Doctor Doctor!

[trouble]

Folks, I have a question!

If I were to ask you to list the top doctor characters in fiction - Medical Doctor or PhD or people who are Healers or Herb Witches or Midwives or basically anyone of that type of character, any medium of fiction - who would you list?

They don't need to be "good" characters. Just your personal favourites. If you have time to tell me why or link me to some great "This character is awesome because" things, that would be ace, but names are good.

I'd appreciate if you asked your friends to participate as well!

(I guess The Doctor counts, but you can only list him 11 times.)

(yes this is for a thing.)

Comments

You can tell I'm browsing the Wikipedia 'fictional doctors' category...

[silverhare]

MARTHA JONES. Nuff said.

Ioreth from LOTR, the healer from the Houses of Healing

Dr Egon Spengler ♥ "Back off man; I'm a scientist."
ETA Oh god he didn't even say that. My geekness is shamed. :( I still love Egon, though.

Doc Cottle (Battlestar Galactica) He's snarky and rude; he smokes around his patients and he doesn't sugar coat things.

Dr Karl Kennedy (from Neighbours) He's the only doctor on the whole soap, which means he specialises in everything from oncology to gynaecology and even emergency surgery. XD He knows everything and does everything that involves scenes in the hospital.

Who's got two thumbs and likes sarcasm? Dr Cox. (As a sarcastic bastard I love him; as an actual doctor he lacks a certain something. ... Bedside manner, perhaps.)

[deird1]

House, Jool from Farscape, Davis from Tru Calling, and the Doctor from Star Trek Voyager.

[facetofcathy]

Hawkeye Pierce (TV Series MASH) - because in the seventies, TV shows were about ethics and morality and flawed characters, even if they were self-satisfied about it

B.J. Hunnicutt - because there needed to be a foil to Hawkeye's cynic who still had some idealism

Leonard McCoy (TOS version) - because he was a surgeon not a bricklayer, but he fixed the Horta anyway

Martha Jones (D.Who) - she is awesome personified

The Doctor (Voyager) - because holograms can care more about their patients than Dr. House.

Janet Frasier (SG1) - she was the most believably military character on the entire show

[slave2tehtink]

Granny Weatherwax, from the Terry Pratchett Discworld books. Because she puts compassion first and does the needful thing, and is very pragmatic but kind to her patients.

[tiferet]

House, Dr McCoy (even if he is a speciesist jerk sometimes), Dr Crusher though I'm not a TOS fan, Granny Weatherwax, Janet Fraiser, whole cast of MASH, Morgan from Elizabeth Bear's Stratford Man books (note: people have demanded to know my opinion about this and that just upon seeing I've read them--don't do this, it's annoying).

also: fuckyes Martha Jones, and Dr Huang on L&O:SVU, a shrink who often brings the awesome.

Trek Docs! And an extra!

[telesilla]

Five out of six Trek doctors!

Dr. Leonard D. McCoy (both in TOS and Reboot). Because he cared and he never ever backed down when he thought it was important and because he was one third of the greatest trio of friends ever and because damnit, he's a doctor not a.... And also, I totally think he was hot back in the TV days. That Karl Urban is hot and perfect for the part kind of goes without saying.

Dr Beverly Crusher (TNG) -- Okay mostly because she was hot--sue me, I'm shallow. I feel bad for Gates McFadden because they split the CMO's job and gave half of it to Deanna and so Beverly kind got slotted into the mom role and not just with Wesley. But she was also the only one on the ship who could and did, occasionally, call Picard on his shit. And she was a very good doctor.

Dr. Katherine Pulaski (TNG Season 2)-- I know she was pretty much McCoy v.2, but I liked her abrasiveness; I thought that crew needed a devil's advocate. Also, Diana Muldaur is made of win.

Dr. Julian Bashir (DS9) -- I only watched a few seasons of DS9, but I loved Bashir so much. He was dorky and a bit full of himself and also one half of the early seasons' most awesome slash couple. Also the most obvious slash couple, even my dad noticed it.

