History Main / FantasticallyChallengingPatient

* In ''Series/JessicaJones2015'', the difficulty of performing life-saving surgery on a NighInvulnerable superhero gets briefly explored. When [[spoiler:Jessica has to bring Luke Cage to the hospital after he suffered a brain injury]] the doctors and nurses can't exactly use standard procedures; when attempting to give him injections, needles bend or break off, and trying to relieve swelling on the brain of a man you can't cut to get inside his body is a formidable task.

* ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'' Volume 1, Issue 48 has Luke Cage, a hero with [[SuperToughness indestructible skin]] require multiple surgeries.

%%[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
%%* ''WesternAnimation/BattleForTerra'': {{Inverted}}. After human pilot Jim Stanton crashes his one-man craft on planet Terra, native alien Mala comes to check on him. Stanton is breathing with difficulty, since his air supply is almost exhausted, and he can't breathe the heavy Terran atmosphere. Mala has to cobble together an oxygen collector to keep Stanton alive.
%%[[/folder]]

* In ''[[Literature/{{Lensman}} Second Stage Lensmen]]'', an unnamed surgeon at one point complains about the difficulty in stitching up the wounds of the [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragon-like]] Worsel the Velantian - the surgeon had to bore holes with [[ThisIsADrill an electric drill]] and use linesmen's pliers.

* James White's ''Literature/SectorGeneral'' SF series is about a multi-species far-future hospital in deep space, whose staff are regularly confronted with the need to use either medicine or surgery to save the life of a member of a previously-unknown sentient species, who is either too medically ignorant or too unconscious to explain the correct treatment to them.

* ''Franchise/DoctorWho'':

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E1SpearheadFromSpace Spearhead from Space]]", the Doctor is taken into a hospital after being found unconscious in a field nearby (having just been [[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E7TheWarGames forced to regenerate]] by the Time Lords) and is given a routine series of examinations revealing his BizarreAlienBiology for the first time in the show, most significantly an x-ray showing his two hearts. The hospital calls the Brigadier over to investigate these oddities, thus revealing to him that the Doctor (who he last saw during [[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E3TheInvasion a Cyberman invasion]]) is back on Earth.

* On ''Series/JessicaJones2015'', the difficulty of performing life-saving surgery on a NighInvulnerable superhero gets briefly explored. When [[spoiler:Jessica has to bring Luke Cage to the hospital after he suffered a brain injury]] the doctors and nurses can't exactly use standard procedures; when attempting to give him injections, needles bend or break off, and trying to relieve swelling on the brain of a man you can't cut to get inside his body is a formidable task.

** {{Discussed}} in the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E16ProphetMotive Prophet Motive]]". When Dr. Bashir is unable to figure out what's wrong with Grand Nagus Zek using standard tests, Quark asks him to perform exploratory surgery. Bashir refuses to do so, believing it to be unnecessary.

* The premise of the indie game ''Fae's Anatomy''. The players are medical professionals who work together to diagnose and cure various medical conditions in an UrbanFantasy world.

* Discussed in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse''. In "Thanks To Them", [[spoiler:Hunter gets possessed by Belos, and while he eventually manages to drive him out of his body, he's left scarred, drained, and barely clinging to life. Camila tells Vee to call an ambulance, only for Willow and Luz to point out that a human doctor would have no idea how to treat DemonicPossession, let alone how to treat a [[ArtificialHuman Grimwalker]].]]

* Implied in ''Fanfic/{{Spider-Ninja}}''. Because four out of five of the Hamato siblings are mutant turtles, SHIELD's usual medics and doctors can't treat them (though that's mostly due to the fact that the Hamato family is one of SHIELD's best kept secrets). Luckily, Donnie is a skilled [[TheMedic medic]], and can either treat his siblings or, should he be busy/injured himself, be able to tell someone else what to do.

See AnatomicallyIgnorantHealing for what can go wrong. Often overlaps with OpenHeartDentistry. May involve heaping helpings of AppliedPhlebotinum. May lead to ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder (as in the page quote).

