[Han Dong-ha’s Herbal Medicine Anecdotes] One Patient, Yet Ten People Playing Doctor

[Financial News]“Herbal Medicine Anecdotes” is a column in which Korean medicine doctor Han Dong-ha presents various case records and interesting, useful passages from Korean medicine texts in an engaging narrative format.  
Long ago, there was a wealthy merchant in a certain town. As a prominent local figure, he knew many people. He was usually robust and rarely suffered even minor illnesses, but one early winter he suddenly developed chills and a fever, followed by a headache and aching throughout his body.
At first, the merchant did not take it seriously, thinking he would recover after resting for a few days. By the third day, however, his fever had worsened. His chest felt tight, and his breathing became labored. His mouth was dry, but he could not drink much water. His appetite had also declined so much that he could not swallow more than a few spoonfuls of porridge.
The family hurriedly called the village physician. After examining the merchant’s complexion and tongue and taking his pulse, the physician said, "It began as an externally contracted illness, but the pathogenic qi is now entering the interior. We must use an exterior-releasing medicine before the condition penetrates more deeply."
As the physician was writing the prescription, the door to the reception room opened and a neighbor and friend entered. He felt the merchant’s forehead, shook his head, and said, "His fever is this high, so it is undoubtedly excess heat. We must quickly use cooling medicine to bring the fever down forcefully. I have had this kind of illness more than once. Cooling medicine is best for it."
A short while later, a relative came to visit. Seeing the merchant lying limp, he clicked his tongue and said, "Oh, brother, what are we to do when you have so little strength? This is clearly a deficiency pattern. We should use plenty of ginseng and astragalus to restore your vital energy."
Another visitor then interrupted, saying, "In my view, this is wind. How could such pain throughout the body and such a headache be anything other than a wind pattern? Someone I know developed a stroke after symptoms like these. We must quickly use wind-dispelling medicine to drive out the wind."
A person sitting nearby shook his head again and said, "It is not wind but qi. A man who runs such a large business must have many worries. His qi is obstructed, causing the fever. We should first move the qi with cyperus rhizome or aged tangerine peel."
By that evening, the reception room had become like a marketplace. People who were not physicians all insisted on their own opinions. Some said the merchant needed to sweat, while others said, "No. If he sweats, he will lose even more qi." When someone said, "He must be purged with diarrhea," another objected, "That would be disastrous." When one person said, "He needs ginseng," another retorted, "Why use ginseng for a febrile illness?"
The merchant’s family grew increasingly anxious as they heard one opinion and then another. When his wife asked the physician, "Doctor, everyone who comes to visit gives a different opinion. Whose advice is right?" the physician replied, "I am the only physician here, and I am the only one who examined the illness."
Then one of the patient’s friends said from the side, "Does being a physician mean you are always right? There is no harm in hearing what several people have to say."
In the end, the family did not give the merchant the medicine prescribed by the physician. Instead, they tried various treatments suggested by the visitors. When a warming medicine failed to help, they switched to a cooling one. They also tried medicines for deficiency and others said to dispel wind. The medicines were changed after only a day or two whenever the symptoms did not improve.
The merchant’s condition worsened day by day, and he hovered between life and death. Word spread that he was critically ill. Yet no one came to visit anymore. In particular, those who had previously offered prescriptions, saying, "Do this" or "Do that," had all scattered.
The merchant became delirious as his consciousness clouded, and his breathing grew labored. Only then did the family urgently call the physician again.
The physician took the patient’s pulse, and his expression hardened. He said regretfully, "Why did you not give him the medicine I prescribed then? But the illness has changed now, so I must prescribe again. Illness does not wait for anyone. He may even fail to live out his natural lifespan."
The physician checked each symptom again and formulated a new prescription. He firmly instructed the family not to listen to anyone else this time and to give the medicine at the appointed times.
Fortunately, after taking the physician’s medicine for several days, the merchant’s condition gradually improved. His breathing became easier, his fever subsided, and his mind cleared. As he began eating small amounts of porridge, his strength also returned.
About ten days later, when the patient was able to sit up, the people who had scattered finally returned to visit him. The physician was also there that day. The visitors once again began offering their own differing opinions.
The physician then said firmly, "Illnesses have deficiency and excess, cold and heat, and differences of exterior and interior as well as qi and blood. But one does not tonify simply because there is deficiency, nor does one cool simply because there is heat. Merely mentioning the single word ‘wind’ or the single word ‘qi’ does not mean that one truly understands an illness."
The reception room fell silent. The physician continued, "If someone who has never drawn water discusses the depth of a well, or someone who has never sailed teaches others the waterways, who would entrust himself to that boat? Treating illness is the same."
The people could say no more. In the end, the merchant recovered his health by ignoring everyone else’s advice and following the physician’s prescription.
Thus, whenever one patient appears in a household, family members, relatives, and acquaintances often offer all kinds of opinions. As a result, the patient’s judgment becomes clouded, and many people hesitate because they cannot tell whose advice is right.
For this reason, the old medical texts state that a person entrusted with treating an illness must be kind-hearted, able to assess whether a disease is deep or shallow, well versed in medical formularies, and broadly familiar with medical texts from both ancient and modern times. Only such a person is worthy of being entrusted with a life.
*Yibu Quanlu*General Discussion. *Yimen Falu*. Qing dynasty. Yu Chang. On Treating Illness. Sun Simiao said: "In this world, many patients are visited by relatives, friends, former acquaintances, and associates. These people have never experienced such matters and have not read medical formularies, yet they boast of their own understanding and pretend to be perceptive and capable. They discuss strange doctrines, saying that a condition is deficiency, or that it is excess, or that it is wind, or that it is qi. They offer a jumble of erroneous opinions, each different from the next, confusing the patient’s mind. The patient no longer knows which is right and hesitates without proceeding. Time waits for no one, and when disaster suddenly arrives, they all scatter and run away." This situation is even worse today. One must therefore entrust the patient only to a good person and an excellent physician—someone who understands the depth and shallowness of illness, investigates medical formularies deeply, and reads widely in the medical texts of ancient and modern times. Otherwise, serious harm will be done.
/ Han Dong-ha, Director of Handong Han Clinic

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