The Holodoc (Voyager) -- Love love love him! He was snarky and sarcastic and so goddamned funny and I loved the way he fit in with the mish mash crew of the Voyager. Again I only watched a few seasons, but he was totally my favorite character. I literally squeed out loud when Robert Picardo has his cameo in First Contact.

I only watched a few episodes of Enterprise before I totally gave up on is, so I have no opinion about the doctor. In fact, I can't remember anything about him.

And an extra... Dr. Stephen Franklin from Babylon Five. I loved his character arc and his flaws and pretty much everything about him. Also? Hot.

[phoenixsong]

TV
X-Files: Dana Scully (duh)
Star Trek TNG: Beverly Crusher (duh)
Farscape: I have to say Zhaan over Jool.


Headcold is eating my brain, but I will spread the word as I can think of at least one or two people who might respond.

[wordweaverlynn]

Nanny Ogg is the best midwife, period, according to Thief of Time, and she's a wonderful character.

Captain Newman, M.D., from the eponymous book by Leo Rosten. Also a movie with Gregory Peck.

How about Lucy "The Doctor Is In" from Peanuts?

Majel Barrett FTW

[laughingrat]

The fabulous, fabulous geekery of your icon is fabulous. And so meta! She's first officer! But she's also a medical provider! In the same series! And now my head will explode with awesomeness!

So, Dr. McCoy from ST:TOS, naturally. Why? He's funny, he's highly skilled, he's humane, he's a crank, he says and does what's right regardless of what authority might think.

Granny Weatherwax, from the Pratchett books. Being a healer seems to be the biggest part of being a witch, for Granny, and she's pretty badass at it, using a combination of psychology--excuse me, "headology"--and medical knowledge to help folks with illnesses. She helps people even though she finds them absolutely infuriating, which is something I can empathize with.

[delight]

In addition to some of the awesome people I love above:

– The entire medically-oriented cast of the film "Outbreak"
– Dr. Jack Stapleton, from Robin Cook's novels
– Dr. Allison Reed from "Evolution"
– PhDs Nora Kelly, Margo Green, Viola Maskelene from Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child's Pendergast series; for that matter, Aloysius Pendergast himself has a PhD
– and Pendergast's wife, Helen, is a medical doctor! These books are amazing, what can I say
– Sid Hammerback from CSI:NY
– Nurse Jackie and student nurse Zoey from ... Nurse Jackie
– Abbey Ward in Detroit 1-8-7 (Medical examiner hilariously macabre deadpan sarcastic Awesome Lady feminist who does roller derby on the weekends? How does no one love this character but me?)

[bravecows]

Stephen Maturin, nerdy irate compassionate surgeon to the HMS Surprise in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series.

[terajk]

Oh, man,

Thirding (fourthing?) the cast of MASH. Also seconding/thirding Drs Venkman and Spengler from Ghostbusters. (Also, Dr. Stanz. Sadly, Winston Zeddemore was not a doctor).

Dr. Albert Rosenfield, from Twin Peaks. Yes, he's a jerk, but he's also a genuine pacifist (unlike everyone else), and cuts through all the crap (also unlike everyone else).

I'm glad I waited a while to answer this. All I could think of at first was Herbert West. Which is awful, because I couldn't even remember if he actually became a doctor. (He's a med student, and in H.P. Lovecraft's original story he...ain't getting his MD any time soon). But he's a doctor by Bride of Re-Animator.

Dr. West is a terrible person who makes a bunch of zombies--and an even worse knock-off of Dr. Viktor Frankenstein. (Even Lovecraft himself admitted it). But he's somehow managed to transcend his own awfulness. Jeffrey Coombs's performances as West are always fun, and according to Wikipedia, Stuart Gordon is planning an installment where he goes to the White House and reanimates the Vice-President. Not only that, but he was also a main character in a musical written by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society. He's a testament to the power of fandom to transform source material into something awesome, I guess.

[capriuni]

I'm a bit confused: by "Top doctors in fiction,' do you mean characters as the foundations of a trope, which informs society's attitudes about what "doctor" actually means, or do you mean your personal favorite characters, for whatever reason, who happen to be doctors?