The patient in question can be an alien or some kind of fantastical terrestrial creature, like an elf or leprechaun. Dinosaurs also count, since they're extinct, as do giant versions of existing animals. Some -- like [[OurElvesAreDifferent Elves]], [[Franchise/StarTrek Vulcans, Klingons, Romulans]], and the aforementioned Time Lords -- appear human but have different anatomy, leading to overlap with HumanOutsideAlienInside.

* Averted in ''Fanfic/IfWishesWerePonies'': Harry was turned into a unicorn colt [[FisherKingdom after ending up in Equestria]]. As he was grievously injured thanks to Dudley and his gang, he was immediately taken to the hospital. Since he's a unicorn colt, the doctors already know what to do to help him. The only challenge comes from the fact that Harry's magic is actually helping his body to heal faster, something the doctors [[Didn'tSeeThatComing didn't see coming]].

* Implied in ''Fanfic/{{Spider-Ninja}}''. Because four out of five of the Hamato siblings are mutant turtles, SHIELD's usual medics and doctors can't treat them (though that's mostly due to the fact that the Hamato family is one of SHIELD's best kept secrets). Luckily, Donnie is a skilled [[TeamMedic medic]], and can either treat his siblings or, should he be busy/injured himself, be able to tell someone else what to do.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': {{Inverted|Trope}}. Dr. Zoidberg is a Decapodian with BizarreAlienBiology who mostly operates on humans. Most of his operations result in AnatomicallyIgnorantHealing.

** Zoidberg's practices have become so infamous among the medical community that other doctors refer to him as a verb.

'''Zoidberg:''' ''Really?''

--->'''Zoidberg:''' Alright, open your mouth and say "ah". No, no, your other mouth.\\

* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' issue #258 has Manhattan doctors discuss a peculiar patient found badly mangled with broken bones aplenty. They have the patient bandaged from head to toe and give him a "sugar and booze" (sucrose and methanol 3% solution) intravenous drip. Some doombots abscond this patient, taking him to Latveria, where Doctor Doom (no, NotThatKindOfDoctor) manages to heal him. The patient is revealed to be Terrax the Tamer, aka Tyros the Terrible. Doom plans to use Tyros, infused with the Power Cosmic, to soften up the Fantastic Four, then claim the ''coup de grace''.

*** "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E25TheDevilInTheDark The Devil in the Dark]]" has a mining colony be terrorized by an unknown creature. Captain Kirk and First Officer Spock explore the mine, and find the creature - a Horta. When it advances, they fire their phasers at it, creating a wound and causing it to retreat. However, once Spock conducts a psychic rapport with the creature, he and Kirk realize it's a brood mother defending her egg clutch. Doctor [=McCoy=] is brought in to heal the creature, which he does with silicon-based spackling compound. This ''ad hoc'' bandage works well, to the doctor's surprise.

* ''LightNovel/MonsterGirlDoctor'' centers around Glenn Litbell, a human doctor who specializes in treating non-human patients, from lamia to mermaids to gigas and everything in between. The series goes to great pains to describe the difficulties that these monster girl patients have due to their biology, requiring the aid of a specialist to treat them.

'''[=McCoy=]:''' [[ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer!]]\\

-->-- ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', "Devil In The Dark"

The patient in question can be an alien or some kind of fantastical terrestrial creature, like an elf or leprechaun. Dinosaurs also count, since they're extinct, as do giant versions of existing animals. Some, like [[OurElvesAreDifferent Elves]], [[Franchise/StarTrek Vulcans, Klingons, Romulans]], and the aforementioned Time Lords - appear human but have different anatomy, leading to overlap with HumanOutsideAlienInside.

See AnatomicallyIgnorantHealing for what can go wrong.

Often overlaps with OpenHeartDentistry.

May involve heaping helpings of AppliedPhlebotinum.

