Dr. Salinger was an emergency room consultant at Walker General Hospital in San Francisco at the dawn of the 21st century.
Biography
Salinger worked with nurses Wheeler and Curtis to render the initial diagnosis on the gunshot-wounded Doctor. After successfully 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 likely 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 thus unwittingly exposed the Doctor to an unnecessary operation, and, ultimately regeneration. (DW: Doctor Who)
- According only to the novelization, 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.