Bitter Springs Infirmary Blues

Bitter Springs Infirmary Blues is a side quest

Overview
The Bitter Springs camp is in bad shape. Lieutenant Markland, the camp's overworked medic, is critically short on supplies. On top of that, he also lacks the training to fully deal with two types of refugees the camp has been seeing more and more: small children, and people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Unable to find solutions to these problems through normal NCR channels, Markland asks the Courier to help him. After some discussion he requests he be brought at least 3 doctor's bags, as well as some form of training on the topics of pediatric care and psychological care.

Obtaining the doctor's bags
Doctor's bags are relatively abundant, if expensive, and can be purchased from most traders or crafted at a workbench. Doctor's bags can also be found in various locations throughout the Mojave Wasteland, fully detailed in the doctor's bag article.

Psychological and pediatric training
Markland lacks training in psychology and pediatrics. He suggests the player find him books on the topics for him to learn from, but any form of training will do.

Finding the books
Both books are sold by Blake, a member of the Crimson Caravan Company who operates a small, outdoor store there. Although talking to Blake at any time will allow you to trade with him (even while he is in the barracks, asleep), the books are only sold while Blake is standing in his outdoor shop, roughly between 6:00am and 10:00pm. The books each have a base value of 20 caps, not counting price changes due to the player's barter skill. They appear in the MISC category, with the following names:
 * Tiny, Tiny Babies: All You Need to Know About Pediatric Medicine
 * Stress and the Modern Refugee: A Primer

Alternatively, the player can steal both books with relative ease. The books are physically located on Blake's inventory shelves in his outdoor shop: Both books look identical to the green-covered variety of pre-War books.
 * Tiny, Tiny Babies is located on the bottom shelf to the left of Blake, between two cartons of cigarettes and four bottles of whiskey.
 * Stress and the Modern Refugee is located on a shelf to the right of Blake, behind two ammunition containers and above a shelf containing three first aid boxes.

Have Arcade train Markland
If Arcade Gannon is following the player, he can be asked to train Markland in how to deal with these topics. This is accomplished simply by selecting the appropriate dialogue option when prompted. The game will fade to black and advance game time by four hours, after which point Markland will no longer need the player to obtain the medical texts.

Return to Markland
Once the player has medical supplies they can return to Markland and turn them in. This can be done individually or all at once. However the player completes the quest, Markland will offer a reward once all the supplies have been brought to him. Here the player has three options.
 * 1) Decline any reward: This will earn the player positive Karma (25 points).
 * 2) Accept surplus supplies: Markland will give the player some surplus medical supplies: 2 stimpaks, 4 Rad-X, and 2 RadAway.
 * 3) Demand a reward: Markland will give the player the same medical supplies as above, plus 40 caps to cover expenses.
 * The player has an option here to demand further payment, which will give you 100 caps and negative Karma (25 points). This second demand is optional.

Regardless of the reward chosen, the player will receive 200 XP for completing the quest.

Behind the scenes
The title for this quest is likely based on the song "St. James Infirmary Blues."

Bugs

 * If you have the books in your possession but select the option to have Arcade Gannon train Markland, the books will still be removed from your inventory.
 * If this is the first time that you are trading with Blake, it is advisable to buy ONLY the two books that Markland requires, because buying other items at the same time may cause the game to crash [if it does, it will crash IMMEDIATELY after the trade is completed].