Critical Care (Star Trek: Voyager)

"Critical Care"
Star Trek: Voyager episode
The Doctor assists in an alien emergency room
Episode no.	Season 7 Episode 5
Directed by	Terry Windell
Written by	Robert Doherty Kenneth Biller James Kahn
Production code	250
Original air date	November 1, 2000
Guest stars
John Kassir as Gar Dublin James as Tebbis Larry Drake as Chellick Gregory Itzin as Dysek Paul Scherrer as Voje John Franklin as Kipp
Episode chronology
← Previous "Repression" Next → "Inside Man"
List of Star Trek: Voyager episodes

"Critical Care" is an episode of Star Trek: Voyager, the fifth episode of the seventh season. It has an average fan rating of 4.8/5 on the official Star Trek website as of September, 2009.

Plot summary

A trader named Gar brings the Doctor's mobile emitter to a crowded hospital where he barters a price for the 'trinket' with Administrator Chellick. The emitter is activated and the Doctor vehemently protests his kidnapping. However, when injured patients arrive, the Doctor puts his emotions aside in order to treat them.

Back on the USS Voyager Harry and Tom discover that the Doctor was kidnapped after they visit sickbay. Voyager begins to try and locate the Doctor.

Meanwhile on the medical ship the Doctor discovers a miner named Tebbis has a terminal condition that could easily be treated by cytoglobin, but has not been. When he asks a fellow doctor, why Tebbis hasn't been treated he is told that Tebbis doesn't have a high enough Treatment Coefficient (TC), calculated by a complex algorithm that measures their benefit to society.

Chellick returns and tells the Doctor that the main computer, known as the allocator, has decided he would be better utilized on Level Blue, where patients with the highest TCs are kept. On Level Blue conditions are vastly superior. The Doctor learns that this is because a person's TC determines the quality of treatment they get.

On Level Blue, the Doctor tells a nurse that a patient requires an additional cytoglobin shot which he takes to Tebbis. With his help medicine is distributed to other patients with low TCs. Chellick discovers this scheme and has the Doctor restricted to Level Blue.

Voyager finds Gar's ship and has him beamed to the brig. There, Neelix feeds Gar a meal made with Talaxian wormroot, telling Gar afterwards it could give him painful abdominal spasms. He says that without the Doctor, they can't be treated. Gar quickly tells Neelix where the Doctor is and Voyager sets off to get him.

Meanwhile, the Doctor learns that Tebbis has died and manages to escape Level Blue so he can continue to help low TC patients. When Chellick finds the Doctor he attempts to de-activate him but the Doctor injects Chellick with blood from Tebbis, turning him into a low TC patient. With a low TC, Chellick can only be given cytoglobin by moving all low TC patients to Level Blue where they will all be treated. Chellick does this as Voyager rescues the Doctor.

Back on the ship the Doctor asks Seven of Nine to perform a scan on his ethical subroutines as he thought deliberately infecting Chellick might be a sign they were malfunctioning. Seven tells him Borg philosophy states that the loss of one for the greater good is worth the sacrifice; she then declares that his ethical subroutines are in perfect order.

Controversy

This episode tackles the issue of health care. In an interview on the bonus disc of the Voyager Season 7 DVDs, Robert Picardo describes this episode as an "indictment" of HMOs.

External links

• Critical Care at the Internet Movie Database
• "Critical Care" at TV.com
• Critical Care at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Critical Care at StarTrek.com