Because depending on which corner of the eye I'm looking through, there is much difference of overlap between those two groups in my venn diagram.

[nicki]

Dr. John Carter of ER because I watched him grow from a wee baby doctor through all his problems into the full head of his own clinic at the exact same time I was going from a wee college freshman into a full grown and productive counselor with a graduate degree and everything.

Dr. Sam Carter PhD of Stargate because she is AWESOME and knows EVERYTHING!

Dr. Daniel Jackson PhD of Stargate because he knows almost everything and makes the team stop and think once in a while (and because I have a thing for adventure!archeologists but we won't talk about that)

Dr. Helen Magnus of Sanctuary. She's immortal and a superheroine but uses her brain too.

Dr. Beverly Crusher of Star Trek TNG. Competence and heart and she can totally create disease cures when she's so drunk she can't see straight.

Dr. Martha Jones of NewWho. Big Damn Hero. She saved the world through community organizing.

The Doctor of StarTrek Voyager. So lost and so grumpy.

[ct]

Kerry Weaver (ER) - because how often do you see a three-dimensional, disabled, lesbian character on tv?

[st_aurafina]

Helen Magnus, from Sanctuary. She's 170+ years old, but she's up to date and has Bigfoot as her surgical nurse. The way they show her practicing medicine is good - she has respect for patient confidentiality and a patient's wishes (for refusing treatment or wishing for a treatment that she didn't agree with on a personal level.)

Scully, even though she didn't practice until later. She understood the ethics of being a healer.

Jean Grey from the X-Men movies. Treating mutants means basically flying by the seat of your pants.

Oh, Carlisle Cullen from the Twilight books - I find him fascinating. Vampire who wants to heal? I wish I knew more about that.

Harry Sullivan from classic Who. Handsome Navy doctor who knew his stuff and could adapt to the weirdness of things in space.

Beverly Crusher from ST:TNG, because she was awesome and she handled small medical crises and giant planet-sized disasters, and she loved her work and she got her own ship in the end.

Doctor Bashir from DS9, because when it was really serious, he stopped being a ninny and was actually a really good doctor.

I'm sure to think of a billion more once I've posted this!

ETA: Martha Jones, omg, how could I forget you? Martha, because she knows her stuff and because she is phenomenally professional.

[highlander_ii]

adding to those already listed...

[ House ]: Dr. Allison Cameron, Dr. Cate Milton (shrink patient of the week on House), speaking of shrinks - Dr. Nolan (even if he's not always awesome at psychiatry *g*), Dr. James Wilson


[ Monsters vs. Aliens ]: Dr. Cockroach, PhD - how do you not love a mad scientist w/ a PhD in D-A-N-C-E? =)

Edit: [ Jurassic Park ]: Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Ian Malcom

[ SG-1 ]: Dr. Janet Fraser

Edit-2: [ St. Elsewhere ] Dr. Mark Craig, Dr. Philip Chandler, Dr. Daniel Auschlander, Dr. Wayne Fiscus

[ Doogie Howser, MD ]: Doogie and his father - both Dr. Howser =)

[ Frankenstein ]: Dr. Victor Frankenstein

okay - i think i'll stop there... =)

[amadi]

There was a show called "Strong Medicine" that aired on the Lifetime network. It wasn't always the best drama, but it brought issues of women's medicine to the public, and the doctors were, each in their fashion, strong, thoughtful, ubercompetent, and awesome at their craft.

[chaosinabox]

Wow, so many of the ones I wanted to list have already been listed, but I'll throw in my $0.02 anyway.

One of the few TV shows I still watch religiously is "House" so I'll have to list Dr. Gregory House. He may be a heartless bastard, but he gets the job done.

(I'll also list Dr. Remy "Thirteen" Hadly, just because I loves me some Olivia Wilde.)

