History Main / BackAlleyDoctor

--> '''Dr Nick:''' You dont have lie here... save that for court.

-->Dr Nick: You dont have lie here... save that for court.

In nations where abortion is illegal, this doctor is the only one women can get unless they are [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney wealthy]].

* In the 1989 ''Film/{{Batman}}'' movie, the man who will become the Joker visits one of these in an attempt to get his face restructured after a bullet deflected off {{Batman}}'s armour richochets, tearing through his cheeks (the impact sends him tumbling over the catwalk railing, falling into a vat of volatile chemicals). The surgeon, however, accidentally transforms his face into a permanent smile, and upon looking at his new face in a mirror (now realizing that his skin, hair, and lips have all been discoloured) bursts out laughing hysterically. The tools used by the surgeon were the same used by DepravedDentist Orin Scrivello in the movie version of the musical ''LittleShopOfHorrors.'' One of Jack Nicholson's (The Joker) first film roles was as Scrivello's masochistic patient in the [[TheLittleShopOfHorrors original film.]]

---> " It's a fact - I'm a quack
--->The disgrace of the A.M.A.
---> 'Cause my patients die,
---> Yah my patients die, Before they can pay "

* In [[CityofHeroes City of Villains]], you change your costumes at a back alley plastic surgeon's office called the Face Maker. Not only do the doctors here operate in a filthy hospital, with un-sterile tools, but if you go around a Cap Au Diable for a while you'll find enemies murdering civilians to get skin grafts for the Face Maker to use. Geez...

[[folder: Theatre]]
* Used in the musical of ''Spring Awakening'', when Wendla's mother arranges for a back-alley abortion rather than face the shame of her fourteen year old daughter bearing a child. [[BreakTheCutie It does]] [[ItGotWorse not go well.]]
** In the original play Wendla is given abortion pills by [[DrFeelgood a rather unscrupulous doctor.]]
* Dr. Einstein, the alcoholic plastic surgeon in ''ArsenicAndOldLace''.
* Alluded to in ARaisinInTheSun. When Ruth Younger slips that "*she* said everything's going to be fine" following a supposed visit to the doctor regarding her pregnancy, her mother-in-law Lena instantly realizes she has instead consulted the local abortionist (the family is poor and cannot afford another baby), although she ultimately does not go through with the procedure.
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** Also Dr Zoidberg Slightly subverted by the fact that he actually got into medical school, but probably got kicked out of there, because he has very little knowledge about human biology. Just look at some his quotes!:

---> '''Zoidberg''': I...lost it...into a volcano.

---> '''Fry''': (impaled) Well uhh, my lead pipe hurts a little.

** Not to mention the Human Anatomy Chart in his office is upside-down.
*** This may be justified since Zoidberg is somewhere between a StarfishAlien and a HumanoidAlien. And when the crew fall into a tar pit that rapidly de-ages them...
---> '''Zoidberg''': I have to go through all of my larval stages? '''''All''''' of them?!

* Although he's implied to have possessed a medical degree, Dr. Nick Rivera from ''TheSimpsons'' is otherwise the epitome of this trope. In a one-off gig, Moe is seen to be performing back-alley surgeries out of his bar, even distributing business cards that read "That's right - ''I'm a surgeon!''"

A surgeon with medical credentials that are... less than ideal. Even so, he still gets a lot of business, simply because he never asks any questions. He does, however, expect you to do the same.

* In ''The Bourne Identity'', Bourne encounters one like this in Marseilles who was formerly a respected British surgeon, but became one of these after his alcoholism lead to him killing a patient.

* AdultSwim's website actually has a Back Alley version of TraumaCenter called ''Amateur Surgeon'', in which the protagonist [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Alan Probe]] uses makeshift tools (pizza cutter as scalpel for one) to help people that TooDumbToLive is an Understatement.

* In ''TheGodfather'' game, when you get killed you usually respawn in these folks' clinics. While the soundbites clearly show that they are meant to be these, mentioning how they're not qualified and asking not to be reported, the fact that some operate street-side clinics dents the portrayal somewhat.

He's often the only medical recourse available to criminals, who may make up his entire client?, due to legitimate doctors having to report gunshot wounds and other wounds inflicted by violence to the police. A BackAlleyDoctor funded by organized crime might have as good or better equipment and practices than a legit doctor.

*** Slander! [[spoiler: Vimes has nothing but respect for them, why as he says, 'No surgeons anywhere have cleaner sawdust on their floors than the ones in this city' :)]]
* Dr James Folsom (aka 'Doughnut Jimmy'), also of [[{{Discworld}} Ankh-Morpork]] ... actually a racehorse vet, but performing medicine on humans as well. He is trusted more by various humans because letting a horse die gets much worse punishment (underworld crime) then letting a human die.
** And yet later, Igors of Discworld (there are many) become trusted doctors, working out of anywhere. They are just so good at the job that this doesn't matter.

* Igors in the [[DiscWorld Discworld]] novels are actually better at saving lives than the "proper" doctors are; their views on aesthetics[[hottip:* :they think prominent stitches look good]] and ethics[[hottip:* :dead people aren't using their parts anymore, so why not take some for folks who need them more?]] are somewhat nonstandard, however.

* This is how women without means would get abortions before Roe v Wade.

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* ''{{Shenmue}} II'' has many back-alley doctors and dentists in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowloon_Walled_City Kowloon Walled City]], which was [[TruthInTelevision TruthInVideoGames]] because a quirk of political status meant that there was basically no government there.

* ''{{Shenmue}} II'' has many back-alley doctors and dentists in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowloon_Walled_City Kowloon Walled City]], which was TruthInTelevison because a quirk of political status meant that there was basically no government there.

*In ''Nip Tuck'', Dr. Merrill Bobolit loses his medical license after botching a cosmetic surgery on a dog, and winds up performing cheap liposuctions in the back of a Korean nail salon.

* The Doctor in the Vault City courtyard in Fallout2 probably fits a lot of this trope as well.

* "Dr." [[{{30Rock}} Spaceman (pronounced spa-chem-an)]] is a bad enough doctor that he is legally required to put quotation marks around his "doctor" title.

* "Dr." [[30Rock Spaceman (pronounced spa-chem-an)]] is a bad enough doctor that he is legally required to put quotation marks around his "doctor" title.

* "Dr." [[{{30 Rock}} Spaceman (pronounced spa-chem-an)]] is a bad enough doctor that he is legally required to put quotation marks around his "doctor" title.