The Semantics of Healthcare - John wasn't fighting in Afghanistan he was busy being a GP!

[wellingtongoose]

As a medical student and soon to be doctor, I often watch TV programs about medicine and despair. Not because the likes of Casualty and Holby City (for those of you who don’t watch British TV these are hospital dramas) are not entertaining, but rather because they have a habit of misleading the public on what real doctors can do.

So in the spirit

Comments

[ex_swaggerd]

I always wondered why he had nightmares of combat and how he was shot if he was a doctor. I like your theory about him going in to retrieve a wounded soldier and getting caught up in the combat. Actually... I think I have a new plot bunny. Thank you! This will be an invaluable resource for my writing and understanding John's character. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this up!

[wellingtongoose]

Thank you so much! I'm glad it gave you some food for thought. If you want to write BAMF!John on the battlefield you can have a look at my theory in part 2 http://wellingtongoose.livejournal.com/7885.html.

I think it fits everything rather better than John the army GP.

[sophiap]

This is excellent stuff - I've pulled together some info like this during my own research, but you've presented it far better than I could have.

Anyhow, while I am a huge fan of combatant!John, and am writing him as such, having this information lets me know what I need to do as a writer to make that believable.

In short, based on what a normal Army doctor would be like, what led to a military career where John would identify more as a soldier than a doctor (per ASiB) and state that he has killed people? There's lots of rooms for interesting stories there.

[darth_stitch]

One of these days, we Soldier!John fangirls need to get together and give him a CV that makes more sense lol. XD

[keerawa]

One of these days, we Soldier!John fangirls need to get together and give him a CV that makes more sense lol
I tried here: Security CheckI just watched an amazing Canadian series called 'Combat Hospital' set in and around the military hospital at Kandahar Airbase in Afghanistan. It would be a terrific resource for people looking for some authentic details for John's service

[ariadnechan]

I like your cv!

But i think he had double carrer
Academy official school military
Medical school at Barts

So his captain grade was earn in the military and he was acting as med of his unit

But i like your puninchement idea too, gives him a lot of deepth

[lizardspots]

Yes! Thank you! I've always thought someone needed to provide some accurate info about John's medical career, and though I was inspired to try, I never got round to it. Plus I know sod all about army medicine. This is great, thanks for putting in the effort - I learned something new.

Lizard (F2 doc) :D

[wellingtongoose]

Thank you very much - I hope that it was accurate enough. I just realised today that when John graduated from med school there wasn't a Foundation Program at all. He would have been a House Officer and then Senior House Officer.

Anyway hope F2 is treating you well, I heard it's stressful.

[agentotter]

This is outstanding, thank you! I had always thought it was possible for him to have done something like this fellow who posted an AMA on reddit:
IAmA former Army field doctor with 4 tours under my belt AMAThere's a ton of really interesting info and first-hand accounts in that thread, mostly from Americans I think, if anybody's interested. From reading the thread it seems this particular doctor is an American, but it sounds like his job basically consisted of flying out on the helicopter to do medical evacuations of wounded

[wellingtongoose]

Thank you for this very insightful comment. I believe that if John was an army GP in training, he would on a rare occasion be sent out to retrieve a wounded soldier. The soldier wouldn't be terribly wounded, mind you, that would be a call to the trauma specialists. Alternatively on on particular mission the RAMC were short staffed and drafted John in to help.

I've written both Part 2 (which explains how John can be both a doctor and fight in combat) and Part 3 (how to make surgeon!John realistic). Hope they will be helpful, you can view them on my profile page.

[wellingtongoose]

Thank you for your support. I do love John is BAMF and shoots with deadly accuracy so I went and wrote another theory for how a doctor can fight on the frontlines.

http://wellingtongoose.livejournal.com/7885.html

Do tell me if you think's realistic.