Orthopedist’s first novel focuses on early 20th century medical breakthroughs

Lawrence D. Dorr, MD, learned a new writing style to complete his recently published novel.

Issue: September 2012

When Lawrence D. Dorr, MD, asked his orthopedic colleagues to read his first novel, their reactions were favorable and skeptical, he said.

“Most of them could not believe I did it,” Dorr told Orthopedics Today. “For most of them, it was disbelief, to tell you the truth. I think they were surprised, both that I did it, and that they liked it.”

But Dorr, of the Dorr Arthritis Institute in Los Angeles, whose medical career spans more than 4 decades, took advantage of a window of opportunity in 2007 to try his hand at creative writing. Writing about a topic he knew well — medical history — he completed Die Once Live Twice, a historical fiction novel about the status of medicine in the United States between the Civil War and World War II.

In the novel, Dorr used famous figures like Marie Curie, Harvey Cushing and Alexander Fleming, as well as his own cast of characters, to tell the origin of modern medicine. The book identifies four major catalysts for modern medicine: the development of the diphtheria vaccine, the integration of public health policies, the creation of medical devices and the discovery of penicillin. These medical breakthroughs eventually led to the other vaccines, longer life spans, the production of fracture fixation devices and protection against infection following surgery, he said.

Dorr’s novel features historical figures and characters of his own creation to explore the origin of modern medicine.

Image: Dorr LD

Dorr said that he spent considerable time doing research for his novel, pulling facts from more than 100 books to incorporate into this work. What he found in his research shocked him.

“I realized as I got into this, I did not understand all the trials and tribulations our profession had gone through to bring it to a point that it made my career satisfying and productive,” he said. His newfound appreciation for those early efforts is conveyed in the second half of the book.

Admiration for early researchers

“It shows just by the life and the work of the characters that are in the book how hard it was to find research answers, how their research would fail. They did not have the technology we have today, so research was more difficult in those days,” Dorr said. “They did not have the foundation we have on infection and antibiotics, so they were struggling to find an antibiotic — that was one of the main sources of research during that time — up until the crescendo of the book, when they find penicillin.”

Lawrence D. Dorr

Although Dorr majored in English at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, his medical career taught him to write scientifically, not creatively, he said. A patient with contacts in the publishing industry directed him to a successful author who trained Dorr to adapt his writing style. After 3 years of coaching, the author recommended Dorr to an editor who spent another year teaching him how to write dialog, which Dorr said was the hardest part of penning the novel.

“I would not have been able to do it on my own,” he said. “There are too many tricks to writing; it is not innate.”

A small publicist in California picked up Dorr’s novel. However, Dorr said his reputation as an orthopedic surgeon helped him enlist the services of a major publicist who arranged his book tours and interviews. That has helped him make a profit off of the novel, something Dorr said neither he nor his publisher expected.

“You never know when you do something like that whether anybody is going to want to read what you write,” he said. “Almost everybody in the industry is amazed at the response that we got and the sales that we got, because I am a first-time writer and this is not a big publishing firm where they are mass marketing it.”

Dorr is writing two more books: one is a thriller and the other is a sequel to Die Once Live Twice, continuing the history of modern medicine from World War II through 1975.

Finding time to write

According to Dorr, 10% of his novel’s profits go to Operation Walk, his non-profit organization that provides free orthopedic care to domestic and international patients without access to care.

Dorr said he still writes regularly. He now uses his free time, such as when he is flying to medical meetings, to write.

“I still like my golf. I still work out in the gym. I still have a great social life. My wife and I do lots of things together. But when I get up early in the morning, I write,” Dorr said. – by Jeff Craven

Reference:

Dorr L. Die Once Live Twice. Napa, Calif.: Silverado Books; 2011.

For more information:

Lawrence D. Dorr, MD, can be reached at Dorr Arthritis Institute, 637 S. Lucas Ave., Ground Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90017; email: drdorr@me.com.
Disclosure: Dorr has no relevant financial disclosures.