hmmm -- I've never been into 'westerns' that much, but Epic's suggestion has intrigued me... and after finding some guides to 19th century medical practice, it started to sound like fun (well, so long as I'm not the patient).
How about . . .
Pericles Overton, born in Massachusetts, 1842.
As a young med student assisting in the casualty tents of the Civil War, he witnessed first-hand the failure of traditional medical treatments. But he quickly became so deft with scalpel and needle that he was doing amputations as quickly and cleanly as the experienced doctors. So they didn't mind too much when he would stay up late dissecting the severed limbs and injecting strange chemicals into them. But when he began using the same chemicals on still-living patients, the more traditional doctors nearly got him expelled.
After the war, his course through school was touch & go, as he only barely managed to keep the faculty from finding out about his continued illegal experiments. After graduating, he was shipped off to a small town that didn't care for him much -- but Pericles preferred to keep his distance anyway, and when he found a black fellow who was none too squeamish about what happened to dead bodies he happily resumed his experiments.
Pericles is a curious mix; on the one hand he is a thoroughly modern physician well-versed in the new practices of medical hygiene, anesthesia, and germ theory. On the other, he believes passionately in the miraculous power of medicine. He is eager to discover the secrets of limb transplantation, curing madness through brain surgery, implanting animal organs into humans for enhanced health and function, restoring the dead to life...
Code:
Name: Pericles Overton
Attributes [70]
ST 9 [-10]
DX 11 [20]
IQ 13 [60]
HT 10
HP 9
Will 13
Per 13
FP 10
Basic Lift 16
Damage 1d-2/1d-1
Basic Speed 5.25
Basic Move 5
Ground Move 5
Water Move 1
Social Background
TL: 5 [0]
Cultural Familiarities: Western (Native) [0].
Languages: English (Native) [0]; French (Accented) [4]; German (Broken) [2]; Latin (Accented) [4].
Advantages [40]
Acute Taste and Smell (1) [2]
Acute Touch (2) [4]
High Manual Dexterity (1) [5]
Less Sleep (2) [4]
Unfazeable [15]
Disadvantages [-40]
Addiction (Tobacco) (Cheap) (Highly addictive; Legal) [-5]
Callous [-5]
Low Pain Threshold [-10]
Obsession (Long-Term Goal; immortalize self through astounding medical achievements) (12 or less) [-10]
Skinny [-5]
Workaholic [-5]
Quirks [-4]
Dislikes old people [-1]
Dislikes salesmen [-1]
Dislikes superstition [-1]
Uncongenial [-1]
Skills [84]
Biology/TL5 (Earthlike) IQ/VH - IQ-3 10 [1]
Boating/TL5 (Unpowered) DX/A - DX-1 10 [1]
Chemistry/TL5 IQ/H - IQ+0 13 [4]
Connoisseur (Music) IQ/A - IQ-1 12 [1]
Connoisseur (tobacco) IQ/A - IQ+0 13 [2]
Detect Lies Per/H - Per+0 13 [4]
Diagnosis/TL5 (Human) IQ/H - IQ+1 14 [8]
Diplomacy IQ/H - IQ-1 12 [2]
Expert Skill (Thanatology) IQ/H - IQ+0 13 [4]
Fast-Talk IQ/A - IQ+0 13 [2]
Fishing Per/E - Per+0 13 [1]
Guns/TL5 (Pistol) DX/E - DX+1 12 [2]
Hypnotism (Human) IQ/H - IQ-1 12 [2]
Intimidation Will/A - Will+0 13 [2]
Pharmacy/TL5 (Synthetic) IQ/H - IQ+1 14 [8]
Physician/TL5 (Human) IQ/H - IQ+1 14 [8]
Professional Skill (Distiller) IQ/A - IQ+0 13 [2]
Psychology (Human) IQ/H - IQ-2 11 [1]
Riding (Equines) DX/A - DX-1 10 [1]
Scrounging Per/E - Per+1 14 [2]
Smuggling IQ/A - IQ+0 13 [2]
Stealth DX/A - DX+0 11 [2]
Surgery/TL5 (Human) IQ/VH - IQ+3 16 [20]
Swimming HT/E - HT+0 10 [1]
Wrestling DX/A - DX-1 10 [1]
Stats [70] Ads [40] Disads [-40] Quirks [-4] Skills [84] = Total [150]
Hand Weapons
Ranged Weapons
1 Remington New Model Army, .44 Caplock LC:3 Dam:2d pi+ Acc:2 Range:100 / 1100
RoF:1 Shots:6(10i) ST:10 Bulk:-3 Rcl:3 $200 Wgt:2.9 Notes:[3]
Armor & Possessions
1 Fishing Kit $5 Wgt:0
1 Grooming Kit $25 Wgt: 0.5
1 Cigar Case $30 Wgt: 0.1
1 Hip Flask $10 Wgt: 1
1 Doctor's Bag $50 Wgt: 2
1 War surplus belt holster $25 Wgt: 0.5
1 box spare cartridges & caps (12) $2.4 Wgt: 3
Surgical Instruments $300 Wgt:15
Chemistry Kit
Microscope
Bed roll
Rain slicker
Cold Weather outfit