VIEWPOINT
favorite characters. Doc managed to be involved with
DOC ADAMS By Frank Skilling, M.D.
everyone on the show at one time or another, and he often gave sage advice to Matt or Kitty or anyone passing through Dodge. He seemed to embody the type of physician we all
I’ve only gotten to know one person fairly well who was
wanted to have when we were sick or injured. He just knew
a media star, whatever that means in today’s world of
exactly what to do for a patient, and he could spot a horse
instant internet celebrities who show up and are gone in the
thief or a bank robber a mile away. Many of the injured
proverbial fifteen minutes. I did stand next to O.J. Simpson
characters were patched up by Doc Adams and sent on
in 1979 while he picked up a to go order at a breakfast
their way or sent to jail as their case necessitated. He was
café in San Francisco’s North Beach, and in 1992 I rode
no-nonsense, direct, perceptive, loyal and unflappable. And
in an elevator with Howard Stern as he left his New York
in 1971, Doc Adams himself was in dire need of a good
radio studio before leaping into a waiting limousine and
surgeon.
speeding off. My wife, who reads People Magazine regularly, didn’t recognize either one of them at the time. I did, but I didn’t let either one of them know that I knew who they were. Stern seemed surprised I didn’t. O.J. was in too big a hurry to notice me. Unlike a lot of Tallahasseans, I don’t particularly care if I have an autographed photo of Bobby Bowden in my home, even though I think he is a fine man. Since Bear Bryant died, I’ve had trouble getting excited about any living football coach.
At that time I was a junior medical student at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, one of the premier centers for cardio-vascular surgery. Milburn Stone had developed severe heart disease which required open heart surgery, then a relatively new field. Even though he lived with his family in Los Angeles, he was referred to John Kirklin, who was one of the post-World War II developers of the field. While Kirklin was chairman of surgery at Mayo Clinic, he pioneered the post-operative care for these patients. Indeed
The one exception to my nonchalance was Milburn Stone,
it was said that Kirklin spent the night sleeping on a cot at
who played the character Doc Adams on the TV show
the bedside of the first thousand cardiac surgery patients
Gunsmoke from 1955 until 1975. Doc Adams was a crusty
he operated upon. The post-op ICU at UAB was noted for
frontier doctor who was the confidante of Marshal Matt
providing care that was unsurpassed anywhere in the world.
Dillon, Miss Kitty and Chester on the hugely popular
A few medical students in their third or fourth years were
Saturday night series which was consistently the number
hired to work as ICU assistants at night to help care for the
one program in the “golden age” of TV. It was a fictional
many patients who had undergone heart surgery during
story set in Dodge City, Kansas, and it captivated millions
the day. I applied for a job while I was on my psychiatry
of viewers including my physician father, who rarely
rotation which was usually finished by 5 PM. Once hired,
watched TV at all. However, his Saturday nights were
I would report to the ICU and work until 11 PM or so.
dedicated to the thirty minutes spent in Dodge City, and
It was a great experience, and the first time I’d had a real
Matt (James Arness) and Doc Adams were clearly his
job in medicine that actually paid me something. I also
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CAP SCAN - A CAPITAL MEDICAL SOCIETY PUBLICATION 11