What, ask the patients why they thought they got selected for any experimentation done on them, cool as you please, and all the gory details while they were at it? Did Spock expect it to go down that easily? McCoy didn't. Information gathering among general humanoids was easy in theory, more complex in practice. There was a little something called emotions that Spock tended to forget about, and then any traumatic memories and reactions regarding their ordeals. Some might handle it better and be able to talk about it with more ease, others couldn't.

The doctor wasn't nearly as surprised to hear that specific request come again. The door had seemed to have more give to it than the nurse's station, although there didn't seem like there was that much rhyme or reason to what they locked down in the first place. Why not just keep the patient blocks locked down in the first place?

All the same, when he signed aboard the Enterprise, he hadn't thought that he'd be doing all that much of this sort of thing all the same. It was starting to feel like he was going to spend more time trying to force doors open, rely on (combined) brute strength than actually practicing medicine.

"I'm a doctor, Mr. Spock. Not a battering ram," he said. McCoy positioned himself at the door anyway, shoulder braced towards it. He met Spock's eyes, wordlessly giving the signal that he was ready, then hurled himself at it.