Another of the few shows I still make time for is "CSI," so I'll list one of my idols, and the smartest man ever on TV, Dr. Gil Grissom. (PhD in entomology) The man seemed to know everything about everything, but rather than go the cold, logical route, he still knew when he had to be warm and fatherly and could turn it on. Plus, he had a very quirky sense of humor, and started the whole "wacky one liner before the theme song" thing before David Caruso added the sunglasses and made it famous.

I came late to the "Scrubs" party, but I still liked Dr. John "JD" Dorian. Again, he did everything he could to get the job done, but still brought an idealism to the task that just made him more...approachable.

And having been raised on "M*A*S*H" reruns, I've occasionally thought about which M*A*S*H character I'd like to have as my doctor. While Hawkeye had his sarcastic charm, and Winchester was probably technically the most skilled, I've always thought that, whenever I'm escorted into a doctor's office, I'd like to see that fatherly warmth of Dr. B.J. Honeycutt smiling back at me.

Oh, and just one "out-of-the-box" choice, I'll also throw in Wilson, the wise and wacky next door neighbour on "Home Improvement." In one episode, it was revealed that he's a fully licensed midwife, so that counts under the criteria. :-)

[scrollgirl]

Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman: Michaela Quinn, MD

Star Trek: TNG: Beverley Crusher, MD; Deanna Troi (not an MD, but a therapist)

Star Trek: DS9: Julian Bashir, MD

Harry Potter: Madam Poppy Pomfrey

Highlander: Anne Lindsey, MD; Methos *g* (though he wasn't licenced to practice during canon years)

Stargate: Janet Fraiser, MD; Carolyn Lam, MD; Sam Carter, PhD; Daniel Jackson, PhD; Jennifer Keller, MD; Kate Heightmeyer, PhD

The West Wing: Jed Bartlet, PhD; Abbey Bartlet, MD; Ellie Bartlet, MD

[tablesaw]

Oh man, there are so many! Right now, since nobody's mentioned them, I want to bring up the awesome women of color of Grey's Anatomy: Dr. Miranda Bailey, Dr. Christina Yang, and Dr. Callie Torres.

Aw man, I guess I forgot to add the Torres icon.

[originalpuck]

Dr. Leonard McCoy (Star Trek: TOS & AOS) --> He's very driven by his emotions (and he has a temper), which leads him to put his own safety at risk at times to help others. He does have issues with other species, though, which is really irritating.

Dr. Beverly Crusher (Star Trek: TNG) --> She was the first doctor character that I ever fell in love with, and one of the people that, as a child, I would compare my doctors against (I was a dorky kid, I know). She's awesome.

Deanna Troi (Star Trek: TNG) --> Deanna is someone I always loved as a kid, but I began to adore and appreciate even more as I grew up. She's the ship's counselor, which is a huge role that is all too often underestimated by fans of the show. Despite all of her personal issues, she always works to make sure that the others are well and that she can help whomever they encounter to the best of her abilities. tassosss made a love post for her over here.

Dr. Temperance Brennan (Bones) --> She's just so damned awesome. She's smarter than hell, incredibly good at self-defense, and brave as fuck. Bones has a complicated back story, she's family-oriented despite all that they've done to her, she's an awesome and popular novelist, she's devoted to her job above all else, and she's absolutely an amazing scientist. She's one of my favorite female characters of all time, tbh. :)

Dr. Camille Saroyan (Bones) --> Oh, Cam, Cam, Cam. She's definitely amazing. She's snarky, she loves her job, she has strong emotional ties, she has a family of her own, she's close to her sister, she's able to manage her entire team of very quirky and independent personalities,

Dr. George Huang (Law and Order: SVU) --> Oh, I love him so much. Even when it goes against his job description he'll work to get his patients help. He's sustained injuries on the job, and yet in at least one notable instance he shrugged it off as NBD, just a part of the job. He's also gay, which is awesome.

[vass]

I will third Dr Huang from SVU. He genuinely cares about his patients, even though his job is to assess whether they're competent to stand trial. In one case he illegally treats a heroin addict with ibogaine, and then quite calmly accepts the consequences (license suspension for six months.)

Dr Melinda Warner from SVU. She's the medical examiner. She's not a major character, but she's just there being quietly competent and determinedly professional even when those around her would rather she weren't.

