History Main / SuperDoc

Super Doc is the only doctor in town/on the starship/in the expedition. He may have a canon field of expertise, but when called on, he can treat ANYTHING. Often in sci-fi settings, he has no nurses or other doctors to help him, sometimes with quite limited resources, and must sometimes learn and treat an alien's anatomy after about five minutes looking at it, or diagnose weird new illnesses at the drop of a hat. Even against all these odds, he usually has a high success rate. After all, he's Super Doc!

Compare OpenHeartDentistry, contrast NotThatKindOfDoctor. A subtrope of OmnidisciplinaryScientist and TheMedic. A Super Doc can be used as an excuse for TheMainCharactersDoEverything.

->''"Limited facility presents challenge...save greatest number of people using limited resources! Security threats...gangs...mercenary groups add additional difficulty, quite enjoyable! Plague stretched abilities to limit...couldn't have asked for more! Also enjoy saving people, of course...helping the helpless...greater good...all that too."''

* Doctors in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' are able to casually heal your HP, broken limbs, addictions, radiation poisoning, and sometimes, even perform plastic surgery on your face. In a world [[ScavengerWorld where almost everything is rusting and badly irradiated]].

*** Subverted by the NCR military doctor at Bitter Springs. He is a trauma surgeon stuck as the only doctor in a refugee camp full of sick kids and traumatized adults, and he needs you to find him some medical texts dealing with pediatrics and psychiatry so he has a fighting chance of giving these people something vaguely resembling adequate care.
* Dr. Baldhead from ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'', [[spoiler: better known as Faust,]] claims that he's nearly treated every disease under the sun, and is basically renowned for his godlike powers of healing -- until he goes insane as a result of [[spoiler:the Assassin's Guild (Zato-One in particular) killing one of his patients. Once he gets his sanity back (somewhat), he takes up the name Faust, covers his head in a paper bag, and [[TheAtoner tries to make up for the homicidal rampage he went on]] by putting his RealityWarper powers to use in the medical field once more]].
* Mordin-f**king-Solus from ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''. Cures a bio-engineered plague in a mob-controlled Wretched Hive while three factions of gangs battle it out and try to gun their way inside his clinic just for the spite of it. Later goes on to become a chief medical officer aboard the Normandy, helping Commander Shepard save the galaxy, rarely breaking any composure. If still alive in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' can [[spoiler:create a cure for the genophage under extreme time crunch and give [[HeroicSacrifice life to restore hope to krogan people]]]].

[[folder:Web Comics]]

[[folder:Web Original]]

* Aes Sedai in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' series have the magical means to heal almost anything short of a missing limb or death, but Nynaeve has an innate medical mastery that far outstrips even those who have studied the art for decades. Early on she uses healing magic that is far more effective, though proportionately difficult, than that considered standard by the Aes Sedai (because it provides the energy for the healing rather than drawing it from the patient themselves). Her [[AchievementsInIgnorance self-taught method]] is considered inferior by other Aes Sedai until she goes on to cure conditions such as the severing of one's ability to do magic, which was considered impossible even in the nigh-omniscient [[TheTimeOfMyths Age Of Legends]]. In the most recent book of the series (13th as of this writing), she also cured the madness brought on by using [[GenderRestrictedAbility the tainted type of magic]], likewise believed impossible.

* Myth/ClassicalMythology has perhaps the UrExample in [[Characters/ClassicalMythologyMinorDeitiesAsclepius]], a son of Apollo who was so talented he could ''bring people BackFromTheDead''. Eventually he did this often enough that Hades complained about losing subjects and [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished Zeus killed him]], but some sources state Zeus later resurrected him to Olympus as the God of Medicine.

* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': Outside the poorer districts, medicine is far in advance of our own time.

* The third Dr Mid-Nite (Pieter Anton Cross) from ''Comicbook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica'', the world's most prominent superhero doctor. As a top physician Cross is capable of all manner of various surgeries, including doing it in the dark. He is often called upon when an autopsy is needed or when a hero needs major surgery. Among Cross' notable achievements as a physician include determining [[ComicBook/GreenLantern Alan Scott]] was composed of the green flame of the Starheart, giving ComicBook/PowerGirl her annual checkups as well as testing her powers, emergency surgery on Hourman, removal of the Brainiac virus from Oracle, the autopsy of Sue Dibny in ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'', and removing the sniper bullet that wounded Lois Lane in Umec. He is also called upon by other medical agencies, such as S.T.A.R. Labs, when emergencies or dilemmas appear.

