Bedside Matters

"Bedside Matters" is the last of four TNG short stories released in Amazing Stories magazine, this one in spring 2000, in Vol. 72, Issue 1 or overall Issue 601. Pocket Books collected Greg Cox's story in August 2002's The Amazing Stories omnibus.

Description[]

A medical crisis and a mystery force the Enterprise crew to combine their talents as never before.

Summary[]

Beverly Crusher uses the Enterprise's Emergency Medical Program to perform emergency surgery on a Chelon ambassador.

Log entries[]

Ship's medical log, stardate 51401.6: Ambassador Nanimult is responding well to treatment and, provided he doesn't overexert himself, should be able to take part in the conference by the time we reach Penthara IV. All relevant medical records have already been transmitted via subspace to the medical staff at the conference.

And, oh yes, after an application of liquid paraffin, taken internally, Spot successfully disgorged a rather revolting clump of matted fur. Regular doses of replicated pumpkin mash have been prescribed to prevent any further recurrence of her symptoms.

References[]

Characters[]

Beverly Crusher • Data • Emergency Medical Hologram • Nanimult • Alyssa Ogawa • Jean-Luc Picard • Skute • Spot
Referenced only: Reginald Barclay • Sherlock Holmes

Starships and vehicles[]

USS Enterprise-E (Sovereign-class explorer)
Referenced only: shuttle

Locations[]

Referenced only: Penthara IV

Races and cultures[]

Android • Chelon • Human
Referenced only: Horta • humanoid • Vulcan

Lifeforms[]

artificial lifeform • cat • Denebian slime devil • feline • pumpkin • tortoise • turtle

Materials and substances[]

blood plasma • copper • duranium • fur • hairball • paraffin • photon • poison • tooth • terrapin • trichobezoar

Other references[]

beak • blood pressure • brig • century • diplomacy • exoskeleton • French language • genie • heart • homeworld • hour • intensive care ward • lamp • light year • medical • medical log • minute • quarters • science • security • shell • sickbay • subspace • surgery • taboo • tetanus • trial • wedding ring • xenophobia

Appendices[]

Related media[]

Beverly Crusher approved the initial funding and development of the EMH project when she was Head of Starfleet Medical. Background data on the EMH were established in "Projections" and "Life Line". Portions of the EMH development were seen in "Doctors Three". Beverly Crusher as Head of Starfleet Medical was given in "The Child" and "Evolution".

Background[]

The story was originally printed with the stardate as 52501.6 (2375), which would place it between VOY episodes "Gravity" and "Bliss". The Pocket Books Timeline adjusts this date to Stardate 51401.6 (2374) to place it before "Message in a Bottle" (when the EMH Mark II is introduced). A Time to Sow reveals that Crusher kept the EMH Mark I, preferring it to later versions.
Author Greg Cox said Spot reacting when Beverly Crusher used the phrase "herding cats" was based on a behavior he saw from his own cat. When editors asked for some humorous story elements, Cox immediately thought of Data and Spot. (ST reference: Voyages of Imagination)
This story was erroneously listed as "Bedside Manners" on pg. 617 of Voyages of Imagination, but correctly spelled in the chronology section.
The Chelonae were said to have only recently been contacted by the Federation.

Images[]

Connections[]

Short stories published in magazines
TV21 Weekly	TOS stories	"Gateway to the Future"
Stardate Magazine	TOS stories	"Force of Law" • "The Killax Vendetta" • "Planetfall" • "Coronation Presumptuous" • "Boarding Party" • "Roleplaying in the Final Frontier"
Amazing Stories	TNG stories	"Last Words" • "On the Scent of Trouble" • "Life Itself is Reason Enough" • "Bedside Matters"
Amazing Stories	VOY stories	"When Push Comes to Shove" • "A Night at Sandrine's" • "The Space Vortex of Doom"
Star Trek Magazine	STO stories	"Unexpected Honor" • "Shakedown" • "The Gale, Part 1" • "The Gale, Part 2" • "Mirror Image, Part 1" • "Mirror Image, Part 2" • "Chief, Part 1" • "Chief, Part 2" • "Of Chaos and Kal-toh, Part 1" • "Of Chaos and Kal-toh, Part 2" • "Dove" • "Backchannel Negotiations" • "There's No Place Like..." • "Locks Without Keys, Part 1" • "Locks Without Keys, Part 2" • "Hope Remains" • "After the Storm" • "Recruitment Drive" • "Time of the Scotsman" • "An Honorable Frontier"
Star Trek: Explorer	stories	"All That Most Maddens and Torments" • "Q and False" • "A Night In" • "The Offer" • "Seven v Seven" • "Quality of Life" • "Retribution" • "Broken Oaths" • "The Way to Exile" • "Kill Captain Proton!" • "Cumulative Damage" • "Explorers of the Storm" • "Prey" • "Growing Pains" • "Pulaski 2.0" • "The Disavowed" • "By Special Request" • "Paghabi" • "The Expert" • "The Guardian" • "The Mission" • "Things Can Only Get Better" • "Frontier Medicine" • "Control" • "The Victim" • "Scramble" • "You Can't Buy Fate" • "Summer Days Can Last Forever" • "The Kellidian Kidnapping" • "Lost and Founder" • "A Year to the Day I Saw Myself Die" • "See and Seen" • "Work Worth Doing" • "The Trouble with Jones" • "Sundering" • "Academy Acquisition" • "Jack of Diamonds" • "A Dish Served Cold" • "Forewarned and Three-Armed" • "Working Miracles" • "Confirmation Bias" • "Dignified Transfer" • "Attempted Break-in" • "Cat and Mouse"

