Also, huge load of assumptions about whether she is experienced or not. You're basing that purely on her *age*, whereas, based on her skill set (namely, being capable of performing brain surgery), she's more than experienced.
I'm basing it on her age, and that she's never once mentioned working at any other hospital or facility, much less in the senior position. And yes, in this case, I'm applying a double standard to her vs Carson - because Jewel Staite is over ten years younger than Paul McGillion.
I try to explain myself here, but I'm not sure I'm managing it clearly...it's in my head but I'm having trouble wording it.
You don't graduate from medical school and suddenly becoming a qualified neurosurgeon. My brother is one, and it took him close to 15 years to get to the point where he could perform that sort of surgery on his own.
This is exactly my point. From Keller's apparent age and from the medical experience Keller has mentioned (none) - Keller has gotten as good as she has purely by natural surgical talent - and they let her head up Atlantis medicine based entirely on belief in that talent, not that she'd proved herself in another setting. The problem I have with "Adrift" is that, based on what she had said to Elizabeth and how Elizabeth responds, I had the impression it was the first time Keller had ever managed such a triage situation.
Keller performed admirably in "Adrift", I'm not denying that. But why would an untested doctor be put in the position that she had to manage triage for the first time, without supervision, on Atlantis? Why are there no more experienced doctors around?
You mentioned your brother - how long was it before he was allowed into a position of authority? Even if he had the ability, didn't he have to prove himself, working under other senior doctors?
Even Rodney McKay had put in years of working at the SGC before they gave him his position on Atlantis. We aren't ever given Carson's history - but he is definitely old enough to have gathered a fair bit of experience; he's not unusually young for his position. Keller is, but it's never addressed.
I can think of a few other unusually young but highly skilled doctors in scifi - Simon Tam, Julian Bashir. In both cases, a big deal was made about the fact that they were extraordinarily gifted, as well as extraordinarily ambitious. And people still questioned their ability to handle the responsibility (hey, if I was going under the knife and my doctor was 26, I'd be a bit hesitant!) Keller went to school early, and she is a good doctor (I'm not denying that) but it's never implied she's amazingly brilliant (I'm talking dozens of papers published, rock-star status) and she's not that ambitious, seeing as she didn't want the position to begin with.
And I find it insulting to real doctors, who must put in, as you say, years of experience to become as good as they are, that Keller managed to make it to head of medicine on Atlantis at her tender age, without anyone ever questioning her ability (save her herself), without having to try extra special damn hard, proving herself every step of the way.
(To clarify - I don't think it's Keller who's being insulting - it's the writing of her. The writers could have provided some reason for why Elizabeth trusted her - or else just said she was 35 and happens to look really young for her age! But they mention her inexperience and handwave over how she overcomes it, and that's what's bothering me.)
Re: second part
I'm basing it on her age, and that she's never once mentioned working at any other hospital or facility, much less in the senior position. And yes, in this case, I'm applying a double standard to her vs Carson - because Jewel Staite is over ten years younger than Paul McGillion.
I try to explain myself here, but I'm not sure I'm managing it clearly...it's in my head but I'm having trouble wording it.
You don't graduate from medical school and suddenly becoming a qualified neurosurgeon. My brother is one, and it took him close to 15 years to get to the point where he could perform that sort of surgery on his own.
This is exactly my point. From Keller's apparent age and from the medical experience Keller has mentioned (none) - Keller has gotten as good as she has purely by natural surgical talent - and they let her head up Atlantis medicine based entirely on belief in that talent, not that she'd proved herself in another setting. The problem I have with "Adrift" is that, based on what she had said to Elizabeth and how Elizabeth responds, I had the impression it was the first time Keller had ever managed such a triage situation.
Keller performed admirably in "Adrift", I'm not denying that. But why would an untested doctor be put in the position that she had to manage triage for the first time, without supervision, on Atlantis? Why are there no more experienced doctors around?
You mentioned your brother - how long was it before he was allowed into a position of authority? Even if he had the ability, didn't he have to prove himself, working under other senior doctors?
Even Rodney McKay had put in years of working at the SGC before they gave him his position on Atlantis. We aren't ever given Carson's history - but he is definitely old enough to have gathered a fair bit of experience; he's not unusually young for his position. Keller is, but it's never addressed.
I can think of a few other unusually young but highly skilled doctors in scifi - Simon Tam, Julian Bashir. In both cases, a big deal was made about the fact that they were extraordinarily gifted, as well as extraordinarily ambitious. And people still questioned their ability to handle the responsibility (hey, if I was going under the knife and my doctor was 26, I'd be a bit hesitant!) Keller went to school early, and she is a good doctor (I'm not denying that) but it's never implied she's amazingly brilliant (I'm talking dozens of papers published, rock-star status) and she's not that ambitious, seeing as she didn't want the position to begin with.
And I find it insulting to real doctors, who must put in, as you say, years of experience to become as good as they are, that Keller managed to make it to head of medicine on Atlantis at her tender age, without anyone ever questioning her ability (save her herself), without having to try extra special damn hard, proving herself every step of the way.
(To clarify - I don't think it's Keller who's being insulting - it's the writing of her. The writers could have provided some reason for why Elizabeth trusted her - or else just said she was 35 and happens to look really young for her age! But they mention her inexperience and handwave over how she overcomes it, and that's what's bothering me.)