Doc Mitchell

Doc Mitchell is a surgeon and doctor living in Goodsprings in 2281.

Background
Mitchell was born in Vault 21, where he was known by the nickname "Mole Butt" by the younger residents. Like a majority of its inhabitants, Mitchell was evicted from the Vault by Robert House after the latter won a game of blackjack against the dwellers. After this, he wandered the Mojave as a traveling doctor, but eventually returned to New Vegas and married his childhood sweetheart. They then began traveling together and were headed to California.

However, his wife died close to Goodsprings at some point due to the weak immune system she had from living in a vault her whole life. Unable to continue without his wife, he settled down and retired there so he could always remain close to her, but also secured the position as the town's doctor.

When the Courier was ambushed and shot in the head by Benny, Victor brought them to Mitchell for treatment. They subsequently recovered thanks to the medical care provided by the doctor.

Quests

 * Ain't That a Kick in the Head: Doc Mitchell is ultimately responsible for saving the Courier's life after Benny leaves them for dead. Awakening from the coma, Doc Mitchell runs numerous procedures and tests to make sure the Courier is "alright." This serves as a milieu for character building, as well.
 * Ghost Town Gunfight: Mitchell provides the defending residents with stimpaks and/or 2 doctor's bags to help defend against the Powder Gangers.
 * Run Goodsprings Run: The player can persuade Mitchell to give them stimpaks to help the Powder Gangers with Medicine 25.

Other interactions

 * Mitchell revives the player character after being found by Victor and sets the character's stats for the game with the help of the Vit-o-matic Vigor Tester. He then gives the Courier a set of weapons (depending on tagged skills), a Vault 21 jumpsuit (either his own or his late wife's, depending on gender), and his old Pip-Boy 3000. Having either of the pre-order packs, or the Courier's Stash installed, the items will be added when the game begins, though cannot be accessed until receiving the Pip-Boy 3000.
 * Prior to leaving the house for the first time, the Courier can also gain an additional eight stimpaks if the Medicine skill is initially lower than 30 by passing a Speech check (30). An additional Medicine check (30) can be completed after using the Today's Physician on one of his tables, followed by another Speech check (30), again this must be done before leaving the house the first time. All three skill checks reward 30 XP for a total of 90 XP. Similarly, with attribute builds that start both Speech and Medicine above 30 (e.g. Int 10, Chr 10, Luck 7), Medicine can be temporarily lowered by drinking alcohol (e.g. from Mitchell's refrigerator) to temporarily lower it below 30 and enable passing all three checks.
 * During the word association part of the psych evaluation, if the player picks any of the following; kick, demolish, crush, heavy and human shield, Doc Mitchell will mention how disturbing their answers are.
 * If in the word test "campfire" is picked as an answer, the next word will be "enemy" instead of "bandit."

Vit-o-matic comments
Mitchell's dialogue is influenced by the Courier's choice of S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes.


 * If the highest attribute is Strength at 8 and the lowest is Perception at 1, he will comment on lacking Perception.
 * If two stats are at equal opposite extremes, for example Strength at 10 and Perception at 1, he will comment on the high extreme.
 * If two or more attributes are tied for an extreme, he will comment on the one corresponding to the latest letter in SPECIAL as a form of tiebreaker. For example, a Strength, Perception and Endurance all at 9, and no other attribute at 1, he will comment on Endurance.
 * If all attributes are between 4 and 7, he will use the "pretty standard score" comment.

Inventory

 * Only during Run Goodsprings Run.

Appearances
Doc Mitchell appears only in Fallout: New Vegas and is mentioned in the add-on Old World Blues.

Bugs
Doc Mitchell will not fix radiation poisoning if the player character selects any other fix after that choice until they exit out of dialogue with him.