Star Trek: The Next Generation collected short stories, novellas and short novels
Strange New Worlds	I: ("What Went Through Data's Mind 0.68 Seconds Before the Satellite Hit" • "The Naked Truth" • "The First" • "See Spot Run" • "Together Again, for the First Time" • "Civil Disobedience" • "Of Cabbages and Kings") • II: ("I Am Klingon" • "Reciprocity" • "Calculated Risk" • "Gods, Fate, and Fractals" • "I Am Become Death") • III: ("Whatever You Do, Don't Read This Story" • "A Private Victory" • "The Fourth Toast" • "One of Forty-seven" • "A Q to Swear By" • "The Change of Seasons" • "Out of the Box, Thinking") • IV: ("Flight 19" • "The Promise" • "Flash Point" • "Prodigal Son" • "Seeing Forever") • V: ("Bluff" • "The Peacemakers" • "Efflorescence" • "Kristin's Conundrum" • "The Monkey Puzzle Box" • "The Farewell Gift" • "Dementia in D Minor") • VI: ("The Soft Room" • "Protecting Data's Friends" • "The Human Factor" • "Tribble in Paradise") • VII: ("Life's Work" • "Adventures in Jazz and Time" • "Future Shock" • "Full Circle" • "Beginnings" • "Solemn Duty") • 8: ("Morning Bells Are Ringing" • "Passages of Deceit" • "Final Flight") • 9: ("Staying the Course" • "Home Soil" • "Terra Tonight" • "Solace in Bloom") • 10 ("Wired" • "A Dish Served Cold" • "The Very Model") • 2016 ("A Christmas Qarol" • "The Sunwalkers" • "The Seen and Unseen")
The Sky's the Limit	"Meet with Triumph and Disaster" • "Acts of Compassion" • "Redshift" • "Among the Clouds" • "Thinking of You" • "Turncoats" • "Ordinary Days" • "'Twould Ring the Bells of Heaven" • "Friends With the Sparrows" • "Suicide Note" • "Four Lights" • "'Til Death" • "On the Spot" • "Trust Yourself When All Men Doubt You"
Misc. short stories	"The Captain and the King" • "Last Words" • "Bedside Matters" • "On the Scent of Trouble" • "Life Itself is Reason Enough" • "What Dreams May Come" • "Twilight's Wrath" • "Eleven Hours Out" • "Darkness" • "The Sacred Chalice" • "For Want of a Nail" • "Q and False" • "Quality of Life" • "Broken Oaths" • "Prey" • "Growing Pains" • "Pulaski 2.0" • "The Disavowed" • "Paghabi" • "The Expert" • "Scramble" • "Dignified Transfer" • "Attempted Break-in"
Misc. novellas & short novels	"The Other Side" • "The Worst of Both Worlds" • "Brave New World"

Timeline[]

published order
Previous story: A Night at Sandrine's	Amazing Stories magazine	Next story: last story
Previous story: Last Words	The Amazing Stories omnibus	Next story: On the Scent of Trouble
chronological order
Previous adventure: The Magnificent Ferengi	Pocket Books Timeline	Next adventure: Waltz
Previous adventure: The Magnificent Ferengi	Memory Beta Chronology	Next adventure: Waltz
Previous story: Planet X	*Voyages of the USS Enterprise-E*	Next story: The Soft Room Strange New Worlds VI

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