Russ Dorr has been a PA for 38 years, and friends with author Stephen King for nearly as long. The two first met in 1974 when King became a patient at Dorr's clinic in Maine. At the time King had just one book under his belt, the novel Carrie. A short time later, Dorr began advising King on the gory medical details of books such as The Stand, The Shining, Pet Sematary and Misery, researching everything from how viruses mutate to how to cauterize a wound with a blowtorch.
He took on an even larger research role in King's November 10 release Under the Dome, a thriller about a small Maine town that suddenly becomes sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. One of the characters is Rusty Everett, a physician assistant who must deal with the mysterious medical situations that arise when a town is abruptly cut off from the rest of the world.
Click below to watch a video of Dorr talking about the PA character and what it was like to work with King on the medical details of the book.
Dorr will be featured in the February issue of PA Professional where he will discuss his relationship with King and how he came to be an adviser to one of the most successful authors of our time.
