ASI: Was the story considered unique or different?

It was written under the pen name Rene Lafayette, but we quickly figured out that it was L. Ron Hubbard. The stories had his grand, sweeping, adventurous style. It was the first science fiction series that I knew of ever to feature a medical theme. There have been others since then, but it was a first at the time. Hippocrates may also have been the first alien sidekick in science fiction. My memory doesn’t supply any earlier examples, but there have been many since.