alex_greene said:
... a cryoberth is useless if the power source and backup are dead.
They are in the cyroberth as they would already be dead - and if the power is off for a week (assuming backup worked) then they probably would have other issues anyway (oxygen, heat)!
Since below TL-10 is early-stellar this is not high-tech for a starship... for pre-stellar spaceship's sure!
So the most practical solution is to go with what works, and what requires the most efficient balance of cost, space, mass and power requirements.
And as often as not, that means med tech with a cutoff maximum TL of between 8 and 9. Metal scalpels don't need batteries. Laser scalpels do.
Sounds more like an emergency med kit than a dedicated facility. This stuff is likely to be available (or at least creatable - blades/vacc suits) from the ship's locker.
The problem I see with this is it requires knowledge/skill to use any scalpel or create a sterile environment - this is were technology is going to be used... and inherently one becomes dependent on technology! Take example of a metal scalpel versus a laser one - the laser one does not require anywhere near the knowledge - of sterilization, controlling bleeding (cauterizes), or skill at controlling the cutting pressure/depth required for different tissues. It still, however, requires knowledge of where, when and how deep to cut. And if my 'battery' was dead, odds are I would know how to deal with this issue better than the affore mentioned!
Don't get me wrong - I agree with your thinking - relying on technology, especially power dependent ones, is not always a great idea! For instance, I like late model cars because they don't have 'computers' - so I've always fixed them using my senses, brains and some jury rigging. When the computer that controls the fuel/air goes - that ain't gonna be fixed on the side of the road (and I am quite experienced at repairing electronics and programming). Worse - when the battery goes its all over (well, if you're like me you have
two quick chargers with you) - the car can even come to a dead stop (which can be fatal)! With older carburetor cars one could get them running without any charge.
Yet majority of cars today all suffer these ridiculous technology limitations. And, by and by, the fuel economy as measured in mpg is worse than old style (the power per gallon is better) for American cars (Europeans models actually outperform - but that is a market thing).
And when it comes to hospitals - they aren't much different! The redundancy/contingencies are based on keeping the tech functional - not on doing without. (Again knowledge is the key - and modern societies value knowledge on using tech more than knowledge on making or fixing it, much less doing without!) I suspect that the hospital, in say, a modern aircraft carrier is quite high tech and doesn't rely on lower tech (though, especially being military - it has contingencies) - and if the power fails there very well could be deaths. Likewise, a modern aircraft probably has a defibrillator (AEDs - which require power) - possibly even the kind that vocalizes directions and checks that it needs to be applied first and in what way. Yet it may, in fact, not have a giant needle full of epinephrine for doing a intracardiac injection - though that is lower tech and does not require batteries (and like the metal scalpel compared to the laser may do more harm than good without significant medical knowledge and experience).
Given that power is
absolutely essential to surviving in space (for even the shortest of periods) I don't see any likelihood that low-tech solutions would be applied to medical needs - and that is ignoring the societal characteristics that would make this unlikely anyway.
