Star Trek: 10 Weirdest Medical Cases
4. Patient: 29-Year-Old Klingon-Human Female
Case: Total Systemic Invasion by a Cytoplasmic Pseudoparasite
If you're a practising physician in Starfleet, you're bound to encounter lifeforms that will challenge everything you learnt about exobiology. When your patient has been attacked by a creature that is nothing human(oid), you might have to consult a specialist.
The physiology of the 'pseudoparasite' in this case was so unfamiliar that standard tricorder scans were entirely ineffective. The being was capable of freely traversing forcefields, then latching onto any person in the vicinity by piercing the neck and releasing a paralysing agent into the bloodstream. Host cardiopulmonary, renal, and autonomic nervous systems were severely affected, with the alien drawing proteins and white blood cells from the host's body to survive. Treatment required stimulation of the alien's secondary neocortex by cortical probe until tendril withdrawal from host internal organs was observed, and the lifeform could be returned to its people.
Given the manner in which the expertise required to save both patients was obtained, this case had a number of moral, ethical, and historical ramifications for all those involved. There are boundaries to the acquisition of knowledge, and we are reminded of the ultimate responsibility of every medical professional: Do no harm!