Coma places medical thriller and plot front-and-center, focusing on suspense and character competence. The protagonist, a female medical student, is portrayed as skilled but faces adversity without an undue sense of ideological push. Identity factors are relevant only as they interact with the real world of medicine in the 1970s, not as a vehicle for forced messaging.

While the protagonist is a woman challenging traditional gender norms at the time, the book doesn't attack family, religion, or masculinity. It depicts social realities of the era rather than actively undermining cultural foundations; the tone is practical and less about critique, more about tension and stakes in medicine.

The narrative's conflict is institutional corruption, not ideology. Characters don’t spend much time discussing modern identity politics, and opposing viewpoints, whether conservative or progressive, are not caricatured or villainized. The book is interested in medical ethics, not pushing a social message.