* ''Manga/FrankenFran'', of course, can fix any medical problem, but the result is usually [[HarmfulHealing worse than the original problem]].

* ''Manga/BlackJack'': The titular protagonist is a world renowed surgeon for his ability to perform treatment on virtually any species, from humans to giant clams. While Black Jack expertizes in human cardiovascular surgery, he is noted to be skilled in virtually all medical fields. He has been shown performing nigh-impossible operations, like transforming the mind of a horse into a boy's body, turning a human into a bird with working wings, or saving a literal ''alien''.

** This is surprisingly {{Downplayed}} with the Straw Hats' doctor Tony Tony Chopper. While called on a few times to resolve esoteric injury/health problems, he usually has help from whatever specialist characters the Strawhats are meeting that arc, and is in general nowhere near as omnidisciplinary as [[SupremeChef Sanji]] is to cooking, or [[GadgeteerGenius Franky]] is to heavy construction. By default, he's treated as more of the TagalongKid than TheMedic.

* ''Manga/TeamMedicalDragon'' has Dr. Asada, a surgeon so quick and precise with his hands that he can perform operation procedures that would normally be impossible for other doctors to even attempt. Dr. Kirishima, his rival, states that even a surgical robot would take at least a decade to catch up with Asada's skills. While his specialty is cardiology, he also helps out a lot in the ER department, and has even outperformed the department head, forcing the latter to follow his pace when the two are operating together. This is deconstructed when Asada performs an unorthodox procedure to operate on an emergency patient that admittedly does less damage to his internal organs, but after the patient leaves the ER, the other doctors fail to give a proper follow-up treatment, and the patient eventually dies. This would not have happened had Asada operated on the patient normally.

* Dr Leslie Thompkins from ComicBook/{{Batman}} is seemingly the jack of all medical trades when it comes to helping him in his nocturnal activities. Her day job is running a free clinic for criminals and addicts so she’s probably some sort of General Practitioner or maybe an Emergency Specialist. However she was a work friend of his dad’s who was a surgeon and in ComicBook/{{Robin|1993}} she says in the hospital she’s the only one he’ll let operate on Tim Drake. General Practitioners and Emergency Specialists don’t usually do that sort of complicated surgery.
* Comicbook/DoctorStrange is either this or ForgotAboutHisPowers when it comes to medicine. He [[NotThatKindOfDoctor was a surgeon]] whose career ended at least 15 years ago (what with Marvel's floating timeline), and as he points out in his 2019 series, that's [[TruthInTelevision actually a really long time in medicine]], and he has nightmares about being in an operating room and finding himself out of his depth after he fixes his hands. He solves this with a techno-magic transplant of knowledge to get him up to speed. Even before this, he's still been asked to do anything from give an injection to deliver babies - though this is possibly justified by the fact that Strange is canonically a prodigy with a superb memory, who studied widely. Given the fact he's a doctor with super powers, he's also a ''literal'' [[StealthPun Super Doc]].
* The third Dr Mid-Nite (Pieter Anton Cross) from ''Comicbook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica'', the world's most prominent superhero doctor. As a top physician Cross is capable of all manner of various surgeries, including doing it in the dark. He is often called upon when an autopsy is needed or when a hero needs major surgery. Among Cross' notable achievements as a physician includes determining [[ComicBook/GreenLantern Alan Scott]] was composed of the green flame of the Starheart, giving ComicBook/PowerGirl her annual checkups as well as testing her powers, emergency surgery on Hourman, removal of the Brainiac virus from Oracle, the autopsy of Sue Dibny in ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'', and removing the sniper bullet that wounded Lois Lane in Umec. He is also called upon by other medical agencies, such as S.T.A.R. Labs, when emergencies or dilemmas appear.

* Night Nurse[[note]]who actually has an MD, but acknowledges the codename is better[[/note]] provides emergency medical care for superheroes when they can't go anywhere else, and seems able to treat anything from minor injuries to operating on heroes with unbreakable skin.

* Thoroughly subverted in the ''VideoGame/HeroesOfTheStorm'' fanfic ''FanFic/HeroesOfTheDesk''. The Strategic Prevention, Extraction, and Ablation Regiment may have MagicByAnyOtherName, DeflectorShields, [[PlasmaCannon Plasma Cannons]], and [[spoiler:underwater bases]], but they don't have these. Upon intake, a patient is first introduced to a general-practitioner physician who checks for ''physical'' injuries, but is then handed off to a psychologist who evaluates for ''mental'' issues. The same seems to [[SubvertedTrope apply]] to their [[OmnidisciplinaryScientist scientist and researcher types]].

