neurons in the central nervous system, with the anterior horn motor neurons of the spinal cord being the main focus.

It could lead to paralysis, epilepsy, and cerebral palsy in children.

In severe cases, death might result directly. 

Greyson frowned and warned, “Clarence, what are you doing? You don’t think you can cure polio, do you?

“Listen to Professor Hughes and get him to the hospital right away, or you’ll kill the kid.”

Clarence snapped, “Shut up. It’s too late to send him to the hospital.”

The only way that Clarence would have a chance of ensuring survival was if he forced the virus out of the little boy’s body with Thirteen Hell’s Gate Acupuncture.

Clarence undressed the little boy and prepared to insert a needle into his spine.

Trevor lunged forward, grabbed Clarence’s hand, and yelled, “What are you doing? The spine is the most vulnerable part of the body. There are countless nerves in it. What if you insert needles at random and paralyze him?”