[[folder: Comic Books]]

[[folder: Fan Works]]

%%[[folder: Films - Animated]]

[[folder: Films - Live Action]]

[[folder: Literature]]
* In ''{{Literature/Animorphs}} #29: The Sickness'', Ax the Andalite comes down with a disease called yamphut, which requires his tria gland to be surgically removed. Unfortunately, the gland is located in his head and the Animorphs can't take him to a hospital without possibly blowing their cover to the Yeerks (on top of the complication of a human with "primitive tools" operating on an alien). Cassie has to do the surgery herself, though she's just a veterinarian-in-training who has done little more than neuter animals. Fortunately, she manages with help from the [[TokenHeroicOrc good Yeerk Aftran]], who enters Ax's mind so she can tell Cassie exactly where his tria gland is.

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

* ''Franchise/DoctorWho''

[[folder: Video Games]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': {{Inverted}}. Dr. Zoidberg is a Decapodian with BizarreAlienBiology who mostly operates on humans. Most of his operations result in AnatomicallyIgnorantHealing.

[[folder: Real Life]]

A competent human surgeon is presented with a case of BizarreAlienBiology and maybe HumanOutsideAlienInside. The surgeon is more than competent operating on normal people, their his skills are tested in a unique, out-of-bounds circumstance.

* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' issue #258 has Manhattan doctors discuss a peculiar patient found badly mangled with broken bones aplenty. They have the patient bandaged from head to toe, and give him a "sugar and booze" (sucrose and methanol 3% solution) intravenous drip. Some doombots abscond this patient, taking him to Latveria, where Doctor Doom (no, NotThatKindOfDoctor) manages to heal him. The patient is revealed to be Terrax the Tamer, aka Tyros the Terrible. Doom plans to use Tyros, infused with the Power Cosmic, to soften up the Fantastic Four, then claim the ''coup de grace''.

* ''Literature/DrGretaHelsing'': Greta is a world-renowed SuperDoc for supernatural beings. As a MuggleWithADegreeInMagic, she sometimes needs to enlist magical help -- there's cutting-edge osteopathic surgery for {{Mumm|y}}ies, but the bandages still need to be ritually reapplied.

* On ''Series/JessicaJones2015'', the difficulty of performing life saving surgery on a NighInvulnerable superhero gets briefly explored. When [[spoiler:Jessica has to bring Luke Cage to the hospital after he suffered a brain injury]] the doctors and nurses can't exactly use standard procedures; when attempting to give him injections, needles bend or break off, and trying to relieve swelling on the brain of a man you can't cut to get inside his body is a formidable task.

* In ''TabletopGame/DarkHeresy'', Medicae tests performed to heal aliens suffer a penalty, as most Imperial doctors are trained to operate on humans and are unfamiliar with BizarreAlienBiology. [[InvertedTrope On the flip side]], operating on an [[SpaceOrcs ork]] instead gives a ''bonus'' to the test, because orks are [[MadeOfIron so resilient]] that the doctor probably won't make the injury much worse.

'''[=McCoy=]:''' I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer!\\

[[folder: Films - Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/BattleForTerra'': {{Inverted}}. After human pilot Jim Stanton crashes his one-man craft on planet Terra, native alien Mala comes to check on him. Stanton is breathing with difficulty, since his air supply is almost exhausted, and he can't breathe the heavy Terran atmosphere. Mala has to cobble together an oxygen collector to keep Stanton alive.
[[/folder]]

In sci-fi and fantasy, there are many creatures that have [[BizarreAlienBiology different anatomy]] than Humans, requiring a different set of surgical skills should they be wounded. For example, [[Franchise/DoctorWho Time Lords]], [[Franchise/StarWars Zabraks]], and [[OurCentaursAreDifferent Centaurs]] have two hearts.

The creature in question can be an alien or some kind of fantastical terrestrial creature, like an elf or leprechaun. Dinosaurs also count, since they're extinct, as do giant versions of existing animals.

Some creatures - like [[OurElvesAreDifferent Elves]], [[Franchise/StarTrek Vulcans, Klingons, Romulans]], and the aforementioned Time Lords - appear human but have different anatomy, leading to overlap with HumanOutsideAlienInside.

