This was one of the better stories on NIGHT GALLERY. Burgess Meredith is a trained physician whose career went on the rocks. He has become an alcoholic and a derelict. He has a bottle of booze and is drinking the rotgut when he stumbles on another derelict played by Chill Wills (who keeps repeating his name "Heppelwhite" as though it is his last shred of dignity). Wills and Meredith fight over the bottle, and it breaks. Shortly after, near some garbage cans, Meredith finds a black bag. He opens it and discovers it is a futuristic medical device (with an instruction book) that has to be two or three centuries in advance of current medical and surgical knowledge.
Shortly after we see some future figure talking to his bosses over a type of combination phone and radio. He reports that one of the men on his spaceship, during a visit to 20th Century Earth, lost his medical bag, and that they are worried if it falls into the wrong hands what might happen.
Meanwhile Meredith and Wills return to their slum tenement, and they hear that a neighbor has suffered a bad fall and may be paralyzed. Meredith, knowing the current standard of surgery, realizes that the person will be paralyzed if treated at a typical hospital. He checks the instruction book, and sees how to use the device inside the bag to take care of such compound spinal fractures. He goes into the apartment of the injured man, and soon the man is up and about totally cured. Meredith's face brightens. Soon he is taking care of the physical problems of everyone in the building and on the street. He feels wonderful - he's regained his confidence. And he realizes that if he presents the device and booklet at a conference of the medical profession, he might go down in history as a great healer.
What he does not realize is that Wills is growing increasingly angry and jealous at Meredith's great luck. So when Meredith is not looking, Wills sneaks up behind him and kills him. Now Wills can get the credit of the wonderful discovery.
A number of weeks pass, and Wills (now cleaned up and dressed respectably) is holding a press conference in front of the American Mediacal Association. He is talking about the cures the device has produced, and that it will revolutionize the medical profession. Of course, while there have been rumors of "great cures" they were done by Meredith, and Wills barely knows anything about the medical sciences. Then one of the doctor says to Wills, "How do we know if this odd device is even safe to use?" Wills says, "You know if a sharp blade like the one on this device is driven into the carotid artery it will result in instant, unstoppable death! I will demonstrate before you my complete confident in safety of the device by showing what happens when I try to drive it in!" In the meantime we momentarily zoom ahead two or three centuries to our space traveler, again talking to his bosses. He tells them that they have given up trying to find the device and black bag, but that it does not matter - the device's warranty period is up, and now it will simply revert to being a regular sharp cutting knife.
We are shown the auditorium where the demonstration/press conference was going on. Grim faced men are leaving it's doors, and the man who asked the question to Wills turns to another person and says, "If he had to commit suicide, why did he have to do it in front of everyone?"
Shortly after we see some future figure talking to his bosses over a type of combination phone and radio. He reports that one of the men on his spaceship, during a visit to 20th Century Earth, lost his medical bag, and that they are worried if it falls into the wrong hands what might happen.
Meanwhile Meredith and Wills return to their slum tenement, and they hear that a neighbor has suffered a bad fall and may be paralyzed. Meredith, knowing the current standard of surgery, realizes that the person will be paralyzed if treated at a typical hospital. He checks the instruction book, and sees how to use the device inside the bag to take care of such compound spinal fractures. He goes into the apartment of the injured man, and soon the man is up and about totally cured. Meredith's face brightens. Soon he is taking care of the physical problems of everyone in the building and on the street. He feels wonderful - he's regained his confidence. And he realizes that if he presents the device and booklet at a conference of the medical profession, he might go down in history as a great healer.
What he does not realize is that Wills is growing increasingly angry and jealous at Meredith's great luck. So when Meredith is not looking, Wills sneaks up behind him and kills him. Now Wills can get the credit of the wonderful discovery.
A number of weeks pass, and Wills (now cleaned up and dressed respectably) is holding a press conference in front of the American Mediacal Association. He is talking about the cures the device has produced, and that it will revolutionize the medical profession. Of course, while there have been rumors of "great cures" they were done by Meredith, and Wills barely knows anything about the medical sciences. Then one of the doctor says to Wills, "How do we know if this odd device is even safe to use?" Wills says, "You know if a sharp blade like the one on this device is driven into the carotid artery it will result in instant, unstoppable death! I will demonstrate before you my complete confident in safety of the device by showing what happens when I try to drive it in!" In the meantime we momentarily zoom ahead two or three centuries to our space traveler, again talking to his bosses. He tells them that they have given up trying to find the device and black bag, but that it does not matter - the device's warranty period is up, and now it will simply revert to being a regular sharp cutting knife.
We are shown the auditorium where the demonstration/press conference was going on. Grim faced men are leaving it's doors, and the man who asked the question to Wills turns to another person and says, "If he had to commit suicide, why did he have to do it in front of everyone?"