One, she's inexperienced - she's very young for a doctor, much less a senior doctor - and she doesn't have much off-world training. I know I keep going on about this, but it's important. Inexperienced is not a trait you want in your doctor.No one wants to be treated by a first-year medical student. Natural intelligence and problem solving abilities, and extensive education, all are important; but a lot of medicine is learning on the job. That's why doctors serve internships and residencies before they're given authority over other doctors. No one is a brilliant doctor from the get-go. Even Doogie Howser had to learn.
A lot of the scientists on Atlantis are inexperienced at what they do - even Rodney, smart as he is, learns plenty on the job. But that's because they don't have a choice. No one knows what they're doing; no one can teach them. They are all juniors, because there are no seniors; the Ancients being long since dead, they're always breaking new ground.
It's different for the doctors. On Atlantis, medical issues do arise that are totally new, that no Earth doctor would be equipped to handle, however experienced. But a lot of the problems are standard, basic medicine and surgery. Dealing with alien parasites is one thing, but a lot of being a doctor on Atlantis is emergency triage and treating injuries. It's not all exploding tumors - and besides you want someone who is experienced with basic medicine before you throw the impossible stuff at them. Letting a junior doctor take the position of head of medicine is inexcusable. There is no way Keller could possibly have the experience she needs to do her job competently; it doesn't matter if she's a super-genius. When she tells Elizabeth she's unsuited for the job, she is absolutely one hundred percent correct, and the correct answer is not to fluff up her ego, but to find someone else for the position!
Keller's learning to be a better doctor, learning how to handle herself off-world. But it's insane that she would being doing this as on-the-job training, without supervision, when peoples' lives are at stake! Hell, she shouldn't even be going off-world without training - we've seen inexperienced scientists in the field before, but it can easily be argued that they have unique, required skills, and also they're not usually being expected to save lives; their training isn't risking anything but their own lives. But basic field medicine is not a unique skill; the SGC should be able to find many, many people with both medical training and physical skills. (Yes, Carson was sent off-world to do field medicine on a few occasions. That always annoyed me, too.)
If Keller were a talented junior doctor, under Carson or another head of medicine, it would be understandable. But she's the senior doctor; she's not learning from anyone. Apparently at twenty-six she knows all there is to know about modern Earth medicine.
So Keller's inexperienced. I might be able to get over that - unbelievably young geniuses are an old TV trope, see Doogie Howser. And Julian Bashir. And Simon Tam. I could find my way around it except for the second point - Keller didn't want the job.
This is where I get truly baffled. Doogie Howser was ambitious - he was a doctor so young because he really wanted to be, argued to be, and always had to prove himself (and he wasn't the hospital director either, that I recall). In ST: DS9, Julian Bashir is young for a doctor - but again, he fought his way up the ranks, he desperately wanted the position on the station, and he also had an established reputation as a particularly gifted genius. Ditto for Simon Tam.
In her introduction in "First Strike," Keller is pleading with Elizabeth to find a replacement for her. She doesn't want to be the head of medicine; from what she says - wanting to go back to being a "regular doctor" - it sounds like she was a junior doctor, doing an extremely unusual residency.
Why was she promoted, against her will, to head of medicine? This is the question the show has never answered, and it's the one that's the biggest sticking point for me, the one that makes it impossible for me to accept the character.
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winterfish
no subject
Date: 2008-09-25 01:26 pm (UTC)A lot of the scientists on Atlantis are inexperienced at what they do - even Rodney, smart as he is, learns plenty on the job. But that's because they don't have a choice. No one knows what they're doing; no one can teach them. They are all juniors, because there are no seniors; the Ancients being long since dead, they're always breaking new ground.
It's different for the doctors. On Atlantis, medical issues do arise that are totally new, that no Earth doctor would be equipped to handle, however experienced. But a lot of the problems are standard, basic medicine and surgery. Dealing with alien parasites is one thing, but a lot of being a doctor on Atlantis is emergency triage and treating injuries. It's not all exploding tumors - and besides you want someone who is experienced with basic medicine before you throw the impossible stuff at them. Letting a junior doctor take the position of head of medicine is inexcusable. There is no way Keller could possibly have the experience she needs to do her job competently; it doesn't matter if she's a super-genius. When she tells Elizabeth she's unsuited for the job, she is absolutely one hundred percent correct, and the correct answer is not to fluff up her ego, but to find someone else for the position!
Keller's learning to be a better doctor, learning how to handle herself off-world. But it's insane that she would being doing this as on-the-job training, without supervision, when peoples' lives are at stake! Hell, she shouldn't even be going off-world without training - we've seen inexperienced scientists in the field before, but it can easily be argued that they have unique, required skills, and also they're not usually being expected to save lives; their training isn't risking anything but their own lives. But basic field medicine is not a unique skill; the SGC should be able to find many, many people with both medical training and physical skills. (Yes, Carson was sent off-world to do field medicine on a few occasions. That always annoyed me, too.)
If Keller were a talented junior doctor, under Carson or another head of medicine, it would be understandable. But she's the senior doctor; she's not learning from anyone. Apparently at twenty-six she knows all there is to know about modern Earth medicine.
So Keller's inexperienced. I might be able to get over that - unbelievably young geniuses are an old TV trope, see Doogie Howser. And Julian Bashir. And Simon Tam. I could find my way around it except for the second point - Keller didn't want the job.
This is where I get truly baffled. Doogie Howser was ambitious - he was a doctor so young because he really wanted to be, argued to be, and always had to prove himself (and he wasn't the hospital director either, that I recall). In ST: DS9, Julian Bashir is young for a doctor - but again, he fought his way up the ranks, he desperately wanted the position on the station, and he also had an established reputation as a particularly gifted genius. Ditto for Simon Tam.
In her introduction in "First Strike," Keller is pleading with Elizabeth to find a replacement for her. She doesn't want to be the head of medicine; from what she says - wanting to go back to being a "regular doctor" - it sounds like she was a junior doctor, doing an extremely unusual residency.
Why was she promoted, against her will, to head of medicine? This is the question the show has never answered, and it's the one that's the biggest sticking point for me, the one that makes it impossible for me to accept the character.