MEDICAL LOGS

CATHEXIS
Season 1 : Episode 13

 

MEDICAL REPORT:

When Tuvok and Chakotay return in a shuttlecraft from an away mission, Tuvok has a concussion, which the Doctor says is nothing he cannot handle, while Chakotay is unconscious. The Doctor uses a cardial stimulator on Chakotay but it does not succeed in reviving him. (Dr. McCoy used a cardiostimulator when Ambassador Sarek suffered cardiac arrest aboard the USS Enterprise NC-1701 in 2267; the cardiostimulator revived the ambassador, allowing McCoy to continue life-saving surgery, [TOS: Journey to Babel]). Somehow during the away mission, all the bio-neural energy was extracted from Chakotay's brain so that the Doctor declares him brain-dead (the culprits are later revealed to be the Komar, trianic-based energy beings). The Doctor describes Chakotay thus: "….almost as if someone drained the energy from every single axon and dendron right down to the synapses." Chakotay stays in Sickbay, on life support.

apparently brain-dead Chakotay, Tuvok explains, and later the Doctor and Torres discuss Chakotay's medicine wheel

The Doctor later manages to reintegrate his consciousness, a procedure which involved three neural transceivers, two cortical stimulatiors and 50 gigaquads of computer memory.

Chakotay regains consciousness following the Doctor's successful treatment

Lieutenant Hargrove's visit to Sickbay is mentioned by Kes; the Doctor tested Hargrove for Arethian flu in  [#7 Eye Of The Needle] so the visit may have had something to do with that. Under the control of the Komar, Tuvok administers a Vulcan nerve pinch to Kes, which leaves her in a coma. The nerve pinch is characterised (at least in Kes' case here) by marks on the neck and shoulder of the victim. There is an extreme trauma to the trapezius nerve bundle, rupturing nerve fibres.

DOCTOR'S LOG:

With a mysterious unidentifiable alien entity aboard Voyager that is momentarily able to seize control of a crewmember's mind (the Komar), Janeway takes the precaution of transferring the ship's command codes to the Doctor as he is the only member of the crew unsusceptible of mind control. Later, when someone disables the Doctor's program the command codes revert to Janeway, who divides them between herself and Tuvok, and Paris is appointed chief medic.

EMH SPECIFICATION:

Torres sets up a medicine wheel near Chakotay in Sickbay to help him "find his way home" to health. Chakotay's tribe believes that the medicine wheel is a representation of both the universe inside and outside the mind, and that each is a reflection of the other. When a person is sleeping or on a vision quet it is said that his sould is "walking the wheel". If the person is in a coma or near death, it is believe that he is lost. In that case, someone would place stones on the wheel as signposts, pointing the person's way back. The Doctor's knowledge includes medical treatments based on psycho-spiritual beliefs, such that he does not need instruction by Torres about the medicine wheel and indeed makes some informed (and jocular) remark about it, telling her: "You've placed the Coyote Stone at the crossroads of the Fifth and Sixth Realms which would divert Commander Chakotay's soul (that is, his consciousness) into the Mountains of the Antelope Women, according to his tradition an extremely attractive locale. He might not want to leave."

discussing the medicine wheel; see above for two more screenshots

OTHER:

Sickbay visual relay 16 is what the Bridge uses to access a view of Chakotay's medicine wheel when Neelix re-arranges the markers on the medicine wheel. Paris reminisces about Doc Brown, his childhood physician who, in contrast with the Doctor's bedside manner, had lollipops and the latest holocomic books in his waiting room.

DOCTOR'S QUOTE:

Of Paris: "I have still have a series of tests to perform but, other than his irritating lapses into nostalgia, I see nothing wrong with him."