Ethics

A heavy container falls on Worf in a cargo bay, crushing his spine and leaving him paralysed. Dr Crusher offers implants that could restore some mobility, but Worf refuses to live as less than whole and asks Riker to help him perform the Klingon ritual of suicide. Riker refuses, and later points out that by tradition the duty would fall to Worf's son, Alexander. Visiting neurospecialist Dr Toby Russell proposes a radical genetronic procedure to replicate Worf's spinal cord, but it has never been tried on a real patient and the risks are high. Crusher, already furious that Russell gave an untested drug to injured accident victims and one of them died, opposes it. Worf chooses the operation anyway. During surgery his heart stops and Crusher pronounces him dead, but his redundant Klingon physiology revives him and he recovers. Crusher condemns Russell for gambling with lives, and Worf begins his physical therapy with Alexander at his side.