Emergency Medical Hologram
The EMH is a holographic computer program designed to treat patients during emergency situations, or when the regular medical staff is unavailable or incapacitated. EMHs are now a standard feature onboard all Starfleet ships, but they are there only to supplement the living medical crew, not replace it. Programmed with all current Starfleet medical knowledge, the Doctor and all Mark Is are equipped with the knowledge and mannerisms of historic Federation doctors, as well as the physical appearance of their programmer, Dr. Lewis Zimmerman.
There has been only one update to the Mark I seen on screen, the Mark II played by Andy Dick in the episode "Message in a Bottle", which supposedly had a "better" bedside manner than the Mark I, as well as possibly some updated medical information. However, later episodes mention that further versions of the EMH exist.
Read more about this topic: Doctor (Star Trek: Voyager)
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