Brig Physician SOP Changes

[Sweaterkittens]

Hello all!

If you're a part of the Paradise Discord server, you've probably heard at least one of heated discussions revolving around the Brig Physician role lately. Too many people are abusing the role by treating it like a Security Officer with medical access, rather than a Physician with Security access. Additionally, there have been some concerns with Brig Physicians building a second medical bay in the security wing - while in my experience this is extremely rare, I do believe it's something that's unhealthy for the game, and shouldn't really be happening at all.

Rather than remove the role completely, as I believe it has a lot to offer in terms of both roleplay and gameplay, I'm proposing some minor changes to the Brig Physician SOP. While I'm not operating under the delusion that these will completely fix the issues that people are taking with the role, I do believe that it's a step in the right direction, will discourage BP's from abusing their position, and provide a springboard for both IC and OOC intervention. Combined with a time-lock or increased karma cost on the role, I believe that we will see a marked improvement in the quality and playstyle of Brig Physicians in the future.

 

My additions will be in green, removals in red with a strikethrough, and my explanation of the amendments in spoilers.

I have adjusted the wording on some of the entries, primarily changing "Brig Medbay" to "Security Medbay" as that is the formal title of the room, which I believe is appropriate for a formal SOP. 

 

Code Green

1. The Brig Physician may not, under any circumstance, arrest anyone perform arrests, detain crewmembers, or process them for brigging;

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Just an amendment here to really drive home that you're not a security officer, you're there to provide medical care. 

2. The Brig Physician may not, under any circumstance, interfere with Security’s duties;

3. The Brig Physician may not, under any circumstance, directly alter a sentence, or attempt to contest one with Security personnel. Contacting a Magistrate/IAA/NT Representative is still acceptable;

4. The Brig Physician must wait until someone is brigged and their timer starts before bringing them to the Brig Security Medbay. Exception is made if the Head of Security or Warden allows it, or there is a problem that requires immediate medical aid to prevent death;

5. The Brig Physician may not stop a timer if a prisoner is brought into the Brig Security Medbay for treatment. The timer is to continue while they are treated. If the timer runs out during medical treatment, the prisoner is to be released;

6. The Brig Physician may not restrain a prisoner unless they are actively hostile;

7. The Brig Physician is permitted to carry a flash and a can of pepperspray for self-defense purposes only;

8. The Brig Physician must maintain the Brig Security Medbay, himself themselves, and all treated prisoners in a hygienic condition. Should the need arise, this extends to the rest of the Brig as well;

9. The Brig Physician must escort all prisoners requiring surgery to Medbay personally, and make sure that they are returned to the Brig before being released. The Brig Physician may also choose to construct a smaller surgery room inside the Brig Security Medbay;

10. The Brig Physician is not permitted to construct a Cloning Chamber or Cryogenic Cell in the Security Medbay. Patients requiring cloning or cryogenic treatment are to be personally escorted to the medical bay to receive such treatments; 

11. The Brig Physician is not permitted to surgically install combat implants;

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While neither of these things happen with any sort of frequency, they really shouldn't be happening at all, barring extenuating circumstances. Cloning is already a divisive topic, and officers being able to pre-scan on green is not good for game balance. By restricting this in the early game, it should effectively remove it altogether, as a Brig Physician is highly unlikely to be able to gather the parts and set up a functional cloning setup if station is in crisis. Similarly, combat implants should be a late-game response when dealing with overwhelming threats (such as several fully-powered vampires), not something that should be getting installed to prepare for them ahead of time. 

10 12. The Brig Physician is not obliged to treat any injuries prisoners sustain from self-harm. If they kill themselves, put them in a body bag, label the body bag with their name and "suicide", and deliver the body bag to medical for storage in the morgue. obligated to treat any injuries sustained via self-harm. If a prisoner commits suicide, they are to be placed in a body bag, labelled appropriately with their name and "suicide", and delivered to the Coroner to be interred in the morgue.

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This is primarily a wording change, as I didn't care for the way the original was formatted. Functionally, the entry is the same. 

 

Code Blue

1. All Guidelines carry over from Code Green.

2. Additional equipment may be provided by the Warden for self-defence. 

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The frequency and lack of threat at which Code Blue is called makes this line basically a free pass to get a taser (or worse) in almost every round barring extended. The Brig Physician should really only be arming up if there is a credible threat to the station that requires full crew involvement (in which case, you're probably not on Blue anyway) or if they are specifically and credibly being hunted, which is an extenuating circumstance.

 

Code Red

1. All guidelines carry over from Code Green;

2. All guidelines carry over from Code Blue;

3. Additional non-lethal equipment may be provided by the Head of Security or Warden for self-defense purposes only; 

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Moving this line from Code Blue to Code Red, with the addition of non-lethal specifications for the weaponry. I think it's important to drive home that 99% of the time, BP's should be non-combatants.

4. The Brig Physician may surgically install combat implants with authorization from the Head of Security or Captain. 

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Having mentioned combat implants on Code Green, I felt as though it was prudent to address here as well. This could potentially be amended to Captain-only. This should potentially provide enough checks and balances (as the production of combat implants would need to be cleared with the RD/HoS, then delivered to the security wing, then authorized to be installed into Security Officers.) 

 

 

 

Please give me your thoughts! Additionally, while I know that Brig Physician is a hot topic right now, I would like to keep the discussion centered on the potential SOP changes, rather than "should the role exist", as that it outside the scope of this thread. Thanks!

Edited October 20, 2021 by Sweaterkittens
Adjusted for gender-neutral pronouns

[PacifistDalek]

Not a lot to add, I like the changes a lot! 

[Andromedus]

Though I don't play security a lot, the changes look good. Though, whilst reading it, I did notice that there is a mention of the brig physician as "himself" in bullet point eight. Maybe add updating that to a gender neutral term could be done as well.

[Sweaterkittens]

Thanks! I didn't notice that, I'll amend it to a gender-neutral term.

Edited October 20, 2021 by Sweaterkittens
grammar