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 sociopathic Mad Doctor who displays no interest or concern towards his patients whatsoever, but is nevertheless brilliant at treating them.
- Dr. Bob's rudeness is so extreme that it's like a memetic disease — he pisses off someone who pisses off someone else who pisses off someone else and it's a good day when only half of the county wants to tear itself apart. Bob considers it a good day when the whole county wants to kill him, as long as it's because he's right.
- The entire hospital is full of abrasive egotistical doctors who regularly berate patients, nurses, technicians, and each other, and treat patients on the basis of "those who pissed me off last" instead of "life-threatening emergencies first".
- Downplayed:
- Dr. Bob is extremely blunt towards his patients but doesn't go out of his way to upset them unless they're being difficult.
- Dr. Bob is not mean for the sake of being mean but rather highly practical - he won't utilize bedside manners unless it's necessary because some patients actually do prefer their doctors being no-nonsense and he will get in your face and call you an idiot if that's literally the only way you will learn.
- 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.
- Bob's patients are very stubborn, nasty, and all around Jerkasses themselves, so to deal with them while and between treating, he has to act like a jerk in kind and keep them in order.
- Inverted:
- Dr. Bob is a pleasant and personable man, but a terrible doctor.
- When Bob goes to the hospital he constantly makes sarcastic remarks to his doctors, all while cooperating with them fully.
- 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!
- Medical schools teach there students how to be jerk to there patients as part of official training. Some courses include how to uncover patients embarrassing secrets and how to belittle them into compliance.
- 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.
- The writers are big fans of House, M.D..
- Lampshaded:
- "What do you prefer? A nice doctor to comfort you on your last breath? Or a mean one to heal you?" "Spend some time around this doctor, you'll be BEGGING for the sweet release of death!"
- "You know, it's funny... Everyone seems to think I'm an asshole, but they always come running back to me if they find some strange new place to bleed from."
- Implied: Accountant Will is looking over the hospital books to see where he can cut some corners and he notices a very expensive item with a HUGE label (in red letters and underlined an absurd number of times) that reads: "LEGAL FUNDING FOR BOB-RELATED LAWSUITS—DO NOT TOUCH".
- Invoked: Doctor 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.
- Exploited: Evulz recommends Dr. Bob to Alice when she turns out to be sick, knowing perfectly well that the result will be a billion psychological scars and a health so good that she will live a long life to feel every single one of them (barring being Driven to Suicide).
- Defied:
- Doctor Bob is forced to consult a professional in order to get rid of (or at least minimize) his sociopathic tendencies.
- Dr. Bob is fired and blacklisted as soon as he's caught being a Jerkass to Alice — Dean Kim absolutely refuses to have an abusive sociopath on her staff, even if he's a man capable of finding the Cure for Cancer literally in his sleep.
- Discussed:
- "Would you prefer a doctor that calls you an idiot but cures you or one that makes you feel loved as you die?" "Talk to my doctor, he'll have you begging for the second one!"
- "Fuck's sake, doc! Would it really kill you to just be an affable human fucking being for once!? God, people like YOU are the exact fucking reason why people flush their meds down when you're screaming bloody fucking murder for the most asinine bullshit! At this point, I'd rather be dead croaked with no hope of revival than be within a fifty mile radius within your presence!"
- Conversed: "Sweet Jesus, ever since Gregory House got that Nobel Prize, it seems everybody's racing to hire the biggest assholes on the block, don't they? Looking to see if lightning hits twice?"
- 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.
- Played For Laughs: The whole show is about Dr. Bob and how uncomfortable the patients get when he treats them, but they have no choice as he's 'The best doctor in town.'
- Played For Drama:
- Dr. Bob's bitterness causes psychological problems for Alice, which makes her mental state worsen despite being steadily recovering her physical health.
- Dr. Bob's constant belittling, insulting, disclosing of secrets (a huge violation of patient-doctor confidentiality) and overall bitterness drives Alice to commit suicide from the shame. Alice's boyfriend Jim confronts Dr. Bob with this information, but because the man is such a Jerkass that he can't bring himself to even pretend to be sorry when confronted with the aftermath of his actions, Jim kills Dr. Bob in (a rage-and-grief-filled) revenge.
- The episode of Alice and Jim: The Series has Dr. Bob as the Victim of the Week. His tremendous jerkassery got him fired and blacklisted from every legal medical facility on the planet and his attempt at being a Back-Alley Doctor got cut short violently because the kind of patients willing to look for a back-alley doctor are not the kind of patients willing to tolerate being treated like idiots.
- The episode of Alice and Bob: The Series is a Take That! to Scrubs, revolving around how Bob's unrelenting treatment of every student doctor, nurse and lesser admin in the hospital as punching bags for his sarcasm has directly led to a mass exodus of said personnel under the umbrella of "toxic environment". Alice eventually had to point out to Bob that his most beloved Dr. Cox was repeatedly mentioned to be a Sad Clown and going nowhere fast with his career.
- Played For Horror: Dr. Bob isn't just a Gregory House-like belittling jerk, he's a complete and utter psychopath with a Hair-Trigger Temper that will kill you if you countermand him in any way, shape or form — even something inconsequential like taking your pills five seconds too early.
Back to Dr. Jerk. And while you're at it, eat your damn heart pills for Christ sake! You lazy bum! What?! Do we have universal health care so that idiots like you could flush your meds down the toilet?!
