# Doctors and specialties (inspired by "Lost")
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctors-and-specialties-inspired-by-lost/498572
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 3, 2009, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctors-and-specialties-inspired-by-lost/498572 "2009-06-03T13:27:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2009, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctors-and-specialties-inspired-by-lost/498572/1 "2009-06-03T13:27:43Z")
How much medicine would a doctor be able to safely practice outside of his narrow specialty?
In this case a main character on Lost is a spinal surgeon, but is seen caring for everything from bullet wounds to thoracic impalements. Would a doctor with such a specialty really be able to successfully treat trauma victims, when that is often a specialty in itself? Well, sure, he could do it better than a guy off the street, but this guy is presented as Super Doc.
---
### Author:  [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2009, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctors-and-specialties-inspired-by-lost/498572/2 "2009-06-03T13:46:08Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#):
>
> How much medicine would a doctor be able to safely practice outside of his narrow specialty?
>
> In this case a main character on Lost is a spinal surgeon, but is seen caring for everything from bullet wounds to thoracic impalements. Would a doctor with such a specialty really be able to successfully treat trauma victims, when that is often a specialty in itself? Well, sure, he could do it better than a guy off the street, but this guy is presented as Super Doc.
I have not seen the show.
It depends on the specialty.
All medical students get a broad exposure to a little of everything.
After medical school, specialists attend 3-8 years of residency programs focusing in on that specialty, with a narrower and narrower focus.
Many surgical residencies offer an initial broad exposure to various general surgery fields before narrowing down their focus.
It’s realistic to me that a neurosurgeon could expand out to basic thoracic trauma care in a pinch. Not that much of a stretch; many thoracic spine procedures involve an anterior approach anyway.
It’s unlikely that a retinal sub-specialist, dermatologist or pathologist would be as comfortable, though.
---
### Author:  [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2009, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctors-and-specialties-inspired-by-lost/498572/3 "2009-06-03T13:57:30Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#):
>
> How much medicine would a doctor be able to safely practice outside of his narrow specialty?
>
> In this case a main character on Lost is a spinal surgeon, but is seen caring for everything from bullet wounds to thoracic impalements. Would a doctor with such a specialty really be able to successfully treat trauma victims, when that is often a specialty in itself? Well, sure, he could do it better than a guy off the street, but this guy is presented as Super Doc.
I suspect he’d be able to do a better job at injury care than many other doctors, given that his specialty involves a lot of wound repair (accident victims etc.). Even though his specialty isn’t the immediate post trauma stabilization that a true ER specialist would be skilled at. And of course he’s presumably done a lot of this stuff during his various rotations during internship / residency. I’d rather have Jack around than a dermatologist, for sure!
Juliet’s skill at abdominal surgery is more questionable - she’s a doctor, but has been doing pure research for years. Yet she’s able to do an appendectomy, and later on a c-section.
---
### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctors-and-specialties-inspired-by-lost/498572/4 "2009-06-03T14:37:14Z")
The c-section makes a sort of sense - she is, after all, a fertility expert, which means she probably has some knowledge of female anatomy.