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Been rewatching some of the show, and I noticed that on several occasions, when Data is feeling out of sorts, he reports to sick bay to be treated by Dr. Crusher. (Examples: Season 5's "The Game", Season 7's "Thine Own Self") What I don't understand is why he wouldn't go to engineering instead? Surely LaForge is more qualified than Crusher to be treating an android? But in many of these cases, Geordi isn't even in the room.

I can't imagine android repair was covered in Starfleet medical school, since at the time she went there, there were no androids. Data is first seen in the pilot, and it's implied that he's relatively new to Starfleet, while Crusher is old enough that she's probably had her medical degree for some time prior to that. Since then only a handful of other androids have ever been seen (Data was the only one known to exist for a while), so this wouldn't be the kind of thing that's commonly taught even to engineers, let alone medical doctors.

Indeed, on many other occasions, Geordi has been the go-to guy for Data-repairs, and may by now be second only to Dr. Soong himself (and possibly Lore?) in terms of knowledge of how androids tick. You'd think that would always be the first choice any time Data is in need of service, rather than sick bay.

Gallifreyan
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Darrel Hoffman
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    As of Redemption II (S5E1) Data had served in Starfleet for 26 years. – PeterL Apr 01 '14 at 22:51
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    I would point out that sick bay might well be the place with the greatest number of analytical equipment designed to analyze a humanoid-size creature, staffed 24 hours by trained personnel. That isn't to say that engineering hasn't the capability, but might not be able to scramble a team with such capabilities as quickly. – Broklynite Oct 08 '15 at 12:10
  • I dont think this questions been answered successfully: I agree that sickbay is the best place to analysis a humanoid even if its an android but why is crusher doing it, she might do the semi-organic parts like skin, hair and nails but those are largely cosmetic. But someone from engineering should be doing any repair work (but agreed in sickbay) – Matt Aug 07 '16 at 15:22

4 Answers4

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In "The Game", Data is lured into Sickbay by Beverly Crusher who's under the influence of an alien device. She disables him for most of the remainder of the episode until he's revived by Wesley Crusher.

Please note that I've abridged the script;

BEVERLY'S COM VOICE : Do you have a minute to join me in sickbay?

DATA : Yes, Doctor. I am on my way.

INT. SICKBAY - Beverly is working at a medical station. Data ENTERS.

DATA : You wanted to see me, Doctor?

BEVERLY : Yes, Data. I need your help with something.

Beverly stops close behind him. Without warning, Beverly reaches for Data's back and DEACTIVATES him. Data instantly slumps onto the console, unconscious.

In Thine Own Self Data wakes up in Sickbay after having inadvertantly exposed natives of the planet to radiation and causing a sickness.

GIA: They killed him because they were afraid of him, but he saved all of us from the sickness.

CRUSHER: The sickness?

GIA: There were these pieces of metal. They made everyone sick. But Jayden put something in the water and now everyone's better.

RIKER: What happened to these pieces of metal?

GIA: We buried them in the forest. What was his real name?

RIKER: Data.

GIA: Data. He was my friend, too.

(Gia leaves and Beverly gets her tricorder out)

CRUSHER: It's Data all right. He's buried about two metres down. He's been deactivated so I can't tell how bad the damage is.

RIKER: We could beam him and the probe fragments right onto the ship. No one would know.

[Interior Sickbay]

CRUSHER: Positronic net online. Subprocessor relays in place and neuroelectrical systems enabled. (she switches him on and he instantly sits up)

CRUSHER: Data, are you all right?

DATA: I do not know. I am surprised to find myself here. I thought I was on Barkon Four.

Although it's mere supposition on my part, I'm assuming that the standard procedure regarding beaming someone (even Data) who's been subject to an alien illness would be to beam them to sickbay rather than engineering.

Also, she seems pretty switched on (pardon the pun) about Data's systems, correctly diagnosing that his brain is functioning.

