The dean and vice dean had already gone home after work. The head of the inpatient department was still around, but it was useless for him to try to mediate. The family's stance was very clear: they wanted all the charges waived and an additional one thousand yuan as compensation.
That was really asking for too much. In those days, a regular worker's salary was just a few dozen yuan; a thousand yuan was equivalent to a hundred thousand yuan in later years. The mistake was clearly the patient's own, yet they demanded such compensation from the hospital...
This stalemate wasn't helping anyone. The head of the inpatient department had no choice but to compromise, he coaxed and cajoled them into a small meeting room, then turned back to persuade Old Doctor Qi: "I understand you're feeling wronged, but the patient's family is so agitated. If you don't say a few words, they won't let it go. For the sake of the hospital's normal operations, could you endure this just once more?"
