making of an MD, or Why I Think Bones was a Boy Genius ;)

[northatlantic]

Several commenters have asked for a brief primer to accompany No Dead End In Sight, on the process of acquiring an MD, Leonard McCoy's documented medical achievements in canon, his likely qualifications that would have been needed to make those achievements, and why those things don't add up without creative contortions. Hence, here is my rationale

Comments

[lindmere]

I'm absolutely agog at the amount of research and thought you put into this, which truly illustrates that "making it look easy" is very, very hard. I assure you the payoff in quality and fidelity and realness in your story was quite apparent.

Untangling canon can be very frustrating, especially when ST continues to manifest what I presume to be Roddenberry's love of tradition (and wish to keep viewers grounded in something familiar) side by side with random futuristic elements. We can assume the practice of medicine has been completely revolutionized; there are expert systems and robot surgeons today. Yet 300 years from now, Bashir still attends a four-year medical schools where he is tested on rote memorization of anatomy. Then there are the necessary plot-advancing cliches: our hero has to be an expert on everything, both an accomplished trauma surgeon and a brilliant researcher. No medical procedure can be a "gimme"; they all have to be touch-and-go, life-or-death dramas

[northatlantic]

The only good thing that can be said for continuity in Trek canon is that it's less convoluted than DC comic book canon. SLIGHTLY. only slightly. :P

anyone who thinks we every did anything for any reason besides 'it made for good television' is fooling themselvesThing is, I think that's true for almost all TV out there, kwim? In a 51-minute format--or a 43, nowadays--you've only got so much time to tell your story, so naturally you're going to go for what's got the most narrative and visual punch to take advantage of your medium. This does not lend itself to conveying elaborate technical information that most watchers won't critically examine anyway. Everybody knows about "med school," everybody hears about "breakthroughs," but the number of people who have any background with what it takes to acquire a medical specialty, be an attending physician and the stages of clinical trials AND who will be paying close enough attention to say 'hey, what?' Small

[lindmere]

Thing is, I think that's true for almost all TV out there, kwim?

Undoubtedly, but I think Trek is worse for its sheer scope and the number of fingers that have been in the pie. I remember X-Files being rather the same way--guest writers/directors would come on board and write Scully and Mulder horribly OOC and generally muck about with things. And a fair number of the people doing the mucking with Trek were (and I use this term with the best intentions possible) hacks.

But then you have me, the kid who hated toys where the pieces didn't move, the clothes didn't come off, the buttons didn't click.

OK, it's a bit unfair, but that made me think of this. I know what you mean, though. I'd rather visit Detroit than Disney World (well, except in January). I'm pretty ruthless about reality compliance not only in fiction but, sadly, in my fantasy life as well. Most of my fantasies don't star me, because there's no way that's going to happen. Maybe it would be different if I actually lived in New Zealand

[northatlantic]

the Knack! well, not as much as the little brothers. Little Brother the Elder works in chemical engineering, Little Brother the Younger, presently just embarking on his sojourn in academia, has biology leanings. I'm the social scientist/statistician. but yeah, we're all varying degrees of people-disabled by our inclinations :P

[lilbreck]

Thank you, your view is now my personal head-canon for McCoy. I also no longer feel strange that I trudge through the canon researching for fanfic.

[northatlantic]

thank you! Not having had the hints to our favorite MD's family background the way we did for Kirk and Spock was actually kind of exciting; it left a lot of room for improvisation :)