->'''[=McCoy=]:''' You can't be serious. That thing is virtually made out of stone!
->'''Kirk:''' Help it. Treat it.
->'''[=McCoy=]:''' I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer!
->'''Kirk:''' You're a healer. There's a patient. That's an order.
-->--From ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', "Devil In The Dark"

** In the TV movie, the Doctor is shot as soon as he lands in San Francisco. He's rushed to hospital, where the human doctors successfully remove the bullet, but then they accidentally kill him with a heart probe while trying to figure out why his heart rate is so high. The Doctor tries to warn them that he's not human, but they think he's delirious.

*** In "Smith and Jones", Martha is asked to listen for the Doctor's heartbeat (in disguise as a human patient). When Martha hears two heartbeats, she gets lambasted by her teacher for putting the stethoscope in the wrong place. She later successfully gives the Doctor CPR by pumping both hearts.
*** In "The Shakespeare Code", when the Carrionites stop one of the Doctor's hearts, the Doctor has to guide Martha through restarting it again.
** In "The Tsuranga Conundrum", Graham and Ryan become the doulas for a [[MisterSeahorse humanoid alien man]]. Downplayed since [[DeliveryGuy neither are doctors]], though Graham tries to use his knowledge of ''Series/CallTheMidwife'' as substitute.

** {{Discussed}} in the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E16ProphetMotive Prophet Motive]]". When Dr. Bashir is unable to figure out what's wrong with Grand Nagus Zek using standard tests, Quark asks him to perform exploratory surgery. Bashir refuses to do so, believing it to be unneccesary.

--->'''Zoidberg:''' Alright, open your mouth and say "ah". No, no, your other mouth.
--->'''Fry:''' I only have one.
--->'''Zoidberg:''' ''Really?''

--->'''Doctor:''' Man, the guy who did this must have been a real Zoidberg.
--->'''Hermes:''' It ''was'' Zoidberg!

* Zoos rarely have dentists on staff, so when an animal requires dental surgery they often have to resort to hiring a local dentist. Doing a root canal on a lion or surgically removing an elephant's molar if it fails to fall out properly is not something that gets covered in dental school. Elephants in particular are notorious because normal dental tools are far too small for their teeth, which typically require large power tools instead.

Contrast TheyWouldCutYouUp, where the medical procedure being performed is not meant to be life-saving, and AlienAutopsy, where the creature is cut open post-mortem.

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]
* ''LightNovel/MonsterGirlDoctor'' centers around Glenn Litbell, a human doctor who specializes in treating non-human patients, from lamia to mermaids to gigas and everything in between. The series goes to great pains to describe the difficulties that these monster girl patients have due to their biology, requiring the aid of a specialist to treat them.
[[/folder]]

** In the TV movie, the Doctor is shot as soon as he lands in San Fransico. He's rushed to hospital, where the human doctors successfully remove the bullet, but then they accidentally kill him with a heart probe while trying to figure out why his heart rate is so high. The Doctor tries to warn them that he's not human, but they think he's delirious.

* ''Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill1951'': When Klaatu is shot by a panicked soldier, a group of doctors perform surgery, and remove the bullet, then Klaatu himself uses a salve to quickly heal the wound. The same thing happens in the [[Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill2008 remake]].
* ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'': When the velociraptor Blue is shot and bleeding out, Owen and Claire give her a blood transfusion from a T-Rex. [[https://slate.com/culture/2018/06/fact-checking-jurassic-world-2-can-you-really-do-a-cross-species-blood-transfusion.html Believe it or not]], [[TruthInTelevision this is actually theoretically possible]].

* ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'': It's not seen, but Bloodsport is mentioned to be in prison for putting Superman in the ICU with a Kryptonite bullet.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'': In the pilot movie, one Ambassador Kosh is mortally wounded in an attack on the station by factions not wanting it to come online. Dr. Kyle is forced to operate to save his life, but this proves a problem as the Vorlon are secretive and don't like the idea of one of their own being operated on, even to save his life.

* In ''TabletopGame/Dark Heresy'', Medicae tests performed to heal aliens suffer a penalty, as most Imperial doctors are trained to operate on humans and are unfamiliar with BizarreAlienBiology. [[InvertedTrope On the flip side]], operating on an [[SpaceOrcs ork]] instead gives a ''bonus'' to the test, because orks are [[MadeOfIron so resilient]] that the doctor probably won't make the injury much worse.