First, Do No Harm (Star Trek: TOS story by Judith Gran)

K/S Fanfiction
Title:	First, Do No Harm
Author(s):	Judith Gran
Date(s):	1992
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
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First, Do No Harm is a K/S story by Judith Gran.

art for this story by Dorothy Laoang

It was published in Amazing Grace #2 which also contains its sequel "After the Tahiti Syndrome."

Summary

From the publisher: "Knowing that he could save her if they take her with them, McCoy struggles over Miramaneeʼs fate as it comes up against the Prime Directive and Kirk and Spockʼs relationship."

Reactions and Reviews

This was a very satisfying "Prime Directive" story of McCoy having to decide if Miramanee could morally be taken off planet and given life-saving treatment (after being stoned); or if she should remain on planet, and her severe injuries allowed to take their grim course. While a "McCoy" story, the K/S aspect was introduced in a tender and sensitive manner. The idea of a ship's bioethics committee was very realistic. However, considering the length of this story, I thought the introduction of the committee members, and the discussions, went on too long; especially when it was up to McCoy to take the final decision, anyway. Also, I tend to think he wouldn't have taken so long to reach the decision that he did. He's always been a healer first, and his a duty as representative of the Federation has always come second to that. On the other hand, I enjoyed following along with all his thoughts, from beginning to end. The delicateness of the situation could easily have been over-dramatized, and I appreciated the almost-understated tone of the narrative. The only stall stumbling block I had with the clarity of the writing was at the end of page 22. In reference to Kirk and Spock, McCoy thinks that, "They'd been too absorbed in each other these last few months to notice how much attention he paid to the changing dynamics between them." If I remember the episode correctly, Kirk was on the planet some two months, and, with his amnesia, be obviously wasn't "absorbed" in Spock. I had to reread the sentence a couple of times before I realized McCoy's thought was in reference to the months before Kirk was on planet. Really, a very sensitive story that covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time. It's this kind of story that takes me come away feeling guilty that, in being wrapped up in K/S, I've never given McCoy's character enough credit.

This piece is a fascinating, intelligent, and well-written examination of medical ethics, and I enjoyed much of it- It's not really a K/S story, though. It's more a detailed case study that points up a conflict between McCoy's medical ethics and the Prime Directive.

McCoy is caring for Miramanee, who has been paralyzed from the neck down by the stoning she endured for Kirk's sake. The doctor ponders the conflict between his Hippocratic oath and the Prime Directive, which would seem to be diametrically opposed on the subject of how much he may do for Miramanee and whether it wilt be possible to take her aboard the Enterprise, where Federation technology would offer her life and mobility. Worse, who is going to decide all these things? "Could he give anyone on this planet the facts they would need to make an informed choice without violating the Prime Directive?"

And there's another source of pain in the mix: Kirk and Spock are lovers. McCoy is aware of this fact even though they have not told him, and as the author says, "McCoy understood the threat that Miramanee posed to both of them if she went off with Jim on the Enterprise like so much unwanted baggage." I like the author's extrapolation of the episode: "God. how Spock must have been hurt when Kirk resisted him and called for his wife."

There's also a very nice description, through McCoy's eyes, of the beginning of Kirk's and Spock's relationship as lovers. "He could tell when the glances they traded on the bridge, always so rich in meaning, had taken on a longing, a hunger even, and how that too had changed to a kind of communion that was deeper, more intense that anything he'd ever seen between two people."

The scene where McCoy asks Spock to recuse himself from the Bioethics Committee on the grounds that Spock has a conflict of interest is wonderful. Sparingly written and in character for both Spock and McCoy, the scene also hints at the tension between the two men as McCoy tacitly reveals that he knows Spock is Kirk's lover, The Bioethics Committee is a nice idea, and very realistic, but their deliberations in this story, although important to McCoy's decision, had me nodding off. The descriptions of each member were totally unnecessary, because these "characters" never really acted; McCoy just reported on their deliberations. And the arguments, which might be interesting to a lawyer involved in this sort of thing, were pretty dry and uncalled for by the story. It would have been better to have McCoy consider alt these issues while he acted in the story--in some dramatic scenes involving Kirk, Spock, and Miramanee, for instance.