Dr BJ Vaugan from Nick O'Donohoe's Crossroads trilogy. She is a veterinarian in a fantasy world, treating unicorns and gryphons and fauns as well as less mythological animals. She starts travelling to this world right after her mother committed suicide and she discovers that her mother had been diagnosed with Huntington's, and she will now have to decide whether to be tested for it.

Dr W.H.R. Rivers (the fictionalised version in Pat Barker's Regeneration, not the real man) He is a researcher forced by the war into becoming a Freudian psychoanalyst treating shell-shock patients, and he's good at it. So good that it changes him as much as it changes his patients: he started out a staunch conservative, and his experiences are splitting his mind wide open. Furthermore, it's a really good portrayal of psychoanalysis. What in particular is breaking Rivers apart is that the normal definition of 'curing' a psych patient is that they will then not go back and do whatever made them crazy. Whereas it's Rivers' job to send them back to do exactly what gave them the shell shock in the first place.

All the staff of Sector General, if only it weren't so sexist. It's kind of my dream series: a space station that's also a hospital, with the focus on xenomedicine.

Pagan Kidrouk, on the PhD side of things. Over the course of Catherine Jinks's young adult Pagan Quartet, he starts out an orphan on the streets during the Crusades, and ends up a specialist in canon law. Disability note: by the end of the series his vision is going, and he needs someone to read aloud to him. His scribe, Isadore, has epilepsy.

Sue Barton, Student Nurse, is glurge, but entertaining glurge, and with an unusual focus (for nurse novels) on the actual medicine. Of course she marries a doctor and stays home with her children, but she can't stop nursing, and the books show a whole lot of what nurses actually do, from a small scale to large.

Dottorina Cynthia Ricci from John M. Ford's The Dragon Waiting: a Medici physician. She's a good doctor, it's all the fucked-up shit around her that gives her trouble.

I can't remember her name (was it Miriam?), but the obstetrician in Dykes To Watch Out For, who's always doing a triathlon or running a marathon or something, and when Toni goes into labour, she's on a long bike ride and on getting the call thinks to herself "This should be a good workout." Also, in the prenatal visits, Toni comments that her partner Clarice is having commitment issues, to the point of having one foot out the door.
OB: My ex-husband was the same way.
Toni: What did you do?
OB: Left him and joined a seperatist commune.

Finally, the other Dr McCoy: Dr Hank McCoy, aka Beast. Because he's brilliant, witty, and also a giant blue furry beast.

[cheyinka]

Dr. Rosen, from Babylon 5 - she's awesome because she was treating people too poor to go to Babylon 5's medlab with a device (spoilers for 1x17) gung jnf cbjrerq ol ure bja yvsr raretl juvyr xabjvat gung vg jnf ure yvsr raretl gung jnf orvat gnxra. (There might be healer-type people later in the series that I like better, but I've only seen season 1 and two episodes of season 2 so far.)

I think Umegat, from The Curse of Chalion counts, too: (spoilers for the end of the book) ur cerfreirf (be nggrzcgf gb cerfreir, naljnl) gur xvat'f yvsr ol ehaavat n (zntvpny, boivbhfyl) zrantrevr, and he's also a scholar.

[entwashian]

Dr. Sam Beckett (Quantum Leap)

[holyschist]

DR. MARTHA JONES.

Um...

Rebecca of York (Ivanhoe), and her fantasy novel counterpart, Guy Gavriel Kay's Jehanne bet Ishak.

Cristina Yang (Grey's Anatomy), and for hilarity value, Dr. Cox (Scrubs).

Non-medical doctors--Bones, the first couple seasons. Cam later on. Jordan from Crossing Jordan.

All the doctors on M*A*S*H, and the nurses (but my favorite is Margaret, after they gave her character depth).

STEPHEN MATURIN.

All the Discworld witches, but especially Granny Weatherwax, Tiffany Aching, and Granny Aching.

