March 26th - CHLORINE FOR THE GENE POOL!!!

[Marcus Talbain]

So that's the Moron that caused all this trouble!

BASH THE MEDDLING QUACK'S HEAD IN!!!

[Garbled]

I find that last scene to be much more amusing then should be natural for a peaceful creature such as myself.

[Kerry Skydancer]

Heh. I've met docs I've wanted to smack upside the head too. They forget that they're trained as high-end technicians, not researchers or scientists, and all too many of them are like that. They'll assume that the most common thing that sorta fits the symptoms is the correct diagnosis, especially if there's a fashionable treatment for it making the rounds.

[Sharuuk]

Notwithstanding my earlier post on another thread.....Much as I sympathize with Quentyn's desire to whack the Doc upside the head, (and I love the look on Doc's face in the last panel) I really can't see him committing felonious assault and aggrevated battery ........UNLESS he sends the nurse (witness) outta the room first.

Maybe a lesson in diagnostics is in the offing????


Shaaruuk

[Squirrelly61104]

Quentyn is being too easy on the Doctor.
Don't get a rod. Get the Millfolks lawyer.
Malpratice suits get a lot of bashing, and there is a lot of misuse of them.
On the other paw, there are a some doctors who seem to have gotten their licenses online, and think that makes them automatically right about everything.
Closest I ever came to such a person was a very arrogant dentist.
Luckily for me, said dentist encountered a (very recently) former airborne ranger who explained that drilling on one tooth while numbing another is a extremely bad idea.
In much the same way that Quentyn is contemplating.

[Ransom Returns]

Don't ask me why exactly, but my first inclination was to think that the doc was actually one of the Bether "disciples" or something. Sheesh, if I'm not careful, I'm gonna start looking down the list of characters trying to catch if any of them look suspicious

[Gildedtongue]

Now now, guys... Quentyn isn't some sort of vigalante, and I doubt he'd strike the doctor even if he does deserve it.

I could be wrong, though.

[Garbled]

Would you like to aggravate someone when they deliberately asked for something good for hitting people with merely because of your presence, on the chance that they'll follow your idea of themselves? =P

[Bigdude]

Let's please recall that Quentyn isn't operating at anywhere NEAR full capacity physically and mental is a little questionable too .

In other words, he doesn't have the *strength* available to do that quack major bodily harm.

Second, let's also recall that the Rac Connan culture isn't *entirely* peaceful. Sub-lethal fisticuffs or whatever is considered fairly tolerable; go back to when Quentyn was first trying to get this gig and in "council chambers" or whatever that big windbag politician said he'd beat the idea out of Quentyn personally - the wizard noted afterwards that Quentyn dropped back "into stance" and was fully ready to rumble there and then.

It's not at all impossible to have a culture (note that term: I don't mean "laws" or "government", I mean *culture*) that can accept a bit of rough and tumble but draw the line on lethal force and/or deadly weapons.

Example from our world: anybody here not heard of the Sikhs? They're a particular Asian-Indian subculture and religion that has done quite well in the US, very low (borderline unmeasurable) criminal rates, high employment levels, generally good folks. As part of their religion, every single one has a concealed dagger ("Kirpan") on them. In Fremont California a series of arguments broke out over who was going to run the local temple and a couple of good-sized brawls broke out over it, cops show up, etc....but not ONE pulled a knife and it was eventually resolved.

There's lots of clues available that say the Rac Conan are broadly similar...there are NO "weapons taboos" for example, Quentyn can pack a sword anywhere and nobody looks twice. We also see non-lethal "shock sticks" clearly meant for use against other Rac Conan, we saw Quentyn training with his dad in the use of the quarterstaff when he was boning up for what he thought would be a "Questor exam" (and the quarterstaff makes no sense at all against either animals or those gator-folk, plus they were training Rac Conan-vs-Rac Conan...).

Upshot: as long as Quentyn doesn't do the doc serious harm, I don't think he'll take any flak, definately not the way US police would do a "mandatory arrest for assault" or whatever.

