J.S. Steinman



"But that was then, when we took what we got, but with Adam... the flesh becomes clay. What excuse do we have not to sculpt, and sculpt, and sculpt, until the job is done?"

Dr. J. S. Steinman is a high-profile cosmetic surgeon in Rapture and the main antagonist of the second level Medical Pavilion. A perfectionist, Steinman was in love with his work, so much so that he became obsessed with human anatomy. Wanting to become a "Picasso of surgery", Steinman began to mutilate his unfortunate patients' bodies in horrific ways, usually resulting in death. When the player first enters his area, Steinman can be overheard wondering why humans have two of most body parts. His fixation on physical perfection, combined with the effects of increased use of ADAM, turned him from a surgical perfectionist into an "artistic" monster. His audio diaries are the first real exposure the player has to the total effects (mental and physical) of repeated splicing. Although Steinman was a perfectionist in surgery, it is revealed in an audio diary that he is not the chief of surgery; he instead may be the chief of plastic surgery. Steinman is the first boss the player encounters.

Before coming to Rapture, he was a respected medical professional at the Benjamin Church Medical College. Steinman had a successful career as an orthopedic surgeon but earned his highest accolades in the field of plastic surgery, inventing techniques that revolutionized the field. He was sorely missed by his friends and colleagues after disappearing to go to Rapture. His close friend Dr. Richard Clerkwell even hired a private detective to attempt to track him down.

Quotes by Dr. Steinman incude:


 * "Above all, do no harm."
 * "Aesthetics are a moral imperative!!!"
 * "ADAM denies us any excuse for not being beautiful."
 * "She had no excuse."



One diary reveals that Dr. Steinman became so utterly obsessed with making his patients beautiful, that he actually began seeing hallucinations of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of beauty. Dr. Steinman looked to this imaginary figure to guide him in his quest to make his patients as beautiful as she (in his mind, she encouraged him to make his patients non-symmetrical, only furthering his desire to become the "Picasso of surgery") but his constant failures only drove him further and further down the road of insanity. When Fontaine's recruits rose up, Steinman locked himself in the surgical area of the Medical Pavilion, operating on the remaining Splicers in the pavilion. Atlas informs Jack that he'll need the key Steinman possesses to travel to Neptune's Bounty.

When the player finally meets Dr. Steinman "in the flesh", he is operating on a Splicer:

"What can I do with this one, Aphrodite? *begins stabbing the splicer in frustration* SHE WON'T - STAY - STILL! *stops stabbing* I want to make them beautiful, but they always turn out wrong! *points to three Splicers suspended from the ceiling* That one, too fat! This one, too tall! This one... too SYMMETRICAL! And now-" 

At this point, Steinman turns and sees Jack.

"What's this, Goddess? An intruder! He is ugly! UGLY! UGLY! UGLY!!! *pulls out a machine gun and opens fire* Look at you, HIDEOUS!!"

In one example of this boss fight, seen on YouTube, Steinman can be heard screaming at the player, "LOOK IN A MIRROR!!!"

Fighting Dr. Steinman


Dr. Steinman is a relatively easy fight, as he will simply attempt to shoot the player with a machine gun. There are several different ways to go about winning the fight. The most straightforward, and probably hardest is to shoot back; it takes a while to whittle down his health. One problem with this strategy is that once he is at low health, he will run over to a nearby Health Station and heal. Hacking the Health Station will set it to poison him when he uses it and helps to finish the battle more quickly.

Other, possibly easier strategies include using a low area containing water to shock him with Electro Bolt, and using the Telekinesis plasmid to pick up and throw a nearby barrel at his head. An oil slick near the operating table can also make the fight remarkably short: if Security Bot is used to ignite either Steinman or the slick while he is on it, it can be a very fast one-way trip to BBQ'd Steinman (especially on the easier levels).

There are also a nearby Security Bot and Turret, both of which can be hacked before the battle begins. The turret isn't very useful since it rarely has line of sight to Dr. Steinman, but the drone provides some extra damage and hacking the turret will ensure that there is one less thing that is shooting at the player. In fact, Steinman may attack the bot to the exclusion of anything else, making him an easy target so long as it is still fighting him, but this does not always occur.

Another way to defeat Steinman involves a little luck, when you get to the spot were Steinman runs away, instead of moving forward head straight towards the hallway towards where you fight him. The game will trigger a grenade to fall and Steinman will run forward. But because you beat him there he will be running into debris nonstop. Just keep hitting him with your wrench (because for some reason he won't fight back) until he should die. Any other hits won't matter because they don't affect him. Now just continue your business til' you need to come back to clear the debris. Steinman will be gone until you find him in the surgery room. Since you whittled his health down to the point of death, all you have to do is hit him once and he dies.

Audio Diaries

 * Medical Pavilion
 * Adam's Changes
 * Higher Standards
 * Limits of Imagination
 * Surgery's Picasso
 * Symmetry
 * Aphrodite Walking
 * Not What She Wanted
 * Gatherer's Vulnerability