Dr. Jerk/Playing With

Basic Trope: A doctor (or similar medical practitioner) who is cold, hostile, mean-spirited and / or aggressive towards his patients, usually while simultaneously being devoted to treating to the best of his ability.

• Straight: Dr. Bob is rude and scathing towards Alice when she comes in for treatment, but accurately diagnoses her illness and makes sure she receives appropriate treatment.
• Exaggerated: Dr. Bob is a complete sociopath who displays no interest or concern towards his patients whatsoever, but is nevertheless brilliant at treating them.
• Justified:
  • Dr. Bob has seen many of his patients die since becoming a doctor, and has decided that the best way to avoid the emotional turmoil that comes of this is to keep those he treats at arms length. The best way to do this is through insults and abuse.
  • Dr. Bob is just naturally a bit of a jerk... A jerk with impressive skill and knowledge, nonetheless.
• Inverted: Dr. Bob is a pleasant and personable man, but a terrible doctor.
• Subverted: Although Dr. Bob has a poor reputation, when Alice goes to see him she is surprised to discover he is nothing less than civil and courteous to her.
• Double Subverted:
  • It's an act; Dr. Bob is soon making snide comments about her. To her face.
  • ...Or Bob has been making sardonic comments about her all along, she just hasn't noticed it yet because of his polite demeanor.
• Parodied:
  • Dr. Bob's jerkass nature expresses itself in really childish and immature ways that leave Alice puzzled more than annoyed.
  • Bob acts as he was a Drill Sergeant Nasty in front of his patients, vigorously yelling at them, calling them with humiliating and elaborate nicknames and telling things like: "The more you hate me, the faster you'll heal, maggot!". And it works!
• Deconstructed: Dr. Bob might be a brilliant doctor, but the fact that he has no bedside manner and on the surface no concern for his patients means that no one particularly wants him to treat them, meaning that his practice and his career suffers. Furthermore, the distance he places between his patients and himself means he becomes too detached from them, which affects his ability to practice medicine effectively; he cannot effectively treat people if he doesn't care at all about them.
• Reconstructed: While he does remain sarcastic and bitter, Dr. Bob does make an effort to demonstrate that he does have a sufficiently large heart of gold in order to continue with his profession.
• Zig Zagged: Dr. Bob is a complete jerk... to patients that he doesn't like. To others, he's absolutely charming. But his moods are volatile and easy to switch, so even they are kept on their toes around him.
• Averted: Dr. Bob is not unusually snide, cynical or unpleasant to his patients.
• Enforced: The character of Dr. Bob is a Take That an an unpleasant doctor his creator once had the misfortune of seeing.
• Lampshaded: "What do you prefer? A nice doctor to comfort you on your last breath? Or a mean one to healing you?"
• Invoked: Dr. Bob's boss doesn't like him, and assigns him unlikable patients on purpose. In response, Doctor Bob acts like a jerk, hoping the patients will request a new doctor.
• Defied: Dr. Bob is forced to consult a professional in order to get rid of (or at least minimize) his sociopathic tendencies.
• Discussed: ???
• Conversed: ???

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