I hadn't realized this before, but upon seeing the episode again, it becomes clear that Worf's grudge against the Romulans almost starts a war! In this episode, a Romulan prisoner onboard the Enterprise needs a blood transfusion from Worf to survive. Worf refuses because his biological parents were killed in a Romulan attack, and there's still a lot of Klingon-Romulan hostility. This prisoner is in the middle of a tense stand-off between Picard and Tomalok. The prisoner's safe return is demanded by Tomalok as a condition of his withdrawal. Tomalok is furious at the prisoner's death while in Federation custody and is about to ATTACK when the lucky break of the discovery of another Romulan from the original scoutcraft is discovered. His safe return placates Tomalok and crisis is nearly averted.
A crisis that would have been linked to Worf. Picard refused to order Worf to do the blood transfusion. As an issue of personal autonomy and bodily integrity he was correct. Ordering someone to do a voluntary medical procedure like that would have been out of line in normal circumstances. However, the ramifications in this case were HUGE! It made it seem from the Romulans' point of view that the Enterprise crew had just let the prisoner die. And yet Worf's selfishness and short-sightedness are never brought up after this.
Picard never takes him to his Ready Room and explains that he failed to put his duties as a Starfleet officer above his personal grudges. He never mentions that his inaction almost led to war. Am I the only one seeing this? Shouldn't Picard be furious that only blind luck extricated them from an unnecessary situation caused by Worf's selfishness?
It's not Worf's selfishness at all..... even in today's society we have the basic human right to determine what happens to our own bodies.... we have the individual right to refuse any medical treatment and the moment you take away someone's rights for one reason, you open the door for those rights to be taken away for any reason seen fit...... and forcing someone to use their body as a political tool is certainly not one of the things I feel is justified in doing.
He could have ordered him, and Worf could have still refused.... Picard can not drag him to the operating table by force.
But let's not forget the most important aspect of this situation:
Worf eventually gave the idea some thought and went to the Romulan to tell him of the situation, seeking some justification for himself to help him..... and the Romulan refused and said he'd rather die then have his body polluted with klingon filth. Worf, being klingon, I imagine had some ritualistic desire to look his enemy in the face and give both of them the chance to deal with the situation between the both of them and no one else.
At that moment of the Romulan basically shatting all over his offer which probably came with a bit of an ego dent from offering in the first place, Worf was removed of any sort of responsibility for the situation because the patient refused the medical treatment, which is once again, his right..... and to me that was the satisfactory look on his face, that it was no longer his problem to worry about.
It was never Worf's responsibility in the first place and if a war did start, it wouldn't have been his fault, because
A) The Romulan chose to die and not go through the treatment.
B) The Romulans were the ones who crossed into Federation space in the first place, they were the first to violate the treaty and all things considered, those Romulans would be something like POW's..... which in other words, Picard didn't have to hand anybody over, since the Romulans sure wouldn't if the roles were reversed, and they'd blame the Federation for starting a war and use that as an excuse to carry out the war.
If a War began, it would have been the Romulan's fault in both cases, not the federations and certainly not Worf's.
Picard had no right to force Worf into such a treatment and it's a good thing he didn't because if the Romulan woke up afterwards and found out he's got Klingon blood in him keeping him alive..... the situation would have probably not been any better.
.... Also the Romulan had later refused any transfusion from the Klingon that by itself should've solved any issues between the Romulans and The Federation regarding the transfusion. And I'm not sure why they didn't say something about why the Vulcans on the ship couldn't donate. Something about blood types or something to make it logical that Worf was somehow more compatable than a Vulcan or even why the blood couldn't be "replicated."
If I remember correctly, the particular damage done to his body from being on the planet, which was affecting the other Romulan and LaForge, could only be corrected due to a specific gene replacement:
"In the Enterprise sick bay, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Beverly Crusher attempts to treat the severely injured Romulan and discovers that he needs a transplant of compatible ribosomes to recover."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Enemy_%28Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation%29
"Ribosomes are the components of cells that make proteinsamino acids."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribosomes
And let's not forget that Crusher did say they she went through the entire crew and Worf was the only compatible donor..... thus she would have checked all vulcans on board.
This wasn't a mere blood transfusion being done.
I don't see the scene where Worf visits the Romulan prisoner as showing that Worf had decided to go ahead with the transfusion. I almost saw it as Worf TAUNTING the Romulan about his being able to save him, but I might be wrong on that.
Also, if Worf hadn't unnecessarily gone to see him, the Romulan prisoner wouldn't have known the blood transfusion was from a Klingon, so he wouldn't have declined the procedure.(Assuming they kept him unconscious during the procedure or something)
It sounds to me like you're still attempting to blame Worf for the Romulan's decision. Worf wasn't going to get all rainbows and sunshine with an enemy his species was at war with for a long time and whom he blamed directly for the deaths of his parents and what drove his life to where it was at that time..... I think he dealt with the situation well and didn't sound taunting to me, more like Klingon...... and don't forget that the Romulan didn't give off such a positive attitude from the get go either.
I see Worf's situation as if I was put in his place..... how would you or I react in the exact same situation, facing an enemy who was part of a military force responsible for your family's death and now you are tasked to save the life of one of those you feel are responsible for your parent's murder whom, chances are, wouldn't return the favor if the situation was reversed, and thus would let you die?
I personally can not say what I would have done, thus I can not judge Worf's decision..... Sure it's easy to say what's morally right or wrong when you're looking in from the outside of a situation that you're not directly involved, but see what it's like when your in that same position.
It'd be like demanding Picard to take borg parts from inside his own body to save the life of a captured borg still tied to the collective whom will be returned back to the collective to prevent an assimilation of the ship..... sure that's similar to the Hugh incident which Picard himself had a hard time dealing with the morals that were tied to that situation, but I suspect if it was more closer to the above situation I just described, I doubt you'd see Picard easily subject himself to such a procedure.
Offering to go under a medical procedure to save the life of a mortal enemy who's spitting venom at you like "Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated" or "I'd rather die then have my body polluted with klingon filth" ..... my guess is many in here wouldn't have such an easy time with the decision either, nor would want someone forcing them to make a particular decision against their will, regardless of the consequences.