** However, both of them (And every other uptime medical professional) frequently bemoan everything that they ''can't'' do; either because of lack of equipment or specialized skills. As an example, a violinist comes to James to see what can be done for his fingers-which were deliberately broken in a rival in such a way to make impossible for him to play. James is able to restore enough functionality for the fingers to at least be usable, but he's still unable to play. Afterwards he acknowledges that he knew an orthopedic surgeon back in Chicago who would have been able to completely fix them, but this is the best he can do.

* In ''Literature/{{Hurog}}'' averted with Oreg, who can heal wounds with magic, and has the necessary knowledge for treating wounds without using magic -- but apparently he's helpless when it comes to psychological problems. He clearly is very fond of Ciarra, who is mute for what is likely psychosomatic reasons, but is never shown to have attempted to do anything about her muteness. Likewise, there's Ciarra's mother, whose brain is damaged by taking herbal drugs; that seems to be beyond Oreg's power, too. And that even though he is Really700YearsOld.

* Dr. Michaela Quinn in ''Series/DrQuinnMedicineWoman''. She was a general practitioner, diagnostician, surgeon, gynecologist, obstetrician, pediatrician, epidemiologist, ophthalmologist... Justified as she was a FrontierDoctor and the only physician in the area. Among the most amazing things she did was successfully performing a brain surgery on a child (to be fair, she tried to get a specialist) and a complicated reconstructive plastic surgery. She was often shown studying books and preparing thoroughly for more complicated procedures.

* Jack from ''Series/{{Lost}}'' , as the series went on he went from applying first aid, to running a small pharmacy using drugs found on the plane, to performing amputations and blood transfusions in the jungle, with no medical equipment.

* ''Series/ReservationDogs'': Deconstructed. Dr. Kang is introduced as the clinic's optometrist, then later treats Elora's stomach pain and Bear's injured nose in the same episode. This is lampshaded by Bear, who is confused by an optometrist showing up to diagnose his issue. Given the perpetually-full waiting room, the secretaries' apathy, and the clinic's somewhat run-down state, this is implied to be the result of a CriticalStaffingShortage on the NeglectedRez. Dr. Kang himself is exhausted.

** "Bones" [=McCoy=] from ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. The example is when he successfully treated the Mother Horta, a silicon-based lifeform whose physiology is not only completely unfamiliar to [=McCoy=], but he didn't even believe such a lifeform even existed until that very moment.

** "Doctor" (Emergency Medical Hologram) from ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', with Kes or Paris as an occasional Nurse. The EMH kind of cheats here, as "he" is essentially a 24th century supercomputer integrated with a database of '''the ''entirety'' of Federation medical knowledge''', with holograms and forcefields used to provide a "body". Kes/Paris being used as a nurse/medic was more for when they couldn't bring the patient to the Doctor, as he was stuck in sickbay by his holographic nature (at least initially), there being no projectors elsewhere on the ship.

* Subverted on ''Series/{{Superstore}}''. Tate comes in seemingly ready to deliver Cheyenne's baby, asks her if she's taken any drugs that might affect the birth...and then walks away saying his job is done, since as the store's pharmacist, he wasn't trained in childbirth. In another episode he's shown to not know how to do first aid either.

* In the ''TabletopGame/WorldOfDarkness'', your Medicine skill functions under the "bonus to your specialty" rule, apart from a rare few advanced prodedures that require either a pertinent specialty or world-class medical expertise. ''TabletopGame/HunterTheReckoning'' had a gynecologist who was treating severe trauma. Somewhat justified, as all doctors have at least a little training in emergencies.

* Doctors in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' are able to casually heal your hp, broken limbs, addictions, radiation poisoning, and sometimes, even perform plastic surgery on your face. In a world [[ScavengerWorld where almost everything is rusting and badly irradiated]].
** Special mention goes to Dr. Usanagi in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas''. In addition to normal medical services, she can also intall a number of cybernetic implants and singlehandedly averts ThereAreNoTherapists.
*** Subverted by the NCR military doctor at Bitter Springs. he is a trauma surgeon stuck as the only doctor in a refugee camp full of sick kids and traumatized adults, and he needs you to find him some medical texts dealing with pediatrics and psychiatry so he has a fighting chance of giving these people something vaguely resembling adequate care.
* Dr. Baldhead from ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'', [[spoiler: better known as Faust,]] claims that he's nearly treated every disease under the sun, and is basically renown for his godlike powers of healing -- until he goes insane as a result of [[spoiler:the Assassin's Guild (Zato-One in particular) killing one of his patients. Once he gets his sanity back (somewhat), he takes up the name Faust, covers his head in a paper bag, and [[TheAtoner tries to make up for the homicidal rampage he went on]] by putting his RealityWarper powers to use in the medical field once more]].

