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Frontier Doctor: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|I have great respect for those of the medical profession who have taken up their position in the remote districts of Scotland and devote themselves to the healing art under most disadvantageous circumstances. The distances are incredibly long and dangerous in winter: I have in mind an insular doctor who has a great deal to do of midnight boating in glacial weather, and whose bills are often paid not in coin but in ''fleece off a sheep's back''.|Daniel Turner Holmes, ''Literary Tours in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland''. }}
A physician who works in a frontier community.
While the inhabitants of [[The Wild West]] were tougher than case-hardened nails, they still could get hurt and sick. So there was a need for doctors, and the [[Frontier Doctor]] came west to fill that need. The frontier doctor needed to be tough and resourceful, since supplies were scarce, and the latest equipment was seldom at hand. He'd often be called upon to travel long distances at any hour of the day or night, and might even treat sick animals if no veterinarian was handy.
With all that said, anyone who'd leave the soft, prosperous life of a doctor in the East had to have a pretty good reason. In fiction, the Frontier Doctor is often flawed. Perhaps he is an alcoholic, or killed a man, or is a [[Wide-Eyed Idealist]] who volunteered to come west without thinking it through. Which isn't to say that the characters in a [[Western]] aren't grateful that he's there to patch up their bullet holes and cure their pox.
As the territory becomes more civilized, this character becomes "the town doctor", with better access to equipment and supplies, but not much more rest as he or she's still basically the only physician for miles.
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== Live Action TV ==
* Parodied in a series of ''[[Armstrong And Miller]]'' sketches. "I work in Botswana, saving lives. Do YOU?"
* Doc Cochran of ''[[Deadwood]]''. Man's got an extremely curmudgeonly disposition, and a glare that'd spook the eyebrows off a Mentat, but he's a compassionate soul tryin' to hold onto some fuckin' humanity in that godforsaken camp. If people'd listen to him more often, he might actually be able to do his job. He's also got a boatload of psychological trauma from his time in the Civil War, so the man's altogether a whole barrel o' laughs.
* Dr. Bill Baxter of the obviously-named ''Frontier Doctor'' series.
* Dr. Michaela Quinn of ''[[Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman]]''.
* Simon Tam of ''[[Firefly]]'' is a Frontier Doctor [[In Space]], down to having once worked in a [[Hospital Paradiso]] on a Core World and being driven to the Frontier by a conflict with the law.
** A couple of episodes show more traditional versions ([[Dissimile|traditional, that is, apart from being on alien planets 500 years in the future]]).
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== Music ==
* ''Did I ever tell you the story about [[Cowboy|Cowboys]]! M-M-midgets, the indians and, Fron, Frontier Psychiatrist''
{{quote|[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}U8BWBn26bX0 Frontier Psychiatrist], The Avalanches}}
* ''[[The Beatles|Rocky Raccoon]]'':
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== Radio ==
* "Doc" Adams of ''[[Gunsmoke]]''. The radio version was actually Dr. Calvin Moore, who'd killed a man in a duel and changed his name to avoid the man's vengeful friends; the television version was Dr. Galen Adams, and did not have such a dark backstory.
== [[Real Life]] ==
* "Doc" Holliday, of [[Real Life]] and many, many fictional accounts, was a Frontier Dentist, but is far better known for his [[The Gambler|gambling]] and [[The Gunslinger|gunfighting]]. (His consumptive cough apparently tended to scare off clients.)
* [[James Herriot]] sort of counts, working in a backwater community and all.
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