Auto Doc: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

In [[The Future]] or [[Twenty Minutes in The Future|sometime soon]], you won't need a steady hand to heal people, some machine is already doing it for you. In a futuristic setting there will be machines that fix human bodies automatically. If a human doctor is participating in it at all, he will only press buttons and won't even touch a scalpel.

 

The appearance of these machines can range from complex apparatus to [[Clarke's Third Law|seemingly magic]] circles.

 

''Note: There is a difference between this and Save/Heal points in video games. Unless the healing effect is referred to In-universe, it's an [[Acceptable Break From Reality]].''

* In ''[[Dragonball Z]]'', we have the healing tanks used by Freeza's forces.

* In ''[[Gall Force]]'', when Lufy is brought into the analysis station operated by Spea, they just move her into a chamber and press some buttons to restart her heart from a state of suspended animation. Spea mentions offhand that there are several injuries that may require organ replacement.

 

== Film ==

* ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]''. The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUpNDkVEMQs#t=6m08s scene where Luke is in the bacta tank] (transparent tube filled with liquid) being attended to by droids after being rescued from freezing to death. A droid injects something into the tube (presumably some kind of drug).

** The medical droids return at the end to give Luke a new [[Artificial Limbs|hand]].

* ''[[Idiocracy]]'' has semi-automatic medical stations. The probes have to be inserted by person. [[Brain Bleach]] happens when that person got confused on which probes should be used on which hole...

* In ''[[The Fifth Element]]'', the machine used to "repair" [[Human Alien|Leeloo]]. It actually reconstructs her from what is essentially a bone fragment containing living cells.

 

== Literature ==

* The [[Star Wars]] expanded universe provides more models of medical droid and more details on their advantages and disadvantages: medical droids can have a near-limitless knowledge of sentient species to let them heal the massive variety of patients in the galaxy, and they often have a precision that only a machine could have during surgery. On the flip side, their bedside manner often left something to be desired and led to patients not trusting a droid to operate on them and very few droids (such as the 21B from ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'') being intelligent enough to deal with unforeseen complications and side effects.

* Homes in [[Robert Reed]]'s ''Great Ship'' universe usually have an Autodoc. However, the autodocs serve mostly as a way to repair mutated genes - humanity's [[Transhuman|emergency genes]] can repair most blunt trauma if the body has enough spare mass (fat, muscle).

 

** Also, In "The Curse of the Black Spot", {{spoiler|the Siren}}.

** And in "The Girl Who Waited", the Handbots.

* ''[[Look Around You]]'' brings us Medibot, the first ever machine qualified to automatically perform surgeries. One of the hosts decides to test this new technology on himself by having it give him a facelift...the results of which, to put it mildly, suggests that Medibot is still not quite suited for life-saving surgeries.

* The Alien Medpack from ''[[Perfect Dark]]'' is required to revive Elvis ([[The Greys|a Grey]]) from his comatose state before you can escape Area51 with him. It takes about a minute to work on him.

 

== Tabletop RPG ==

* ''[[Shadowrun]]'': Many medical devices are run either on automatic or by remote.

* R. Talsorian Games' ''[[Tabletop Games/Cyberpunk|Cyberpunk]]'' supplement ''Home of the Free''. The Automedic is put on top of a patient and immediately goes to work: diagnosing problems, stabilizing the patient, treating wounds, injecting drugs etc.

* ''Laserburn Sci-Fi Combat Rules'' (1980). When attached to a wounded person, the Automedic device will repair severed arteries, administer needed drugs and so on.

* ''Mutant Future''.

** When placed over a wound and activated, Healing Packs send out a wave of healing radiation that closes wounds, mends broken bones, replaces lost tissue, etc.

** Encasing Military Armors had the Battle Doc 6000 system, which acted like a Healing Pack on the Armor's wearer.

** Regeneration Tanks were filled with a special regenerative chemical that healed damaged organs and wounds. There are rumors about a special kind of Regeneration Tank that can bring people back from the dead if used within 24 hours of death.

* Gamescience's ''Space Patrol'' (1977) had the Medikit, which was strapped to its owner's wrist or waist and constantly monitored its wearer's well being. When something went wrong with their body, it would inject any needed drugs to remedy the situation.

* ''Starblazer Adventures'', based on the 1980's British science fiction [[Comic Book]]. A starship's Med-Bay system included a medical computer system capable of aiding in the diagnosis and treatment of injuries.

** The Medsuit is a garment worn under other clothing. It has a VS (Vital Signs) pack that monitors its wearer's blood pressure, heart rate, brain activity and other medical information. If the VC pack detects medical problems in its wearer it can inject appropriate drugs as needed. If the wearer loses a limb or part of one (hand, foot) it will clamp down, preventing further blood loss.

** The MekDoc is a robot designed to perform all kinds of medical procedures on a patient, up to and including surgery. It can diagnose problems, dose patients with drugs, change wound dressings etc.

 

== Video Games ==

*** To be fair, the one Christine was trapped in was modified to slit her vocal cords...

** In New Vegas's Old World Blues DLC, the Courier gets an Auto Doc that has a personality and is the best physician in game, able to add implants, replace organs, give psychological evaluations (and by extension of that feature CURE NEARSIGHTEDNESS for [[Blind Without'Em|Four Eye'd]] players), standard check ups and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|give haircuts]]. If he's left on, with a good Courier he finds a way to turn off the Y-17 Trauma Harnesses, freeing the corpses trapped inside several years after the game ends.

** ''[[Fallout 3]]'' has the My First Infirmary in your house, which could heal everything short of addiction. It also has a Mr. Handy and Mr. Gutsy standing in for autodocs. These are military robots forced into positions they are neither equipped or trained for. Andy treats a sprained toe by amputating the wrong leg, and Sawbones wants to inflict damage instead (though he at least can be modified to provide proper care).

* ''[[System Shock]] 1'' and ''2'' have automatic medical beds that heal you completely in an instant. They also have Quantum Bio-Reconstruction Machines that will reanimate "killed" characters, though these need to be reset so they won't turn them into more cyborgs instead.

* ''[[Dawn of War]]''. Eldar Webway Gates can be upgraded to provide a healing aura.

* In ''[[Mission Critical]]'', there's one in the ''Lexington'''s medical bay. It becomes useful later.

* ''[[The Chronicles of Riddick]]: Escape From Butcher Bay'' features NanoMED Plus stations which will inject a user with nanomachines to repair injuries nearly instantly.

 

== Web Comics ==

 

== Western Animation ==

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}