Valorum
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    Later in the episode, however, Crusher explains: (lying of course) "He came in to complain about a servo malfunction. My scans were coming out negative. And then he just... collapsed." So that should've been a red flag but nobody noticed or thought it unusual. Also still doesn't explain the other example I gave - he was speared through the back by an angry villager, and still it was Beverly in sick bay who seemed to be doing the repairs rather than Geordi. – Darrel Hoffman Jan 05 '14 at 20:01
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    Are there special force fields for sickbay that screen out biological micro-organisms? – AncientSwordRage Jan 05 '14 at 20:05
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    @ Darrel Hoffman - We know that his skin shares many of the same properties as real skin. Maybe the repairs were superficial and simply needed the dermal regenerator she used in DataLore; http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/36295/how-does-datas-skin-get-repaired-after-an-injury – Valorum Jan 05 '14 at 20:06
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    @ Pureferret - Yes, Sickbay supposedly has a "quarantine field"; http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Quarantine_field – Valorum Jan 05 '14 at 20:07
  • @Richard: Could they have been concerned about contaminants in Thine Own Self? – AncientSwordRage Jan 05 '14 at 20:09
  • @ Pureferret, the villagers specifically talk about a "sickness" that Data cured. Although the odds are that it was caused by the radioactive metal, why take the risk? – Valorum Jan 05 '14 at 20:19
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    I get that they'd beam him into quarantine for safety reasons (though they've previously established that most dangerous microbes can be filtered out by the transporter itself, but whatever.) Still doesn't explain why Beverly, and not Geordi is the one doing the treatment. Geordi isn't even in the room for that scene. Seems like a bit of an oversight. – Darrel Hoffman Jan 05 '14 at 20:39
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    @Richard - Interestingly, the picture in the question you posted is from "Thine Own Self". His wounds were not superficial, however. The spear went through his back and came out of his chest, and electrocuted the guy who speared him before knocking Data out of commission. That has to have done damage to more than just his skin. Also there was the memory loss from the initial crash, so it's not just mechanical damage but presumably some damage to his positronic net as well. – Darrel Hoffman Jan 05 '14 at 20:44
  • Hardly. We see Crusher doing an exploratory surgery in Datalore so she's clearly got her act together when it comes to biomechanics and his intricate working. Let's not forget that she's a qualified starfleet graduate as well. – Valorum Jan 05 '14 at 20:46
  • @ Darrel, regardless of the extent of his injuries that still doesn't stop Crusher being able to fix him, per se. Out-of-universe, I think we needed to hear Crusher explain that the villagers were ok which means the scene needed to be set in sickbay. – Valorum Jan 05 '14 at 20:52
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    I don't have a problem with Crusher being involved with repairing Data, but more with LaForge not being there. He wouldn't even need to have lines, just put him on the set so it looks like he's doing his job. They repeatedly state how complicated androids are - if they were simple, there'd be hundreds of them, but as it is, there's only a handful in the whole universe, all built by one man. I dare say the skill required to work on them must be a rare thing indeed, and not the kind of thing you'd learn as a medical doctor, Starfleet or otherwise. – Darrel Hoffman Jan 05 '14 at 21:22
  • Don't forget that in Insurrection Data was stored in engineering for the repairs (at least if I remember right). – Bobby Jan 05 '14 at 23:20
  • @Bobby See, that's what I'm talking about. There's any number of examples of Data being serviced by LaForge in engineering where it makes sense, but then there's these weird cases where they have Crusher doing it instead and it seems out of place. The best guess I can come up with is because there's beds in sickbay and not in engineering? Other times though they've shown him being worked on while seated or standing, so a bed wasn't needed. – Darrel Hoffman Jan 06 '14 at 03:25
  • Well, I guess this is as close to an answer as I'm going to get. Short of an explanation from the script writers, it's kind of an open question anyhow. – Darrel Hoffman Jan 07 '14 at 02:04
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Not a canon answer, but this is a military vessel. There's a protocol. If you are a crew member and you're sick, you report to sick bay.

What do you mean "nuances"? It's Procedure!

DVK-on-Ahch-To
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    That's actually the essence of my answer. As soon as someone says the word 'sick' or 'sickness', sickbay get lumped sorting out the problem. In Alien, Ripley has the same issue with Ash breaking the "quarantine protocol" – Valorum Jan 06 '14 at 00:29
  • Well, the androids in the Alien franchise are partially organic, if I recall, whereas Data is purely mechanical. You'd think for practical reasons they'd make an exception for Data. I mean, it's enough that she's able to treat all manner of diverse alien species, but I still think androids should be outside of her area of expertise... – Darrel Hoffman Jan 06 '14 at 03:19
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    Are you saying Data has deal with Tricare bureaucracy to get medical care? My reaction to the question was the same as yours, Data does things "by the book" since Starfleet is a military organization. – jfrankcarr Jan 06 '14 at 04:08
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Although Data is a machine, he is shaped like a humanoid. And sickbay is full of equipment that is designed for humanoids. If he went to engineering, would he have to lay on the floor, or would he climb up on a table? Sickbay has beds and magnifying monitors, and any specialized tools that are needed to work on Data can just as easily be kept in sickbay as they could in engineering. Although Dr. Crusher is not an engineer, she is a scientist, a quick study, and good with her hands. And she can (and often does) call in Geordi if she needs assistance.

Ben Miller
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Maybe she's the most qualified because since he's suppose to replicate a human, his systems are more biologically related than technically related. It seems to make more sense to base a neural net off of a human brain, rather than a computer.

user54108
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    Is there a quote or something to back this up? – AJL Oct 08 '15 at 10:16
  • Naked Now: Data is "Fully Functional" – user001 Oct 08 '15 at 11:14
  • User001 is correct, in naked now (and in inheritance) it's not only implied, but stated that he is anatomically correct. Furthermore, there are a few sparse quotes that usually deal with data's neural net that implicated that it works in a similar way to that of a human brain (when he was talking about wanting to commit suicide after he woke up and was having a cascade failure crisis, he described it as it being harder for his neural pathways to form, as more and more were added to his "brain".). – user54108 Oct 08 '15 at 13:57