On August 1, 2018, Google's Search Liaison account confirmed a broad core algorithm update: "This week we released a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year." Google repeated its standing core-update guidance that there is "no 'fix' for pages that may perform less well other than to remain focused on building great content." No formal end date for the rollout was ever announced.
The "Medic" name came from the SEO community, not Google. Barry Schwartz surveyed more than 325 affected domains for Search Engine Land and found nearly half were in the medical and health space, with YMYL (your money or your life) pages heavily represented, and the nickname stuck. Google never described the update as targeting health or medical sites; the concentration is a community observation from that coverage.
Because it was a broad core update, Google's advice was the same as for every core update since: audit pages that lost visibility against the self-assessment questions in the core updates documentation and improve overall content quality, with meaningful recovery typically registering at a later core update. Our recovery guide covers the sequence.