Plot
Dr. Phlox tells T'Pol that his treatment of her possibly fatal Pa'nar Syndrome is losing effectiveness, and he would like to make confidential inquiries about the disease with Vulcan doctors attending an interspecies medical exchange on the planet Enterprise orbits. She resists, but Phlox chooses to go anyway. Before he does, one of his wives, Feezal (Melinda Page Hamilton), arrives to help install a new microscope.
Phlox's inquiries with the Vulcans yields little information. When the Vulcans come on board Enterprise and interview Phlox and T'Pol, it is clear that his subterfuge had failed. The Vulcans trick T'Pol into giving a medical sample, which confirms to them that she has Pa'nar.
Captain Archer is upset that he had to learn about T'Pol's condition from the Vulcans. It then comes out that T'Pol could lose her commission because Pa'nar is a stigmatized disease. It is only transmitted via mind meld, and the Vulcans have a low opinion of the practice. Archer then pays his own visit to the Vulcans—which is no more fruitful than Phlox's first visit. That is until one of the doctors, Yuris, sets up a secret meeting with T'Pol to give her the information she seeks. He is a mind melder, and feels a sort of bond with her, but she lets it be known that the infectious mind meld, her only experience, was forced. In reality, she was mentally raped. He tells her to tell the others before the Vulcan High Command is informed of her condition. She refuses.
Archer uses a loophole in Vulcan protocol to force a hearing. T'Pol stands by her silence, and Archer stands by his science officer, all the while arguing with the Vulcan doctors. Dr. Yuris then exposes T'Pol's secret, and reveals that he himself is a mind melder. As a result, he's suspended, but T'Pol is allowed to remain on Enterprise. T'Pol continues to take the high ground and will inform the High Command about the events; she hopes to encourage others to challenge bigotry.
While all of this was going on, Feezal was making constant amorous advances on Commander Tucker. He can't quite wrap his mind around a culture where polygamy is the norm for both sexes and bows out as gracefully as he can, but Phlox and Feezal can only shake their heads and laugh in bemused wonder... "Humans."
Read more about this topic: Stigma (Star Trek: Enterprise)
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—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
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—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)