Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series) Critical Care (2000) User Reviews

Important episode from a social perspective

[snoozejonc · 7/10 · 2 August 2020]

The Doctor is kidnapped and sold to a medical ship where patients are treated based on their usefulness to society.

This is one of those episodes where the subject matter feels more important than how the story is told. There are a few questionable things that happen to make the plot work, but the message being delivered is so powerful that you should really overlook them.

I live in a country with a nationalised health system that entitles free care to all. It is far from perfect with resources stretched to near breaking point. However, it is easy to take for granted the fact that a system to support critical care is in place and both medical professionals and government officials are held accountable for any failures in that system. What happens when things go beyond breaking point, I don't really know, but only time will tell. Contrasting this with nation states who do not have this type of safety net in place and you see the relevance the episode and the various ethical dilemmas explored.

Robert Picardo yet again delivers a high quality performance, this time requiring his character to make a number of ethical compromises to heal patients and what he believes to be a broken system. Supporting characters interact well with him in all scenes.

The sub-plot of him being stolen from Voyager and their subsequent search to find him is okay. There are some decent moments, particularly Neelix solution to the Gar problem.

Overall a memorable episode with excellent performances.

The Doctor gets kidnapped

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 5 May 2010]

After an alien trader visits Voyager The Doctor finds himself on at an overcrowded and under supplied hospital ward. He is understandable not happy that his program and mobile emitter were stolen but can't ignore the suffering of the many patients. After treating a few people he finds himself summoned from the Red Level he is on to the Blue Level; what he finds there shocks him; here there are a handful of patients with no real illness being given the drugs that are desperately needed by those on Red Level. He is told that the people on Red Level are deemed to be less important to the society. In an attempt to help Tebbis, one of the Red patients he takes medicine from the Blue Level, after a success he tries to help everybody there, unfortunately when the authorities find out they withdraw all the medication and Tebbis dies. Forced to stay on Blue Level the Doctor takes drastic action which puts the hospital's administrator in danger. While the Doctor is off Voyager the crew spend time looking for the trader and then Tuvok and Neelix use interrogation techniques that probably breech several Star Fleet protocols.

This was an enjoyable episode with a nice moral dilemma. As usual Robert Picardo did a great job as The Doctor. There were also notable guest performances from Larry Drake as the administrator and Gregory Itzin as the doctor in charge of Blue Level who comes around to support The Doctor.

A doctor for everyman.

[thevacinstaller · 8/10 · 17 February 2023]

Solid episode.

It all depends on what country you are from. I live in a country where healthcare is "free" (paid for with high tax rate) and if you are in critical care you will get treated quickly ---- if you are not critical then you best roll the dice and hope for the best because we have limited doctors and a shortage of nurses.

The episode itself is clearly a commentary on the USA healthcare systems. If you have money --- well, welcome to best health care that money can buy. If you don't have money or insurance you are completely screwed and treatment will result in going bankrupt.

There is an interesting hands off approach to solving the ethical/moral dilemma's with mass healthcare in this episode. Instead of money the determining value is based on how much you contribute to society. It's like a perversion of the 'needs of few' mantra. It does insulate the doctors and society from having a guilty conscious through rationalizing the great good of society.

Healthcare is a tricky thing. My dad had a stroke many years ago and spent 6 months in a recovery hospital ---- that would have cost hundreds of thousand of dollars without our universal healthcare. I am definitely on team 'universal healthcare' --- it's not perfect but it's there for you regardless of class, color, orientation.

And you thought ObamaCare was rough!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 4 March 2015]

When the show begins, the Doctor is activated and shocked that he's NOT on Voyager. It seems someone stole his program and holo emitter and sold it! Until he can be rescued, he has to make the best of it. However, it's soon apparent that he's on a hellish planet and the medical treatment is allocated according to how beneficial you are to society. In other words, if you have a red designation, you get very little treatment--even if it isn't very expensive. But, if you're a blue, then you are in luck!

I liked this commentary on health care--it has a lot of parallels to today and I am sure the writer intended this. In addition, it's a dandy episode and you'll like the way Neelix deals with the thief. And, if you do watch it, look for Larry Drake (a regular on "LA Law" and in the "Darkman" films) as well as Jim O'Heir (Larry/Gerry/Terry/Gary from "Parks and Recreation) in one of his first roles. He's under a lot of make-up--so listen for his voice as he plays a man crying about losing his wife.

The price of a life

[tomsly-40015 · 8/10 · 31 January 2024]

An interesting episode that raises the question of whether and, if so, according to which criteria a healthcare system can and may control the treatment of patients. The parallels to the healthcare system of many countries today, especially the USA, cannot be overlooked. The USA has one of the most expensive healthcare infrastructure, but at the same time one of the most inefficient. Not only because it does not benefit all citizens, but because despite the expenditure, the life expectancy of Americans is lower than that of citizens of other developed countries. In contrast to a social and community-based healthcare system that many European countries have established, the USA relies primarily on a capitalist system. The rich receive a high level of medical care, while the poor, the elderly and the chronically ill fall through the cracks and are often unable to access even the simplest medical treatment because they cannot afford it. You can literally tell a person's poverty by their teeth.

The doctor solves this dilemma in a very short time, which is a little too optimistic for my taste. In addition, the actual question remains unanswered in the end. We are dealing here with a society that appears to be on the verge of collapse and is only recovering slowly. It certainly seems to make sense to join forces and concentrate on what will stabilize this society again and move it forward. Unfortunately, this episode does not answer whether one may prioritize medical treatment in such a way - from a moral point of view - that it particularly favors those that offer a high benefit to society.

Basically, this is a similar question to who should get a coveted place in a bunker in the event of a potential nuclear war and who should not. And in these decisions, considerations clearly play a role as to who is most needed for the continued existence of a society and its reconstruction. We will need engineers and scientists, doctors, craftsmen and police officers... But will we need writers, musicians, artists or priests? Opinions probably differ on the question. For some, they will not provide any tangible benefits. For others, however, a society without art, culture and religion is a place without hope and human emotions. So who ultimately decides who is valuable to a society or not?

Kidnapped by Americans

[Ar_Pharazon_the_golden · 7/10 · 29 May 2020]

The Doctor gets sold to an alie...American hospital, that provides good treatment to the rich while leaving the poor without care. While the episode is average in quality, it remains relevant to this day, not just for the USA and its notorious healthcare system, but to any other country that considers privatising healthcare. There is of course some Trekkian convenience (the head doctor is at the end convinced of the sytem's flaws all too suddenly, and you would think the existence of replicators would make any drug abundantly available), but the overall message makes up for it. The side-story with the crew trying to find the thief who stole the doctor is well-constrcuted as comic relief, but could be taken a little further