Pregnant Chinese surgeon collapses after performing four operations without a break
Director of gynaecology labelled a ‘model doctor’ after suffering exhaustion from workload that left her unable to stand
A pregnant surgeon in central China has been praised for her professionalism after performing four consecutive surgeries, which made her collapse.
Yi Xianyou, 42, who is five months pregnant, has been lauded as a “model doctor” after a video showed her collapsing to the floor with exhaustion after a long day’s work, website Kankan News reported on Wednesday.
The director of gynaecology had performed four back-to-back surgeries from 9am to 4pm without a rest in between, at a hospital in the city of Zhangjiajie, Hunan province.
Photographs circulated on social messaging app WeChat show her sitting down to breathe in oxygen. Many people liked the pictures and commented on her dedication, the report stated.
“Throughout the process she didn’t have a rest,” managing nurse Xiong Chunbo was quoted as saying. “She had a slight lack of oxygen, slightly low blood sugar and was feeling uncomfortable. She couldn’t stand after the surgery, so we took her to sit down and breathe in some oxygen.
“As a surgeon, you can’t even shake in the slightest, especially if you are doing endoscopic surgery. It is extremely difficult.”
The doctor was suffering from fatigue and hypoxia, when not enough oxygen is reaching the tissues, according to Kankan.
“She performs surgeries extremely well and usually does three to four a day, sometimes five, with an average of 80 to 100 a month,” head nurse Lin Wei was quoted as saying.
But Yi was modest about her efforts.
“You have a responsibility to patients,” she said. “Once the surgery was finished, I took a seat and had some oxygen. I then lay down and felt better.”
