Doc Daneeka

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Doc Daneeka is a fictional character in the 1961 novel Catch-22, written by Joseph Heller.

Doc is the squadron physician at a U.S. Army Air Corps base in Pianosa during World War II, and a friend of the novel's protagonist, Yossarian. "Catch-22" itself is first explained to Yossarian when he asks Daneeka to excuse him from combat duty.

Doc was portrayed by Jack Gilford in the 1970 film adaptation of the novel directed by Mike Nichols.

He was drafted just as he was making lots of money by taking patients of other drafted doctors; he feels that his problems are infinitely worse than anyone else's. He spends his time getting his temperature checked by his assistants which is always 96.8º. He is basically a tool of the Army. He could ground the men by declaring them ill-fit for combat, but refuses to do so for fear that he will be shipped off to the Pacific front. He gets in his flight hours by convincing McWatt to put him on the flight roster and ends up being declared dead when McWatt smashes into a mountain. The Army declares him dead rather than admit that the roster might be wrong. Daneeka's wife collects GI insurance and many other donations in Doc's name and, in the end, prefers him dead to alive. The doctor's fate appears to illustrate the capricious, impersonal attitude of the bureacratic system. He supports the system by not grounding any of the aircrews, but then the system turns on him and basically destroys him despite his loyalty.Template:Fict-char-stub