The lack of real drama slows this story down. The issues could have been examined as deeply but far more compellingly with drama. For example, Miramanee could take a turn for the worse, Kirk and Spock could both be present (with their conflicting feelings) as McCoy undertakes heroic measures to save her, only to realize he later must decide whether to leave and allow her to die. There's certainly an opportunity for a dramatic story here, but it's never pursued; instead, we're given the dry facts. It's like the difference between "Rescue 911" and the police blotter. Or between McCoy's medical log and an episode. Further. I didn't really buy the central problem of the story, because scientists are already learning, albeit slowly, that nerve damage, once thought to be Irreparable, may not be, In recent experiments, scientists have successfully regenerated nerve tissue in the spinal cords of dogs and other animals. I haven't heard of this procedure being done for humans yet, but that's certainly where the research is leading. So by the 23rd century, nerve damage and spinal cord damage will not be irreparable, and McCoy could reverse Miramanee's paralysis. Which would make an interesting story in itself-would the Prime Directive allow that kind of intervention? If not, would McCoy do it anyway?

To be fair, though, the author's interpretation is perfectly in line with aired Trek, which accepted as a given that some nerve damage was irreparable (remember the fuss about Spock's optic nerve in "Operation: Annihilate"?).

Anyway, I enjoyed McCoy's ruminations on the situation, and found the decision he came to very satisfying. Just as Kirk breaks the Prime Directive when it's the right thing to do, so McCoy will ignore the rules--and even lie by omission to Kirk and Spock-in favor of what's right. That is after all, the essence of all these men-they do the right thing, even when it might get them in trouble.

I love the title, although I'm not sure it's the oath to "do no harm" that is McCoy's reason for his decision; isn't there something in the Hippocratic oath about not standing by when it's in your power to help someone? But I realize the author may have intended to invoke the entire oath by speaking just the first sentence.

All in all, a fascinating look at some of the ethical problems spacefarers might run into. I'm glad the author brought them into the light for us to consider, and I hope more writers will deal with such weighty issues in future.

I am probably in a minority of one in not only liking this story, but wanting to see more like it. It's told from McCoy's point of view, it's not primarily about Kirk's and Spock's relationship and it has no sex. Wait- wait, don't go away.

The story is about McCoy's ethical dilemma regarding how to treat or not treat the crippled Miramanee after the "Paradise Syndrome." Kirk and Spock have an established relationship, which is part of McCoy's problem but not the whole problem. And that's what I really liked. McCoy's got a real problem. It's complicated, it involves his best friends, and none of the solutions are prefect. One of the reasons I have loved original Trek all these years is because I find Kirk, Spock and McCoy very compelling characters and I want to see how they solve problems (not itty-bitty problems like who's going to be top and who's going to be bottom, real problems.) So give me more real problems in K/S, and I'll be a happy woman.

I do have a quibble with the story, (No, it's not that there's no sex). In the middle of the story. McCoy calls a meeting of his medical ethics advisory board, and they discuss rather academically a number of ethical issues that Miramanee's case brings to light. While the writing here would have made a very interesting essay, it didn't work at all in the context of a story. It's an unfortunate problem in fiction that ideas take much more room to convey than they do in non-fiction. They really have to be processed through the viewpoint character for the reader to "get" them. There are way too many ideas here for a short story to cope with. I found the discussion fascinating anyway, but if other readers get bored they can skip ahead, because McCoy ignores the advisory board's advice anyway. In the end I found myself totally disagreeing with McCoy's decision, but it was so true to McCoy's character. I found it hard to argue with.

On the topic of sex, if you absolutely have to have sex in your stories, Ms. Gran wrote a companion story to this one that is from Kirk's and Spock's pov and has a nice sex scene. It's in the same issue of Amazing Grace, but I'm not going to review it because K&S aren't portrayed as having a real problem.