The Anesthesia Paradox

Dr. Li has been a bit troubled lately. It's not because of the hospital's performance evaluations or the endless overtime, but because of the anesthesia he's been using.

It started about half a month ago. He anesthetized a patient with appendicitis, using the same dosage and procedure as always, but the patient actually woke up during the surgery, screaming in pain. Dr. Li was shocked and quickly increased the dosage, managing to barely complete the surgery.

He thought it was an isolated incident, but over the next few days, he found that anesthesia failures were becoming more and more frequent. Some required additional medication due to insufficient dosage, while others simply didn't work at all, with patients struggling on the operating table in agony. This was a disgrace to the medical profession! Dr. Li began to doubt his professional abilities and even the quality of the medications. He carefully checked the drug batch numbers, meticulously examined the anesthesia machine, and even began researching new anesthesia methods.

His anxiety grew daily. Hospital leaders began to interview him, and colleagues began to whisper about him. Rumors spread like a virus, saying his professional skills were deteriorating and that he wasn't working diligently. Dr. Li felt unprecedented pressure, and he decided to find out the truth.

He began a secret investigation, secretly recording the effects of each anesthesia in the operating room, and tracking the source of each batch of anesthetic drugs. He discovered that the problem was not with the drugs, but with the patients. Those patients who experienced anesthesia failure had one thing in common: they had all recently completed "voluntary resignation" procedures.

This was very strange! Dr. Li couldn't figure it out. What could resignation have to do with anesthesia? He began to go through the hospital's rules and regulations, looking for every possible loophole. He found that, to reduce the turnover rate, the hospital had launched an "Employee Care Program," which included a clause: all employees who completed resignation procedures could enjoy a "free medical checkup" at the hospital within one month of their departure, including a thorough examination under general anesthesia.

That was the issue! Dr. Li suddenly understood. The hospital's intentions may have been good, but there were flaws in practice. Those employees who completed "voluntary resignation" were actually mostly forced to do so. To escape exploitation, they would rather give up some benefits to leave. They were filled with disgust and distrust for the hospital's system, and this emotion, perhaps to some extent, affected the effectiveness of the anesthesia.

But how was that possible? Shouldn't anesthesia failure be explained from a scientific perspective? Dr. Li couldn't understand. He started researching relevant psychology literature and discovered a phenomenon called "resistance consciousness." When people have a strong inner desire to resist an external force, their bodily functions may undergo some inexplicable changes.

He began to consciously observe the patients whose anesthesia had failed. He noticed that after their anesthesia failure, a hidden mockery was revealed in their eyes. They seemed to be expressing their resistance to the hospital system in a silent way.

Dr. Li suddenly realized that maybe the anesthesia wasn't failing, but the patients' bodies were using a peculiar way to say "no" to the hospital's system. Their bodies were using pain to resist being controlled by fate.

He told his findings to the hospital's leaders. But the leaders just shrugged and said perfunctorily, "This is just an isolated phenomenon, probably due to your technical issues." They completely failed to realize that the root of the problem wasn't the anesthetic drugs, but themselves.

Dr. Li felt powerless and hopeless. He decided to resign.

On the day he completed his resignation, he received a "free medical checkup" notice from the hospital. He looked at the words "general anesthesia" on the notice and suddenly laughed. He wondered, this time, would the anesthetic work?

On the day of the checkup, Dr. Li lay on the operating table, watching the doctor inject the anesthesia. He closed his eyes, waiting to fall asleep. But this time, he didn't feel any pain.

He opened his eyes and found himself standing in the hospital hallway, surrounded by people who were all ignoring him, walking past him like ghosts. He understood that his resistance had gone from the physiological level to another dimension.

He walked past the nurses' station and heard the nurses chatting. The topic was: "Hey, I heard that Dr. Li also had a checkup today, and the anesthesia actually worked, he's really a weirdo."

Dr. Li laughed, his laughter echoing in the empty hallway, but no one heard it.