Welcome Back!

I love Spock.

I love Spock so much, I wanted to include him on our blog. However, there was nothing on the vast expanses of the interwebs that linked Spock to health. I couldn't help but put up a picture of him anyway.

On a similar note, here's an article written by a doctor from the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, titled Star Trek and the Future of Family Medicine. It's an interesting look at how the evolution of the physician character on the show throughout the seasons reflects society's view of the role of physicians in real life.

These characters are the products of fertile imaginations and indeed are in all aspects fictitious. Yet, they represent an interesting mix of both the present perceptions and future hopes of their creators and their audience. A picture emerges of physicians who become more intellectual and calculating and less encumbered by human emotions and imperfections. They become less like the people they care for and less familiar, perhaps echoing the public’s loss of a sense of the intimacy of the doctor-patient relationship. These doctors literally come to embody the experience of personal alienation that patients feel within the present health care system. On the other hand, by using the extraordinary technologies of the day, the Star Trek physicians rarely fail in curing the most advanced and mysterious ailments. In this way they reflect the often unrealistic expectations of today’s patients regarding medicine’s ability to cure disease, an attitude that leads to mounting frustration for all involved.