James Salinger

Dr James "Jim" Salinger was an emergency room consultant at Walker General Hospital in San Francisco at the dawn of the 21st century.

Salinger worked with nurses Wheeler and Curtis on the initial diagnosis on the gunshot-wounded Seventh Doctor. After removing the three bullets that had fairly harmlessly penetrated the Doctor's body, he judged the Doctor's apparent heart fibrillation as reason to call for emergency cardiac surgery by Dr Grace Holloway. Had his patient been human, this would have been a perfectly reasonable call on his part. However, it was in fact a fatal misdiagnosis, because he refused to believe that the X-rays, which clearly showed the Doctor's two hearts, were accurate. He unwittingly exposed the Doctor to an unnecessary operation, and, ultimately regeneration. Salinger, Wheeler, and Curtis assisted Doctor Holloway during the major emergency surgery on the Doctor. (TV: Doctor Who)

Behind the scenes

 * According only to the novelisation, Salinger's first name was "Jim". The book also suggests that Salinger was romantically attracted to Grace, as he puts himself forward as Brian's "replacement" when Brian ends his relationship with Grace.