Dr. Douglas Lindsey, a respected UA trauma surgeon and emergency physician who commanded six MASH units in the Korean War, died here Sunday. He was 86.
Usually seen with a cigar in his mouth — not lit, if he was around patients — Lindsey would downplay reports that he inspired the character of Col. Sherman Potter, the tough but beloved commander played by Harry Morgan on the "M*A*S*H" TV series.
Colleagues remembered Lindsey as a charismatic clinician and teacher who was loved and admired by students and patients.
"Doug was absolutely unique," said Dr. Harvey Meislin, UA head of emergency medicine. "He wanted to teach and he wanted to be a doctor, and he was great at both. He probably affected the lives of every student who came through the medical school when he was here."
Dr. Kenneth Iserson, a UA emergency physician, described Lindsey as "a brilliant guy, a mentor to anybody who was smart enough to keep up with him."
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Lindsey was a risk-taker who in 1980 ended up in a Mexican hospital after crashing his plane when he was partially blind.
He showed up in the University Medical Center ER one day after a chain-saw accident at home. He slipped while trimming a tree and the saw gashed his face, neck and torso.
He appeared covered with blood and wrapped in towels, insisting that a medical student be given the opportunity to practice suturing on his wounds. A plastic surgery team took him into the operating room instead.
The UA emergency medicine department logo includes a star because of the gold stick-on stars Lindsey handed out daily to students, nurses and doctors — anyone who did anything he considered commendable.
"Medals count for a lot," Lindsey told The Arizona Daily Star in 1983. "Some commanders feel you should be very restrictive in giving medals. I feel you should be liberal. Now I'm not a general here, but when somebody does something that's worth a good word — when they did it with verve, or they did it under pressure, or they kept their cool and handled eight patients in an hour when the normal flow is four an hour — you know, after it's over you do something nice for them."
Wally Lindsey, who said she was supervising an Army hospital in Germany when she met her future husband, described him as "a kind man who loved his work. Everybody just adored him."
Lindsey carried around with him a sheet of paper filled with short notes on dozens of surgical topics. During a quiet moment in the ER, he would bring out the sheet and give a short lecture for the benefit of students and residents — students who are continuing their training after receiving their medical degrees.
He published the collection of lectures as "Simple Surgical Emergencies: A Cookbook of Recipes," in 1983.
Lindsey earned his medical degree from Yale University in 1943, then spent 30 years with the Army, including his service with the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital units in South Korea. He joined the UA surgery department in 1973, serving as interim head of the department after the controversial firing of Dr. Erle Peacock Jr.
In 1980, Lindsey joined the faculty of the emergency medicine program. He retired about 12 years later.
Memorial service plans are pending.
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