"There is No Failure" Kim Ji-won's Declaration: Gye Su-jeong in 'Doctor X' Breaks Down Operating Room Absurdities

The image depicts a doctor who breaks through irrational practices and power structures within a hospital using only her skills. In the SBS Friday-Saturday drama 'Doctor X', Gye Su-jeong, played by Kim Ji-won, appears as a character who follows a trajectory entirely different from the existing medical order.

"No Compromise" Gye Su-jeong's Independent Employment Conditions

Gye Su-jeong asserts her own firm principles, rejecting vertical relationships or customary duties within the hospital. She clearly communicates her employment conditions to interns and professors. She does not participate in secondary activities such as professors' rounds or dinners with staff, and she maintains a stance of not performing tasks such as writing papers for professors or organizing data. This is interpreted as her will to focus solely on the medical act itself without being incorporated into the power relations within the hospital.

This attitude is also revealed in her relationships with other individuals in the hospital. Gye Su-jeong is shown being managed by Director Jang in a situation where she is not economically well-off. A depiction appears where Director Jang manages Gye Su-jeong's money, and Gye Su-jeong receives 100,000 won in pocket money per day. Gye Su-jeong is shown in a situation with economic constraints, such as being scolded for spending all her pocket money, but she maintains a firmness that is not swayed by anyone when it comes to her work. This is because, to her, medicine is not a subject for compromise, but a domain that must be completed solely through skill.

Variable in VIP Surgery, a Direct Breakthrough Toward 'R0 Resection'

The tension in the drama heightens ahead of the surgery for the hospital's VIP patient, Park Won-cheol (67 years old). Considering the patient's condition, the hospital considers a surgical method that leaves the blood vessels intact, but Gye Su-jeong makes a different decision. In a situation where there is a high possibility that cancer cells have invaded major blood vessels (SMA or SMV), she aims for 'R0 resection', which completely removes the tumor tissue, rather than simply extending survival. While the hospital considers a method that leaves the blood vessels and tries to save the SMA as much as possible, concerns are raised that this could correspond to R2 resection.

Hospital officials express concern, saying that touching the blood vessels is dangerous, but Gye Su-jeong reveals her confidence in her skills by saying, "If it fails, it is not this hospital that fails, but that I do not fail." Amidst the debate over whether the patient will die this month or live longer through surgery, she overwhelms the medical staff by presenting an option that can maximize the patient's possibility of survival. Gye Su-jeong emphasizes the necessity of the surgery by pressuring the patient to choose between dying this month or living 100 years longer through surgery.

Unexpected Surgical Method, Execution of Vascular Bypass

Upon entering the operating room, Gye Su-jeong reverses the atmosphere of the scene by leading the surgery in an unexpected way. When it is confirmed that the invasion of cancer cells is more serious than expected, with severe SMV invasion, she does not stop at simply removing the tumor but attempts a bypass surgery to reconstruct the blood vessel by collecting an autologous vessel (great saphenous vein) from the patient's leg. This is a radical decision that completely overturns the existing surgical plan.

Even when fellow medical staff cannot hide their embarrassment, questioning whether she is experimenting on the patient, Gye Su-jeong continues the surgery without wavering. Along with the pancreatic head resection including the SMA, the vascular reconstruction using the great saphenous vein and the SMV repair work using an 8mm artificial vessel proceed urgently. The process in which tumor removal and vascular reconstruction occur simultaneously shows that her genius surgical skill is not just a simple slogan. Gye Su-jeong's actions, choosing the most difficult path solely to save the patient's life within an absurd medical environment, add tension to the drama.

Source: SBS (YouTube)