Doctor Crusher being chief medical officer of all of Starfleet?

[drazzz52923849]

I am somewhat confused on what exactly she did when she "went off" when pulaski was the chief medical occifer. I think i heard in an episode that she became in charge of all medical operations in starfleet and i just got through a book that said exactly that, but i am confused because that sounds like a pretty sweet gig to me. I think that anyone would rather do that than be on a starship. Even though i do like the eye candy that is Beverly Crusher, I think Pulaski was the better doctor because she doesn't let her vag get in the way of medical decisions like crusher often does.
Just some thoughts......

 

[SchwEnt]

Yeah, they could have used one million reasons to explain Crusher's absence. They went with "Head of Starfleet Medical"? As in, the WHOLE Starfleet? Not Sector 001 Head of Medical, not a Head of Starbase Medical... ALL of Starfleet Medical? Crusher??

And then she comes back, still a Commander as before.
We've seen Admirals as Head of Starfleet Security, wouldn't the Head of Starfleet Medical warrant similar?

Any old reason would have worked without opening this can of worms. Why'd they go with Head of Starfleet Medical? Even a tour as Chief of Staff for Starfleet Medical sounds better to me. Eeh...

 

[Admiral Shran]

Correct me if I'm wrong (and I may very well be), but didn't the show just say she took a position with Starfleet Medical, not the actual job of Head of Starfleet Medical.

That would make more sense.

 

[Silvercrest]

Everything I've ever heard says that she did "head up Starfleet medical", as little sense as that makes.

The answer is obvious, of course. She did receive a major promotion and an appointment to the chief of Starfleet medical. But then she was caught in a scandalous position with the UFP president, Boothby, and the Bolian ambassador ... simultaneously. The only way for all parties to save face was to demote her back to commander and ship her back to the Enterprise.

No wonder Picard was reluctant to get involved with her.

I'm sure this will all be covered in a future book.

 

[WillsBabe]

Doesn't seem a major stretch to me that Crusher got promoted to head of Starfleet medical. Being the CMO of the fleet's flagship is a pretty prestigious position, which she would have got through merit. We don't know (I don't think) what she was doing before she joined the Enterprise. Her background could easily include the skills and competencies that would fit the head of SF medical gig.

 

[JonBaas]

Beverly Crusher was never as useful and beloved a character like Geordi or Data, heck even Riker or Picard. She always seemed more like she was just.... there... in case medical expertise was required.

I find it silly that she'd take a solitary year off to head up all of Starfleet Medical. The writers didn't really think that one through.

But, then again, maybe that little trivia note was an attempt to make her seem more important on the show. Like, "Ooh! Head of Starfleet Medical. That's pretty serious stuff!" Of course, why she would ever give that up, take a demotion, and return to service on the Enterprise is beyond me.

In all seriousness, though, I actually preferred Dr. Pulaski to Dr. Crusher. It would have been nice if they could have kept her instead. She seemed more.... interesting to begin with. Stronger. More personality. More "say it like it is".

-Jon

 

[WillsBabe]

I find it silly that she'd take a solitary year off to head up all of Starfleet Medical. The writers didn't really think that one through.

I assume at the time that they weren't expecting her back, so it wouldn't have been a solitary year. It just became that in retrospect.

 

[LaBarre]

Even though i do like the eye candy that is Beverly Crusher, I think Pulaski was the better doctor because she doesn't let her vag get in the way of medical decisions like crusher often does.
Just some thoughts......

Just some thoughts, indeed.

"Vag"? WTF!

Did you not know that the word vagina can now actually be used in polite company?

Or was this some oblique reference to Beverly Crusher's hitherto unrecognised Slovakian family living by the left tributary of the Danube?

Or are you one of those who still finds themselves come all a'swooning and reaching for the lavender salts whenever the delicate bits of female sexuality are mentioned?

No doubt a wind-up but a fairly unattractive one nonetheless and so deserving of a smack about the head.

And in saying that, I'm still giving you the benefit of the doubt that you wrote this in total ignorance of the real-life situation that forced McFadden to leave the show after the first season.

 

[Timo]

To get some facts straight, Picard in TNG "The Child" said that Crusher "left to become head of Starfleet Medical". That's the only thing we know about what she was doing during her absence.

We don't know what Starfleet Medical is. However, we do know about the existence of a Starfleet Medical Center as well as a Starfleet Medical Facility, as per VOY "Endgame":

http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/File:Starfleet_Medical.jpg

"Starfleet Medical" might be either of those, and thus an assignment comparable to a starship: a hospital with perhaps a few thousand patients. Or perhaps a slightly greater responsibility, possibly comparable to being Surgeon General to an entire planet or a star system - but still significantly more humble than being in ultimate command of the medical service for trillions of beings. That position is apparently properly called "Starfleet Surgeon General", as per TOS "Turnabout Intruder", and not "Head of SF Medical".

