Chapter 7
The paramedic driving the ambulance skillfully weaved between cars as they rushed toward Hanguk University Hospital.
Gain and the other paramedic continued CPR.
Sweat gathered along the back of Gain's neck.
When the ambulance reached the emergency room entrance, the automatic doors opened with a loud sound.
"Thirty-six-week pregnant patient in cardiac arrest! CPR ongoing for more than fifteen minutes!"
The paramedic shouted.
They pulled the patient from the ambulance, transferred her onto a stretcher, and rushed her inside.
Behind the oxygen mask, the woman's face remained pale.
Irregular waves flickered across the ECG monitor.
Emergency medicine residents ran over and grabbed the stretcher.
"Where is the OB-GYN professor?"
"Professor Oh Seongmin just went into emergency surgery! What do we do?!"
A familiar junior resident from the OB-GYN department answered Gain.
The situation made no sense.
They knew another emergency surgical patient was on the way.
They shouldn't have started a different operation.
"A patient in the ward suddenly showed signs of placental abruption..."
Placental abruption.
Normally, the placenta separates from the uterus after delivery.
But in placental abruption, it begins separating while the baby is still inside the womb.
It was a serious emergency.
The junior resident spoke nervously.
If something like this had happened, the ambulance should've been informed immediately.
Then they could've gone to another hospital that was able to operate.
The paramedics were confused.
So was Gain.
She asked,
"Where's Taehun?"
"At least thirty minutes away! He's coming back from a conference outside Seoul. We thought he'd get here sooner, but he got into a minor traffic accident on the way."
The paramedic performing CPR shouted.
"Two more minutes of compressions completed! Still no return of spontaneous circulation!"
Gain's eyes immediately moved toward the patient's abdomen.
The swollen belly filled her vision.
The baby's condition was getting worse with every passing second too.
The junior resident clung to Gain desperately.
"Dr. Gain, where's the patient's guardian? Do you know her?"
Gain looked directly at him.
His name tag was partly hidden by his collar.
Right.
His name was Yuk Jaecheol.
A kind person, but indecisive.
The type who was easily pushed one way and then another.
"No."
Yuk Jaecheol bit his lip.
"If there's no guardian... how do we get surgical consent?"
Emergency medicine resident Im Joeun weakly shook her head.
"The liability is huge. If we operate ourselves and lose both the mother and the baby..."
The residents could begin the emergency surgery and have Kang Taehun take over once he arrived from outside the city.
But none of them wanted to start.
They were terrified of one question.
Who would take responsibility?
"Doctor, we can't do this by ourselves."
In other words, they wouldn't do it.
Im Gain frowned.
Which article of the Medical Service Act was it again?
If a patient lacked the ability to make decisions due to unconsciousness or another condition, and there was no legal representative available to provide consent, surgery could proceed without consent if delaying treatment would endanger the patient's life or cause serious physical or mental disability.
The hospital also had its own internal rule.
In such an emergency, at least two doctors had to record and sign that the operation was medically necessary.
Once the guardian arrived, the situation had to be explained afterward.
I can't just let her die.
Im Gain answered firmly.
"You've called anesthesia and pediatrics, right?"
"Yes! They're already on their way to the operating area!"
"Good. Open the OR immediately. I'll operate."
Yuk Jaecheol looked up in shock.
His pupils trembled.
If I perform the surgery, someone will definitely ask who was responsible.
But right now... there isn't time for that.
"The legal basis is clear. You document everything. I'll take responsibility."
"Dr. Im..."
"What matters right now is the mother and the baby."
Yuk Jaecheol hesitated for a moment.
Then he finally nodded.
"Understood. I'll document the need for emergency surgery, and we'll have a nurse sign as a witness too."
Im Gain had already washed her hands.
She dried them as she walked toward the operating room.
"We don't have time. Move."
The atmosphere in the emergency room changed instantly.
The paramedic performing chest compressions spoke quietly.
"Oxygen saturation is dropping. Someone needs to take over compressions."
A nurse immediately nodded and took the chart.
"Hand over to me."
"We need someone on compressions!"
"Over here. I'll do it."
Another nurse rushed in and immediately took over CPR.
The two paramedics, finally able to stop, handed over the records and left to return to their ambulance.
As they pushed the stretcher toward the operating room, an emergency room nurse continued chest compressions.
Gain didn't know everyone's name, but she recognized all their faces.
A third nurse had appeared at some point and was squeezing the Ambu bag.
She quietly said,
"Dr. Im, you're doing the right thing."
Without stopping, Gain looked back at her.
"If we want to save the baby, we need to get the baby out now. If we're too late, we lose both of them."
For a C-section during maternal cardiac arrest, the ideal goal was delivery within four minutes.
Five minutes at the latest.
But far more time had already passed.
Even so, they still had to move as fast as possible.
The baby still had a chance.
A chance to survive.
Yuk Jaecheol nodded.
"Understood. I'll assist. Doctor... technically your name is still listed at the hospital..."
Fortunately, although the main surgeon had been delayed, the operating room itself was already prepared.
The OB-GYN operating-room nurses were familiar faces too.
The scrub nurse and circulating nurse stared at Gain in surprise.
"Dr. Im?"
"Did you come back?"
