Walter Dishell

Dr. Walter Dishell was interviewed for three hours in Los Angeles, CA.  Dr. Dishell described how he first got involved in television when he was approached (while a resident at UCLA medical center) to become the medical advisor for a television movie called U.M.C., which severed as the pilot for the long-running drama series Medical Center.  Dr. Dishell talked about his work as the medical advisor to this series and the various medical subjects it explored including an episode that led to a change in real-life laws regarding employment discrimination of recovered cancer patients.  Dishell talked about his continued work as a medical advisor on various television series while he maintained a full-time private practice.  He detailed his work on M*A*S*H including advice he gave regarding medical procedures as they were in the 1950s during the Korean War.  He described the episode he co-wrote with star Alan Alda (“Life Time”) that unfolds in real time and centers on an arterial graft operation.  Dishell talked about several other television series in which he was associated as a medical advisor and writer, including: T rapper John, M.D., House Calls, and Family Medical Center.  B-roll consisted of photos from U.M.C. (with Edward G. Robinson), Medical Center (including stills from the bill signing resulting from the cancer patient episode), M*A*S*H (including the script cover page of the “Life Time” episode), and a card from the game “Trivial Pursuit” which featured a question about the medical advisor on M*A*S*H.  The interview was conducted by Gary Rutkowski on November 18, 2003.