It's not that that's the only option there theoretically is, ( a little wryly, ) it's just the only option we've ever practically been able to achieve without getting everyone killed.

( sometimes when it comes down to saving one person or risking everyone, you don't get to be a big damn hero about it. you don't get to say no, damn it, we don't leave anybody behind unless you want those to be your last words, never quoted. you make a hard call and then you live with it, and sometimes you wonder, but it's done and it's all you could do. maybe they'll understand, in the next life, why you chose that way. maybe they'll live longer, the next time around.

or maybe they won't. the world's getting worse and not better, every passing year. )

My experience as a healer is essentially battlefield medicine from the thick of it. When I talk about stabilizing... ( a 'hhfff what can I say' kind of sigh-- ) Let's say you lose a limb. If we move fast enough and if we can get out, I stop the blood flow. I trick the limb into believing it's still attached to a living body. We have a window of time in which I can reattach it without any lingering damage or side-effects. Without a scar, if that's the kind of thing you like.

( the verbena don't, really. they like their scars just fine. )