Transporters are miracles. Why does anyone still get sick?

[Mr. Laser Beam]

* I dunno, I'd get a bit nervous if I stepped onto the transporter pad and I heard "Abort/Retry/Fail"?

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

It wouldn't be like that. Imagine a transport depot. You'd pass through a separate scanner first that vetted you for potential complications.

So it would be more like, "Complication detected. Please see medical department for further analysis." Those whose problems/conditions were known would have it documented on their transport record and the appropriate corrections/adjustments would be made.

There would also be emergency overrides for beamouts where time is of the essence.

 

[Farscape One]

I have a vague recollection that there was a line or two in some episode that said biofilters only work for known bugs/viruses/contaminents etc - I'm guessing someone has to program the transporters as to what to take out and what to leave in (@Laura Cynthia Chambers' "good bacteria", for example). If so, there's still a need for sickbay and science labs to catalogue and research new discoveries so they can be added to the transporter database.
I just wish I could remember which episode it came from. If it did at all, and I'm not making the whole thing up. Do you think a transporter can help with memory problems?

I think TOS' "THE NAKED TIME" McCoy mentions they checked for all known substances and the decontamination did the same.

And in TNG's "Unnatural Selection", I believe it was hinted at when O'Brien said the kid was beamed twice and still infected Pulaski.

 

[at Quark's]

I would expect transporters to be able to cure all ailments- in principle. After all, they reconstitute any part of the body on a subatomic level so in theory they could do so leaving out any dangerous viruses or germs, correcting any imbalances and their causes (e.g genetic defects), cure cancer, broken bones, repair organs, you name it... provided that generic templates for bodies in perfect health are present in the databanks.

Perhaps it couldn't recognise completely unknown viruses and such. But given that this doesn't seem to be an issue most of the time, and the crew doesn't seem afraid of landing on unknown planets, either the biofilter is already pretty good at recognising unknown dangerous pathogens, and/ or experience has taught Starfleet that this is only an issue in a tiny minority of the landing situations.

 

[Henoch]

As long as the damn machine doesn't remove all the "foreign" titanium alloys in my body; I'd collapse in a puddle as soon as I materialize.