Tom Paris - awesome or vastly underused?

[Guy Gardener]

It happened.

The doctor extracted a Cardassian from his program so that he could argue with himself without seeming batshit.

It's just a question of why the Doctor must has asked for the Cardassian to be deleted from his database when the partition as created to actualize him as a distinct personality, in so that he could only work with his other face while inside an air of ignorance.

 

[exodus]

I thought it was ridiculous that he was practically a backup the Doctor. Who are they kidding? Tom Paris performing a life-saving operation, please. They should have replaced Kes with a advanced holographic nurse/medic, not dump Paris in sick bay because he had so little to do at the helm.

As I understood it, field medics are basically equal to an EMT.
I don't believe they're trained or skilled in surgery.
If Tom or Kes were skilled at surgery, then we never would of had the dilemma the EMH had in "Latent Image" due to there being only him with the knowledge and ability to perform surgery.

 

[Guy Gardener]

A nurse today has more medical training/knowledge than a doctor in the 19th century.

A 24th century nurse would mostly likely have more medical training/knowledge than a doctor in the 20th century.

 

[exodus]

A nurse today has more medical training/knowledge than a doctor in the 19th century.

A 24th century nurse would mostly likely have more medical training/knowledge than a doctor in the 20th century.

But the fact still holds true that not all medical doctors are trained surgeons.
Even a comedy like SCRUBS made us aware there's a difference in skill between a medical doctor and a surgeon. Even in our time it depends on the doctor's area of study, if he's trained in surgery or not. Even if Tom and Kes had the knowledge of a 20th century medical doctor, they'd still be giving you a referral to a surgeon if you required it.

If Tom or Kes had the skill of surgeon the dilemma in "Latent Image" wouldn't have happened. There would have been 3 people on the ship capable of performing the operation. Instead Tom stood by helpless as he watched the EMH make his choice on who to save.

 

[Guy Gardener]

That makes perfect sense, but what was the plan in Virtuoso?

"Go be a big star, we'll be fine without you."