Underground doctors - need info / research resources

[AXJ]

I just came up with a concept for a story about a doctor who provides services for criminals and/or people who can't otherwise access normal medical services. He'd be someone with a traditional medical background, but who lost his license.

Do you guys know of any other novels / movies / tv shows / etc with this kind of premise?

How would a guy like this go about acquiring the sort of drugs/equipment he'd need to, say, treat gunshot wounds...for example, anesthetic drugs?

What other factors should I consider, here?

[Aimless]

Hmmm, I dunno, I've seen several movies where doctors treat criminals and other shady types for cash but hmmm... :|

Getting drugs on the black market shouldn't be that difficult however.

[melydia]

Crap, I so totally know of a TV show or something with a similar premise, but of course I can't think of it now. I'll get back to you.

However, I seem to recall the doc had friends who still worked in the hospital, and was able to get drugs and equipment through them.

[Kail]

Osamu Tezuka did a few comic books on something similar, I think, starring a character named "Black Jack." Tezuka was a doctor himself, so there might be some details there worth checking out. I'm not sure how he handled the issue of supplies, but depending on how well connected your character is, they might be able to have someone glom lower grade anesthetics and so on from less tightly regulated venues, like veterinary clinics. Also, different countries have different drug regulations, so you could theoretically get them manufactured somewhere else where they're not regulated and then smuggle them in.

[Tundra]

That was in an episode of The Bill once... Someone stole a kidney or something, from a medical facility. There were drugs and crime involved, and an ex surgeon who was working in the back room of a garage. It was just a minor, one episode story, I don't even know why I remember it.

[AXJ]

As a sidenote, if it helps, my general plotline was something along the lines of- while this guy was a legitimate doctor, he was one very crooked dude. He'd give out oxycontin perscriptions to any junkie willing to kick him a $50 and pay his office fee, he'd cheat insurance companies, he'd show up for operations stoned or drunk. Etc. Basically just a greedy, self-absorbed guy.

After losing his license and maybe spending a little while in prison, then emerging back into the world a penniless guy with no (other) marketable skills and a criminal record... he ends up relying on the people he used to despise- his neighbors in his grimy apartments would need to teach him a lot of things about being poor, like how to use a laundrymat and how to eat for cheap.... and eventually it's a bit of a revelation for him. But through all these folks, he eventually he makes a contact on how he can work again... after a fashion. Perhaps a mob boss or gang leader can set him up with a sterile room and equipment, if he'll patch up his soldiers when needed. When he's not needed for that... they don't care what he does, as long as it's not costing them anything.

Now he's walking a fine line: he cares a lot more about people than he used to, but the only way he can do what he loved, and maybe help the people are getting financially raped by the american medical system, is to engage in more criminal activity. And he's still someone who is used to being greedy, and that sort of behavioral habits don't go away all at once, so it'll be a fight against himself, between greed and guilt and conscience.

....does this sound interesting at all?

[vindemiatrix]

Sounds fascinating to me. I'd read it.

Other than that I can't really help though. ;__; Sorry.

[Kail]

Now he's walking a fine line: he cares a lot more about people than he used to, but the only way he can do what he loved, and maybe help the people are getting financially raped by the american medical system, is to engage in more criminal activity. And he's still someone who is used to being greedy, and that sort of behavioral habits don't go away all at once, so it'll be a fight against himself, between greed and guilt and conscience.

....does this sound interesting at all?

Uh... cough... I'd be REALLY careful with how you portray this guy. Much of my family works in health care, and I know a fair number of doctors. The insinuations that doctors by and large are greedy, uncaring, wealthy, et al, are going to raise some hackles. The idea that this character wouldn't know how to eat for cheap, wouldn't know how to use a laundromat, and so on, might be seen as insulting. The idea that this character has to become a criminal to "do the moral thing" in treating the poor could be seen as similarly offensive (by insinuating that a doctor who isn't a criminal is therefore immoral). I understand that you probably mean for this guy to be atypical, just... y'know... be careful that you don't come across as generalizing this to doctors as a whole, or you're going to seriously annoy some people.

Aside from that, sounds really interesting. A neat mix between realism and moral philosophy.

[Aimless]

Whatever you do, you'll annoy someone. With this you'll prolly annoy far fewer people AXJ, so go for it ;) It doesn't seem like too bad an idea. Sounds like it could be a good plot for a TV series even :)

[Elski]

Sounds like a good read to me.

[phage2004]

I like the story a lot. I wouldn't worry about offending people who work in health care, there will always be some group or another who will be annoyed at your doing. I suspect that more people will ike the premise, then dislike it.

[Aimless]

Can't this doctor be from some former soviet state or something? :(