[Sharuuk]

I still cannot look at that last panel without the phrase "Diagnose THIS!!" running thru my head!!

Shaaruuk

[UncleMonty]

Ah, if only the doctor had replied with something like "Yes, and it was the worst mistake of my career" with suitable remorse that Quentyn might believe the doctor needed no further discipline.

Ah, well... I won't try to guess how Ralph's going to surprise us with that stick in Quentyn's hand in the next episode. Some online comics are easy to predict, but this one? Oy!

[Squirrelly61104]

And aren't we all going to feel silly when it turns out Quentyn just had an itch on his back that he just... couldn't... reach!

[Yuoofox]

Quentyn: "Excuse me, Mr. Healer?"

Doctor: "Yes?"

Quentyn: "Could you please turn around, and could you bend over?"

Doctor: "Um, like this?"

Quentyn: "Great-- *WHAP*"

Doctor: **still touching his toes** "Hey! What was that for?"

Quentyn: "Now *WHAP* you *WHAP* know *WHAP* how *WHAP* Collin *WHAP* feels *WHAP* after *WHAP* being *WHAP* scared *WHAP* half *WHAP* to *WHAP* death *WHAP* every *WHAP* single *WHAP* night!"

Doctor: "Um, can I get up now?"

[LoneWolf23k]

Maybe Quentyn just plans to use that stick as a poker, and use it to "punctuate" his sentances as he reads that healer the riot act...

[Squeaky Bunny]

Naw, But then I don't think he's going to show the doctor the in's and out's of proctology either.

[Wayfarer]

So... everyone really thinks the doctor deserves to get beat up? I mean, sure, we'd all have liked him better if he'd have listened to Colin... but then, nearly everyone else thought he was just having night terrors, too. His only other "crime," so far as I can see, was going along with the conventional wisdom on how to deal with what he (and everyone else) thought was wrong. His parents both did pretty much the same, though they did so on the expert advice (yes, his). Do they deserve to be beat up, too?

I read back through that section, and the only thing I could see cited as his advice was that he told Colin's mom "not to be too mothering," because it would exasperate things. Be that advice sound or not, it sounds at least similar in logic to the idea of waiting a minute when a kid takes a minor fall to see if the they decide it was serious. If they jump up and go play (and they aren't bleeding to death or anything), then there would have been no point to making a fuss and convincing them that it was a problem. People can disagree on whether or not such an approach is correct, but adopting or recommending the approach is not something to get beat up over.

Was there something else in the situation that I missed?

[Bigdude]

Even with a stick in hand (and not a heavy one at that) Quentyn is NOT going to "beat anybody up" right now. Slap 'em upside the head maybe, but the doc here isn't in THAT much danger .

Which is what makes this comical instead of disconcerting.

[Mutant for Hire]

I think this is a little unfair on the doctor. In general, in most cases, the standard diagnosis and treatment work. Things were getting to the point where the doctor should have been wondering why the standard treatment wasn't working, but you can hardly expect a doctor to come up with the statement:

"Well, obviously this is the work of an evil cult worshiping the most evil being our race produced who have created a rat king which is sending rat wights to torment the boy"

And to say that the case should have been more thoroughly investigated is also being unfair to the doctor. The question is, was the kit showing any symptoms, or was there any evidence that this was something other than night terrors? The next time a kit comes in with that problem, should the doctor immediately begin looking for rat wights?

Hindsight is always perfect. It's not fair for Quentyn to judge the doctor by evidence gained in retrospect.

[Bigdude]

Yeah, well Quentyn can't even climb into bed on his own. "Judgement" ain't gonna exactly be thunderbold-quality here .

[Kerry Skydancer]

I don't think Quentyn is groused that the doc didn't realize it was wights. He's groused 'cause the guy disregarded a long-standing successful practice (having the kits sleep with the adults until they see what the 'terrors' are) to jump on the newest bandwagon and in so doing miss the clues that there was something else going on.