[puzzlement]

Dr Claire Maitland, Cardiac Arrest (BBC, 1994–1996). Mr Docherty (older surgeon, thus, not titled) from the same series. Dr Pippa Moore from Getting On. Both Moore and Maitland are in some ways doctors you don't want treating you, but then, you didn't require good characters!

[d_generate_girl]

A ton of these have already been mentioned, but here goes:

Doctor Who
- Doctor Martha Jones, who knew the bones of the hand, walked the world for a year, and laughed right in the Master's face.
- Doctor Liz Shaw, who was way too good to pass Three test tubes or take the Brigadier's assorted shit, who moved to the moon, and who totally rocked the miniskirts and go-go boots before anyone else.

House
- Doctor Gregory House, because he's a bored, certified diagnostician, because he's absolutely batshit crazy, and one of the funniest people on television.
- Doctor James Wilson, who is a Crouching Good Guy Hidden Bastard and makes everyone else's manipulations look like child's play, and who takes absolutely none of House's shit.
- Doctor Lisa Cuddy, who rocks the cleavage, occasionally gets one over on everyone, and needs to be far more awesome than she ever is allowed to be.
- Doctor Amber Volakis, Cutthroat Bitch, long should she have reigned.

Star Trek
- Doctor Leonard "Bones" McCoy, grouchy and snarky and so, so brilliant, even if I am a heathen and prefer Urban to Kelley.
- Doctor Beverly Crusher, who was my first redheaded girlcrush, who was an awesome mom and awesome doctor, got her own ship, and should have hooked up with Picard way before she actually did.
- Doctor Julian Bashir, who won me over with his fiddly genes, bromance with O'Brien, and character growth.
- The Doctor of the U.S.S. Voyager, who went from "please state the nature of the medical emergency" to commanding a ship. Not too shabby for a hologram.
- Doctor Selar, who taught us never meddle with Vulcans, had a baby with a hermaphrodite, and generally kept her wits far better than anyone else.

Castle
- Doctor Lanie Parrish, medical examiner, who will wear a dress to a crime scene and her eyes are up here, Castle. Sassy, brilliant, and always, always right.

Law and Order SVU
- Doctor Melinda Warner, medical examiner, who has put up with so much assorted shit over the years it's a wonder she hasn't killed anyone.
- Doctor George Huang, who is a brilliant profiler and psychologist and needs to stop being handed the Idiot Ball.

The West Wing
- Doctor Jed Bartlet, PhD, who will school your ass on economics, Latin, and all of the punctuation in the English language. Do not interrupt him, and in his house, when he stands, NO ONE sits.
- Doctor Abbey Bartlet, MD, who never decided women were stupid, gave her husband the drugs, and got on Sesame Street.

Wire in the Blood
- Doctor Tony Hill, profiler and psychology professor, who needs to stop running out on his grad students to play detective. Very, very broken in the brain, but we love him anyway.

Criminal Minds
- Doctor Spencer Reid, boy genius and resident omnidisciplinary scientist, who keeps getting PhD's out of pure spite. Despite the brains, still does not know what Twilight is.
- Doctor Diana Reid, before the schizophrenia took over, and mainly because she's Jane Lynch.

X-Files
- Doctor Dana Scully, full stop. We do not need to elaborate on how and why Scully is awesome, we'd be here all decade.

Lie to Me
- Doctor Cal Lightman, armchair psychologist and deception expert. Outrageous enough to give House a run for his money. Squishy, adorkable center, especially with his girls.
- Doctor Gillian Foster, HBIC, who makes Cal sit up, beg, and apologize and needs to be so much more opinionated and strong than she's ever allowed to be.

[lauredhel]

What everyone says about Abbey Bartlet and Kerry Weaver and Bones and the non-Meredith women doctors on Grey's.

I love Mary, from William and Mary. It's a gentle British show about two ordinary people, a midwife (mostly homebirth, some hospital) and an undertaker, who fall in love and try to blend their families. Mary is a vehement advocate for women and there are plenty of examples of her fighting for their rights against a fairly inhumane obstetric and child protection system; but it's layered and nuanced and not a Crusading Good Against Evil fight. There are some realistic themes about the bad parts of the work getting to her, the joys being amazing highs, and the hours and conditions being messy and restrictive.