** Dr. Chakwas. Despite being an old woman, and the fact that humanity has only had thirty or so years' experience dealing with alien species, she knows how to treat just about any wound on any sort of species. Liara T'Soni (a 106-year-old asari scientist) is impressed at how much she knows about her species' physiology. She later proves how unflappable and determined she is by surviving the destruction of the original ''Normandy'', leaving the Alliance just to serve aboard the illegally-constructed second ''Normandy'', and pulling herself together after being abducted and almost liquified by the Collectors. She flat out tells you that she'll go through any sort of hell to serve at your side. How's that for UndyingLoyalty?

* Both a Super Doc and an even more literal "Super" Doc would be ''[[WebComic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja Doctor McNinja]]'', who has a degree in almost literally everything (he spent his college years being in dozens of places at once through the power of cloning) and also has great experience treating the kind of medical problems for which there are no degrees (like a disease that turns people into Paul Bunyans or makes your ass turn into a spider at night). On top of that he fights crime and saves the world in his spare time.

* ''Website/SCPFoundation'': One of the rare beneficial and benevolent [=SCPs=] found is SCP-2295, an autonomous teddy bear that can come to life and perform life-saving transplants by sewing together new organs out of nearby textile materials like cloth or yarn. The new organs work just like real human organs despite being made of fabrics and are never rejected by the patient. The one time they gave it a patient with brain hemorrhaging that even it couldn't save, it tried its hardest for about a minute in an increasingly panicked state before [[LetThemDieHappy producing a king-sized chocolate bar to give to the patient while cuddling them and crying until the patient died]].

* Emergency Room-physicians must be equipped to identify and handle a truly staggering number of topics, both medical and psychiatric, in an environment where seconds count and a single mistake can easily cost someone their life.

** Trafalgar Law from is literally a miracle doctor as his Devil Fruit, the Op-Op Fruit, allows him to perform any kind of surgery that would otherwise be impossible for a regular surgeon. He has been shown treating poisoning, paralysis, dismemberment, and wounds ranging from bullet-sized to fist-sized in fatal areas.

* ''Series/ReservationDogs'': Deconstructed. Dr. Kang is introduced as the clinic's optometrist, then later treats Elora's stomach pain and Bear's injured nose in the same episode. This is lampshaded by Bear, who is confused by an optometrist showing up to diagnose his issue. Given the perpetually-full waiting room, the secretaries' apathy, and the clinic's somewhat run-down state, this is implied to be the result of a CriticalStaffingShortage on TheRez. Dr. Kang himself is exhausted.

* Dr Leslie Thompkins from ComicBook/{{Batman}} is seemingly the jack of all medical trades when it comes to helping him in his nocturnal activities. Her day job is running a free clinic for criminals and addicts so she’s probably some sort of General Practitioner or maybe an Emergency Specialist. However she was a work friend of his dad’s who was a surgeon and in ComicBook/RobinSeries she says in the hospital she’s the only one he’ll let operate on Tim Drake. General Practitioners and Emergency Specialists don’t usually do that sort of complicated surgery.

* Mordin-f**king-Solus from ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''. Cures a bio-engineered plague in a mob-controlled Wretched Hive while three factions of gangs battle it out and try to gun their way inside his clinic just for the spite of it. Later goes on to become a chief medical officer aboard the Normandy, helping Commander Shepard save the galaxy, rarely breaking any composure.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'': The [[NoNameGiven "frog-faced doctor"]] seems to be capable of treating ''anything''. Now, he does have access to some seriously advanced medical technology, but thus far the only things he's been unable to cure have been cases where portions of his patient's brain have been outright destroyed, and in one of those cases he found a workaround anyway. There's a reason that members of [[WainscotSociety the underworld]] call him [[RedBaron "Heaven Canceller"]].

* ''Manga/TeamMedicalDragon'' has Dr. Asada, a surgeon so quick and precise with his hands that he can perform operation procedures that would normally be impossible for other doctors to even attempt. Dr. Kirishima, his rival, states that even a surgical robot would take at least a decade to catch up with Asada's skills. While his specialty is cardiology, he also helps out a lot in the ER department, and has even outperformed the its department head, forcing the latter to follow his pace when the two are operating together.