Thomas Eugene, to believe that the Doctor is an individual, (this term is given to or relating to a living single/separate person or thing), I would have to acknowledge that a HOLOGRAM is for lack of being a person, a (living) thing. For me it isn't. The Doctor is a developped program, improved over the years thanks to 2 brillant engineers (Torres & Kim) and thanks to Janeway's agreement/support but, his existence itself is only based on the good state of repair of Voyager. Nothing else -> if the vessel was been destroyed during a fight, the Doctor's program would have been switched off definitively, mobile ermitter or not.
Result: a computer programming is NOT and will never be an individual, regardless the range of emotions the programmer attempts to include in the database.