Critical Care (Star Trek: Voyager)

"'Critical Care" is an episode of 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 Voyager Harry and Tom discover that the Doctor was kidnapped after a trip to sickbay. This makes Neelix uneasy, making him think he caused Gar to become sick from his cooking. Captain Janeway sets him at ease by telling him "it's not like your cooking turned him into a thief."

Back on the medical ship the Doctor converses with a miner named Tebbis. As the Doctor checks him he discovers that Tebbis has a chronic condition that has long been untreated when he asks Voje, a fellow doctor, it is explained that he doesn't have a high enough Treatment Coefficient, or TC.

Chellick returns and tells the Doctor that the allocator, the main computer, has decided he would be better utilized on Level Blue, the floor where the most important patients are kept. On the Blue level there is a doctor per patient as the Doctor is explained to that they have a higher TC, which determines what kind of treatment a person receives. A person's TC is based on a...
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