OTOH, Picard only said that Crusher left in order to "become" head of SF Medical. Perhaps he meant she went to study more, so that one day she could become head of the entire SF Medical Division, and an Admiral to boot? That is, there is no proof that she actually did become head of SF Medical, either during S2 of TNG or at any other point of her career.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Yeah, what I thought when reading this thread. Most likely she never was head of Starfleet Medical. I doubt that position will be given to a mere starship CMO without special administrative training. She probably wasn't even the only one applying for the job.
So either she screwed up and someone else was better suited for the position or she just found admin work isn't her bag, baby!

 

[danellis]

And in saying that, I'm still giving you the benefit of the doubt that you wrote this in total ignorance of the real-life situation that forced McFadden to leave the show after the first season.

That's not something I'd ever heard..

dJE

 

[SantaTom]

Even though i do like the eye candy that is Beverly Crusher, I think Pulaski was the better doctor because she doesn't let her vag get in the way of medical decisions like crusher often does.

I would address the topic of this thread, but this sort of negates the entire original post, IMHO, so I won't bother...

 

[Alrik]

OTOH, Picard only said that Crusher left in order to "become" head of SF Medical. Perhaps he meant she went to study more, so that one day she could become head of the entire SF Medical Division, and an Admiral to boot? That is, there is no proof that she actually did become head of SF Medical, either during S2 of TNG or at any other point of her career.

Timo Saloniemi

Or maybe the position of head of SF Medical rotates annually and Bev just got to take a turn.

 

[Capt_Pickirk]

Maybe she became head of starfleet medical but got bored, because it was a desk job or something. thus she got the enterprise back and went to fight a space-cloud/computer


wait, hang on....

 

[SiorX]

To get some facts straight, Picard in TNG "The Child" said that Crusher "left to become head of Starfleet Medical". That's the only thing we know about what she was doing during her absence.

We don't know what Starfleet Medical is. However, we do know about the existence of a Starfleet Medical Center as well as a Starfleet Medical Facility, as per VOY "Endgame":

http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/File:Starfleet_Medical.jpg

"Starfleet Medical" might be either of those, and thus an assignment comparable to a starship: a hospital with perhaps a few thousand patients. Or perhaps a slightly greater responsibility, possibly comparable to being Surgeon General to an entire planet or a star system - but still significantly more humble than being in ultimate command of the medical service for trillions of beings. That position is apparently properly called "Starfleet Surgeon General", as per TOS "Turnabout Intruder", and not "Head of SF Medical".

OTOH, Picard only said that Crusher left in order to "become" head of SF Medical. Perhaps he meant she went to study more, so that one day she could become head of the entire SF Medical Division, and an Admiral to boot? That is, there is no proof that she actually did become head of SF Medical, either during S2 of TNG or at any other point of her career.

Timo Saloniemi

There are some ideas here I hadn't considered before. I've always liked the idea that she was basically Dean of Medicine at Starfleet Medical (Academy) for a year. It makes sense given her research background, is the kind of position one might hold for a year to cover somebody else's research leave, and seems about on par with the prestige of being CMO on the flagship so that neither taking the post nor returning to the ship after a year represent a significant step down.

Or perhaps Chief of Staff at the main Starfleet Medical facility on earth. That needn't mean control over every aspect of SM fleetwide - such powers would probably be devolved across several different committees and things.

I think Pulaski was the better doctor because she doesn't let her vag get in the way of medical decisions like crusher often does.
Just some thoughts......

Out of interest, how much of the original post was you genuinely wondering about Crusher's career path, and how much was it about setting up an opening for yourself to utter that vile little bit of sexism?

 

[GalaxyX]

lol! vag!

 

[sonak]

I think it was just a case of the writers trying to do a nice thing for the character, not expecting her to come back at that point, and wanting to give her a good promotion as a cool send-off.


And then... hey! she's coming back! So... er... she took a giant demotion to come back to the Enterprise-D? Why?

just a bit of silliness that could've been avoided by writing in a different assignment for her.

 

[C.E. Evans]

As already mentioned, we could say that Starfleet Medical is simply a facility, and not to be confused with the entirety of Starfleet's medical division. The head of Starfleet Medical may only warrant a commander's billet and may be akin to a chief of staff at a major hospital that answers to a higher-ranking board of trustees (which could be captains and admirals in Starfleet Medical's case).

 

[Shon T'Hara]

Perhaps Starfleet Medical is the equivalent of the Bethesda Naval Hospital, which is where high ranking members of the government go for treatment.

Or it's a position that requires confirmation by the Federation Council, and the hearings revealed disturbing information about her vag and how it interferes with her medical decisions.

 

[EmperorTiberius]

I always though "Starfleet Medical" refers to medical academy. I doubt that doctors went to Starfleet Academy. May be they went there for a year or two, but then did 4+ years at Starfleet Medical.

I believe she was head of a school.