"Doctors Three" by Charles Skaggs is the last of five TOS short stories in the May 1999 Strange New Worlds II anthology.
Description
- Voyages of Imagination
- Admiral McCoy visits Dr. Zimmerman as he works on perfecting the EMH program.
Summary
Offended by the idea of a humanless machine treating patients, McCoy travels to Jupiter Station to inspect Dr. Lewis Zimmerman's EMH. Station CO David Clarke and engineer Reginald Barclay are unable to stall him, and McCoy barges into Zimmerman's laboratory. The scientist is rushing to complete EMH AK-1's personality matrix before USS Voyager launches, but McCoy insists on a conversation.
Zimmerman demonstrates the EMH, who diagnoses and treats a contusion on security chief Lynn White's hand that she earned while catching a smuggler. Zimmerman is pleased with the results, but McCoy observes that the Doctor lacks a bedside manner. Zimmerman points out that the program is an emergency resource, intended to be activated during crises when having a personal rapport is less important. McCoy agrees to have dinner and return in the morning.
That night, McCoy returns to the lab and reactivates the EMH, hoping to talk to him about what McCoy really thinks is lacking in the programming: a sense of mortality, which McCoy believes inspires a doctor to heal. The Doctor points out that he can indeed die, in that his program could degrade or be erased. Assuaged, McCoy has become more accepting of the future of Starfleet medicine.
References
Characters
- Reginald Barclay • David Clarke • The Doctor • Leonard McCoy • Debbie Walter • Lynn White • Lewis Zimmerman
- Referenced only
- Spock
Starships and vehicles
- USS Hippocrates
- Referenced only
- USS Voyager
Locations
- Jupiter (Holoprogramming Center • Jupiter Station)
Races and cultures
States and organizations
Science and classification
- airlock • android • computer • dermal regenerator • EMH • exoskeleton • hologram • laboratory • laser scalpel • medical tricorder • neural grafting • phaser • transporter • tricorder • turbolift
Ranks and titles
- admiral • assistant • attaché • captain • commander • counselor • Director of Holographic Imaging and Programming • doctor • doctor • engineer • ensign • lieutenant • medical officer • officer • physician • pilot • security chief • smuggler • surgeon • waitress
Other references
- alcohol • angel • beam • blood • cafeteria • chimpanzee • culture • day • death • emotion • food • god • heart • lab coat • medical • minute • mirror • planet • quarters • rank • runabout • second • space • space station • star • Starfleet uniform (2366-2373) • starship • stun • tribble • year
Appendices
Related media
- TNG - Star Trek: Explorer short story: "Broken Oaths" – McCoy visits a Starfleet Medical task force meeting as they discuss incorporating certain Borg data into the EMH's database.
- VOY episode & novelization: Caretaker – The Doctor becomes USS Voyager's only available medical officer after a crisis.
Background
- Leonard McCoy's age is given as 144, placing this story in 2371, shortly before the launch of USS Voyager.
Connections
Timeline
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous story: The Hero of My Own Life |
Strange New Worlds II
|
Next story: I Am Klingon |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous Adventure: The Name of the Cat Sections 2-3 |
Next Adventure: Intellivore | |
