My Fate as a Cannon Fodder

Chapter Twenty: Medical Ethics

The shriek was of sorrow and frustration followed by a shout for help. Curious, the four of them went towards the source of the noise.

They then came across an open clinic with a bit of a crowd also curious at what's happening. The doors to the clinic are wide open so you can see a man laying on top of a bed. A young mam wearing servant's clothes keeps trying to calm down a worried and haggard old woman, presumably the one who called for help earlier.

The four of them went closer to the clinic, trying to eavesdrop and guess what happened.

"I'm very sorry ma'am but the young master was called to the palace by the Royal Physician. I'm just a servant here, I don't know how to treat your husband."

"Please! I'm begging you. When will Physician Lucas get back?"

Serenity tilted her head, "Physician Lucas? Who's that?"

"He is a disciple of the Royal Physician. Very smart and well-verse in the field of medicine and science," Everett kindly pointed out, "He is of noble blood, from a very famous family in Galeas. Despite that, he decided to open up a clinic in Elysian to help the commoners. Treatments are free of charge."

Serenity kept nodding in amazement and approval. Very few doctors are willing to treat people without asking for anything. Her impression of Physician Lucas is very good because of this.

"My husband is losing a lot of blood! Please! He'll die here if he don't get his wound treated!"

Serenity was alarmed by what she heard. Because she was a bit far away from the clinic, she didn't realize how dire the situation is. Her medical ethics as a doctor immediately kicked in and disregarding the consequences of revealing her medical skills, she went forward and declared,

"I can heal him!"

The old lady's eyes looked at her with hope, maybe it's out of desperation that she disregarded how young she were as without even giving her confirmation, immediately pulled her to the clinic.

"Please save my husband young miss."

Serenity first observed the man lying flat on the bed. If it weren't for the slightest movement of his chest, she would've mistaken him already as dead because of the blood. The first thing that immediately caught her attention was the wound right across his abdomen. The wound is deep, jagged and gaping, indicating it is in need of stitching. Knowing how urgent the situation is, Serenity immediately instructed the servant at the side watching her.

"Get me two tubs of clean water, a sterilized needle, silk or nylon, scissor and clean gauze."

The servant nodded and immediately went to get the things she ordered. Serenity then tied her hair into a tight bun dextrously, having done this several times in her past life.

She didn't waste a second while waiting for the servant and immediately used a clean cloth to press on to the wound to avoid the man from losing more blood.

When the servant finally arrived with all the things she ordered him, she then instructed him to switch places with her. While the servant add pressure to stop the bleeding, Serenity scrubbed her hands clean to avoid the wound from getting infected knowing that she won't be using any gloves this time.

"You hold this." Serenity said as she passed another tub full of clean water to the servant, "Try not to dirty the water."

(Disclaimer: i'm not a doctor so I don't know if the methods below are right, just based it all from research. Please correct me if i'm wrong.)

Serenity then took the clean cloth and dip it in the water to use it to clean the wound. Although she doesn't know how the man got this type of deep wound, she'll still clean it up to avoid his wound from getting infected. Especially knowing that this world doesn't have the cure for tetanus.

After she finished cleaning it, she then took the needle and nylon. She easily slid the nylon inside the needle, thanking her luck that the one brought to her was a large one and is perfect for this kind of situation. She then began pulling the edges of the cut together. And for each stitch, loop the thread through either side of the cut.

While Serenity is busy treating the patient, she didn't realize that the crowd, along with the three princes are looking at her with eyes widen in amazement. Some are amazed at the fact of how skilled she is despite of her age, but most of them were extremely focused on her hands, how it dextrously moved as if she has done this a lot of time.

Beads of sweat and a clean stitch later, she then tied a knot to hold the wound closed. Using the remaining the gauze, she skillfully bandaged it on his abdomen to cover the stitched wound.

"We still need to monitor him for a few days in case he have a fever. You need to keep the wound dry at all costs, avoid getting it in contact with water. His diet this week should be leafy greens and foods that contain vitamin C such as oranges, red peppers, and strawberries, to increase iron absorption because he has lost too much blood."

Luckily, Serenity was able to seal the wound in time because if they would've waited for Phyiscian Lucas to come, the man would've surely died from blood loss.

Medicine in this era is simply too backwater. Pregnancy is especially hard here with a much higher risk of losing the life of either the mother or the newborn. Serenity didn't even know if stitching a wound has already been discovered yet.

"Your outfit." The servant kindly pointed out.

Serenity turned her head down to look at it and saw her previous pink sweater already red from the blood, "Do you have an extra shirt? Or anything that I could use?"

It would've been easy if she were to just buy a new outfit, but the money she have right now is carefully calculated and will be used to buy the store in Blithe. She only have a few extra silvers to buy her food for lunch, but even if she were to use that it won't be enough to buy her a dress.

"I don't have any outfit that could fit you. But my master might have. He's a bit taller than you so that might work." The servant's excited expression immediately turned gloomy, "But master is still not here yet. Without his permission..."

"It's okay. I can wait."

Serenity then looked at the three princes eyeing her. She sighed knowing that what she did might have made the princes even more wary of her. Little did she know that it instead made the princes respected her more and view her in a good light.

"You can go back first. I'll stay here a bit until the Physician finally returns."

The three only shook their heads.

"We can wait. We don't have much to do anyway." Everett said with a shrug.

"Aren't you afraid?" Serenity asked, pointing to the blood that spilled over the floor and her clothes, "You could wait for me in the carriage anyway."

"We aren't that much of a coward. Just a little blood."

Serenity was suspicious of their pale faces but she still nodded nonetheless, "Hold it in for now. Physician Lucas will soon arrive."

"Is someone looking for me?"

"Physician Lucas!"