Basic Trope: An unlicensed medical practitioner.
- Straight: Alice is faced with an unwanted pregnancy during The '50s. She goes to see an unlicensed doctor for an abortion.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob is basically a one-man hospital, and he operates out of a small, dingy apartment. Not only does he provide abortions, but pretty much every other medical procedure in existence, from routine checkups to complex brain surgery.
- Alice literally takes matters into her own hands and personally aborts herself with a hanger.
- Downplayed:
- Bob gives Alice an illegal abortion pill, but does not perform any kind of surgery on her.
- Alice goes to a legitimate doctor who performs illegal abortions on the side.
- Justified:
- Bob went to medical school, but failed the Achievement Test of Destiny needed to graduate, because he was having a rotten day.
- Bob lost his medical license, but still retains medical knowledge.
- Bob is trying to make a quick buck by performing illegal abortions using whatever sharp objects he has on hand.
- Bob is a wizard, not a doctor, although people often come to him for medical issues.
- Bob holds a Worthless Foreign Degree.
- Bob's profession is part of a Kayfabe act in the ring. The rest of the time, he's an Office Drone.
- Inverted: Alice goes to a licensed clinic or hospital for her abortion. Dr. Bob has his credentials proudly displayed on the walls in his office.
- Subverted:
- Bob does hold a medical degree.
- Bob goes by "doctor."
- Bob is a Bunny-Ears Lawyer
- Alice calls a midwife, not a doctor.
- Double Subverted:
- The degree and its associated license are expired, or only valid in another country.
- He is Not That Kind of Doctor
- His antics have cost him his medical license, however competent he may actually be.
- The midwife doesn't, in this setting, have the same credentials or qualifications a doctor would.
- Parodied:
- Bob has written several books, and worked in a licensed hospital for years before being discovered as a fraud.
- Even if he works out of a badly-lit, dingy apartment with silverware he stole from a seafood restaurant and charges whatever amount of change is in his patients' pockets, Bob is still the best doctor in town (or at least he is when compared to the actual doctors in town).
- Zig Zagged: New Job as the Plot Demands
- Averted:
- Bob does not claim to be a doctor, legally or otherwise.
- Alice does not have an abortion. Indeed, she might not even get pregnant in the first place.
- Alice goes to a licensed doctor or hospital for the abortion.
- Enforced:
- "Let's show what a Crapsack World it is that Alice has to risk hemorrhaging to death just to get rid of an unwanted pregnancy!"
- Or, Depending on the Writer, "Let's show what a Crapsack World it is, or what a bad person Alice is, that she's willing to terminate her pregnancy!"
- "Let's show that Bob, despite not having a license, really is competent!"
- Lampshaded: "Aren't you a doctor, Bob?" "Yeah, but I'm not sure the government agrees."
- Invoked: Alice becomes pregnant. She is not married, and out-of-wedlock pregnancy is highly stigmatized, plus she has health issues that could make pregnancy risky, and the fetus was conceived as a result of rape. She decides she wants to terminate the pregnancy, but abortion is not legal where she lives. So it's either carry the fetus, DIY, or go to a clinic.
- Exploited: Bob uses this as a way to make money.
- Defied:
- In spite of everything, Alice decides to go through with the pregnancy, perhaps to put the child up for adoption (or abandon it somewhere)
- Alice does the procedure herself at home...or tries to, anyway.
- Bob turns her away, explaining that he is Not That Kind of Doctor.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Played For Laughs:
- Bob's lack of a medical degree results in him making some Bloody Hilarious errors.
- Bob gets to indulge in some Comedic Sociopathy that would get his licensed revoked, neatly also explaining why he doesn't have one.
- Bob performs Comically Inept Healing with his makeshift medical gear.
- Played For Drama: Turns out, putting someone's life and health in the hands of someone who doesn't know what they're doing, doesn't have good or even sanitary equipment, and isn't beholden to a board of health is a very risky proposition, and tends to result in severe complications, including death.
- Played For Horror:
- Bob's incompetent, badly-outfitted and unsanitary approach to medicine causes all kinds of disgusting complications that lead to Alice's suffering and maybe even death.
- The fact that Bob works out of a back alley is the first piece of evidence that he's a (literal) Mad Doctor.
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