What are you doing here, Bones?

[David Strickhouser]

KIRK: What are you doing here, Bones?
MCCOY: All the Sickbay systems are shut down until such time as the M-5 is informed there are patients to be cared for.
-- from "The Ultimate Computer"
Watching TOS recently, I began to wonder: does Dr. McCoy seem to visit the bridge more frequently than a ship's medical officer normally would?
Obviously there are times when the CMO needs to be present; however, it seems Jim Kirk doesn't seem to mind when McCoy drops in on the bridge, even during yellow or red alert moments.
Is it the is the familiarity between the two men?
Would this be allowed, say if McCoy was CMO of some other starship?
Thoughts?

 

[Pauln6]

He yo-yos in and out all the time in TMP. In some ways it's silly but he is still a senior officer as well as a doctor and as head of Life Sciences, he needs to be fully informed. It's no sillier than sending yeomen down as part of a landing party instead of somebody qualified to contribute such as a botanist, anthropologist, or geologist.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Bones is nosy. And Kirk likes having him there to give him good advice.

As for other CMOs, I don't know. Since sickbay is not constantly occupied (as the line you quoted, David, suggests), (McCoy could be doing any number of studies or paperwork) and many ailments are minor and can be handled therefore by another staff member, he doesn't have to be around sickbay always. (Which would seem to indicate that unlike on away teams and the bridge, where his presence isn't always mission necessary, McCoy is frequently missing from his workplace.)

 

[David Strickhouser]

Bones is nosy. And Kirk likes having him there to give him good advice.

True. I believe Kirk runs a "looser" bridge than other captains; also in "Ultimate Computer" Daystrom questions McCoy's presence near M-5, and Kirk jumps in saying McCoy has "clearance throughout the ship."

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Now there's a story I'd like to see; prior to McCoy's posting on the Enterprise, was there a time when he got in trouble for wandering the halls of another ship?

 

[Kor]

It's like that time when I worked for a big company, and there would be stretches of time when I didn't have anything to do, so I would just go shoot the breeze with a colleague at his office in another department, and look like we were having a relevant business meeting or something.

Kor

 

[Hippocrates Noah]

It's payback for all the time Kirk spends in sickbay, dropping by every time he feels like talking or needs a drink.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

"You lurk on my territory,Jim, I'll lurk in yours."

 

[Hippocrates Noah]

I like to think that Bones is usually just drunk and wandering onto the bridge because he's lost.

 

[Nyotarules]

Bones does it to annoy Spock or at least to get him to admit he is annoyed.

 

[urbandefault]

Bones does it to annoy Spock or at least to get him to admit he is annoyed.

We have a winner!

 

[The Old Mixer]

Bones popping onto the bridge now and then is better than having a therapist with a dedicated seat next to the captain....

 

[Nebusj]

``Well, they turn the lights off on the sickbay set when we don't have a scene there. What am I supposed to do, stare at a painted wood square in the dark?''

 

[F. King Daniel]

In the real world, Bones would almost never be out of sickbay. But it's a TV show where he's one of the lead characters, and is often needed to ask the kinds of questions high ranking Starfleet officers would already know the answers to.

 

[Green Shirt]

Bones popping onto the bridge now and then is better than having a therapist with a dedicated seat next to the captain....

And a somewhat unless one, who often spits out such gems as "he's hiding something", or "it's blinding me".

 

[UnknownSample]

A king needs his advisors. Trekfen can be so propriety and regulation oriented. The decisions that need to be made need to be well-made, and that's far, far more important than what the command structure technically is.
----------------------------
So many of us work in situations where we're on the clock. Our heads may be up in the clouds, but our feet are mired in technical trivialities like whether we got there at 8:59 or 9:06. As you get upward in the chain of responsibility, doing the job most effectively becomes the issue, how is less important.
----------------------------
McCoy's status as the captain's other trusted ear (besides Spock, who MUST be counter-balanced, let's face it) is almost as crucial to everyone's survival as his status as medical wonder boy.
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Bones knows too that if he can save K from a bad decision, it will mean his Sickbay will be less crowded... Would a ship's doctor normally confine himself to Sickbay? That seems excessive.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

McCoy should not be on the bridge during tense situations. It sounds silly, but having someone present with nothing to do but look over your shoulder does make people nervous and reduce their effectiveness.

The captain and helmsman, the guy at the Engineering station and so forth, are more likely to make mistakes if there's a spectator on the bridge. Two or more spectators, and the danger rises dramatically.

A perfect example: "In a demonstration for some VIP civilian visitors..." this happened:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehime_Maru_and_USS_Greeneville_collision

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

McCoy should not be on the bridge during tense situations. It sounds silly, but having someone present with nothing to do but look over your shoulder does make people nervous and reduce their effectiveness.

Yes, but Kirk's comfortable with him there. That said, I'd like to see how he became used to it.

"I didn't call for you, Dr. McCoy."
"Nope. You didn't."
"What are you doing here, Doctor?"
"Just...observing."
"Observing...aren't there other things which require your attention? More important things?"
"Mmm. Not really. Chapel's got it covered...are you really going to do that?"
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing. I just wouldn't have made that exact decision if I were you, that's all. But you're the captain. I defer to your "good" judgement."
*Did I just hear quotemarks?* "Thank you, Doctor. (handed a tablet) I'll see to this, Yeoman."
"Tsk tsk."
"What now?"
"I just never realized how poor your handwriting was before. If I didn't know you had just signed it, I would swear it was somebody named..."Jaunty Lurt"."
"You're one to talk. I thought doctors were notorious for their bad handwriting."
"Yes, but not this bad...what's that under your fingernails? Chocolate? Jim, have you been going off your diet again?"
"Blast it, Bones, I don't need a nanny! Get back to sickbay!"

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Has anyone here read the novel Doctor's Orders by Diane Duane? The premise is basically that Kirk leaves McCoy in command of the ship after he finally gets sick of Bones constantly telling him how to run things. Of course, right after that, Captain Kirk disappears and McCoy has to solve a crisis...

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

But when does it take place? Before McCoy and Kirk develop the understanding that allows McCoy to stand next to him without question, or at a point where it suffers a temporary breakdown, only to heal later?