Caroline Todd on Green Wing, played by Tamsin Greig. Love, love, love. She's awkward and has bad hair days and is a right mess and I love her.

Carol Hathaway on ER, and Carla on Scrubs. I quite liked Neela and ER too, though I think she was a bit wasted.

I remember liking Vicky Dean the vet (Penny Cook) on A Country Practice. Possibly too obscure a reference for your purposes!

Speaking of vets - James Herriot!

Most hated doctor in fiction: House, both him and his characterisation.

[kerrypolka]

1. Scully!

















2. Watson?
3. Dr Perry from Scrubs?
4. Stephen Maturin
5. WHY CAN'T I THINK OF ANY MORE WOMEN :( :( :(

[smirnoffmule]

I heartily second all the cries for Bashir and the Voyager EMT, but I've also got to add some love for Enterprise's Dr Phlox. He's efficient, he's funny, he's totally humane and yet somehow creepily alien mad scientist at the same time, he likes beagles, and he's played by John Billingsley, who is a ROCK STAR. Phlox episodes on Enterprise were always a treat, because whatever the material, Billingsley rocks it.

[jenna_thorn]

I'm a little surprised that no one's mentioned Donald "Ducky" Mallard of NCIS, who is an ME so good he can spot other ME's mistakes, is a criminal profiler, and was a spy in his youth.

But if we are seconding - everyone from M*A*S*H* except Frank, whose ego got in the way. Charles at least had the skills to merit the ego. 8-) And Scully and McCoy and Crusher, yes, them too.

But mostly Ducky.

[lonelywalker]

Dr. Richard Beckett from Fast Track, which I'm pretty sure no one has actually seen. He's an ex-racing driver who turned to medicine... but he also solves mysteries, beds every woman in town, and gets frogs to mate by playing the French horn.

So he's not only an amazing doctor, but he can also solve any other problems you might possibly have, and then cook you dinner afterward. He'd be a total Gary Stu if he weren't so adorable. (Uh, YMMV.)

[katta]

Most of my favourites have already been mentioned (and I'm a tad to tired for coherent thought right now), but I want to mention Chicago Hope, at the very least Philip Watters and Kate Austin. I have a thing for overworked administrators (especially played by Hector Elizondo) and smart ladies who take no bullshit.

ETA: Ohhhh, and Dr. Peggy Fowler in Mysterious Ways. She was the sensible sceptic, which was sometimes a thankless role, but always enjoyable never the less.

[sarianna]

Trekkie and Whovian that I am, I just reread a book with one of my favourite fictional midwives ever--Dinah in Anita Diamant's "The Red Tent." It's a novelized account of the story of the children of Jacob from Genesis; she's the only daughter among a whole lot of sons and, well, it's a long but well-written story, but she does learn midwifery and saves a lotta lives including her own son's.

[dmsj]

Butters, from the Dresden Files book series.
Dr. House (of course)

[(Anonymous)]

Dr. Helen Magnus - Sanctuary, dated Jack the Ripper, friends with Einstein, Nikola Tesla, H.G. Wells, Sherlock Holmes, Roosevelt, Roosevelt, and many many more. Plus, hey, 159 yrs old. And awesomeness in ways I can't count.
Dr. Samantha Carter - PhD in theoretical astrophysics, saved the world multiple times and a soldier to boot.
10th Doctor - sneakers and a pinstripes suit, blue sonic screwdriver, Rose, David Tennant, "I don't want to go..."
Dr. Walter Bishop - is anyone more insanely awesome? Awesomely insane?
9th Doctor - Fantastic! I'm a fan(atic, thankyou Dickens)
11th Doctor - Custard and fish fingers, bow ties are cool, fezzes are cool, stetsons are cool
Dr. James Watson - SHERLOCK HOLMES!
Dr. Simon Tam - He gave up everything to save his sister. He is just...coming to SUPANOVA!

Yeah...probably more but I can't remember at the moment.