‘Everybody has something to teach us.’ Slain SC doctor shared ER tales with readers
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Rock Hill mass shooting
A beloved Rock Hill doctor, his wife, grandchildren and a worker were killed in a mass shooting in York County. Former NFL player Phillip Adams died by suicide after being pursued by police as the shooter.
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The work of Dr. Robert Lesslie, who died Wednesday in a York County, S.C., mass shooting, was familiar to many in the Carolinas through his newspaper columns and books detailing the triumphs and challenges of emergency medicine.
Lesslie was an accomplished columnist and author who regaled readers with stories and lessons in his “House Calls” column in The Charlotte Observer in the mid-1990s, and later authored or co-authored a dozen books.
The prominent Rock Hill doctor was shot and killed along with his wife, two of their grandchildren, and a worker who was at the doctor’s home. A sixth person was injured in the shooting.
Lesslie’s weekly columns tackled both the profound and the mundane of medicine: euthanasia, snake bites, kidney stones and the importance of research when choosing a doctor.
They contained sometimes humorous, sometimes somber tales of medical mysteries and memorable patients. He wrote about the difficulty in losing patients and the triumph of saving others.
But his most-read written work came in the series of books chronicling his experiences in the ER and his Christian faith.
“There’s no better place to be an observer than the ER. You find out what people are about. Everybody has something to teach us,” Lesslie told the Observer in a 2008 interview about his book, “Angels in the ER.”
Encouraged by everyday miracles
Among his life-and-death tales, he lamented brushing off concerns from a gunshot victim, who despite the doctor’s confidence would be just fine, later died. It was a subject Lesslie first explored in a newspaper column.
There was also the story of the pro wrestler who had arrived in the emergency room needing stitches after getting stabbed by an 80-year-old fan in the audience. The fan later showed up with a broken jaw after one of the wrestler’s colleagues landed a punch in retribution.
Six months after publishing, “Angels in the ER” had sold more than 60,000 copies, according to an Observer report. He subsequently wrote several books about the heroics of medical workers, first responders and their patients, including “Angels on the Night Shift” and “Miracles in the ER.”
He also wrote books about blood pressure, cholesterol and weight loss.
While some may have despaired in the constant flow of pain and tragedy in emergency medicine, Lesslie said the work encouraged him while witnessing everyday miracles of survival and human resilience.
‘An uncommonly good communicator’
The same qualities that made Lesslie an effective physician made him a good writer, his partner Dr. Richard Bradner told the Observer in 2009.
“Robert is an uncommonly good communicator who can talk with anyone of any social or educational level, and he does that because he really listens,” said Bradner. “....And let me tell you, Robert tells it much more accurately than all those ER television shows. It’s life and death in the ER, sad and funny. It’s sometimes slow but it’s never boring.”
In January, Lesslie announced on his Facebook page that a second volume of “Angels in the ER” would be published “soon.” Amazon lists the book as available to pre-order, with a publishing date in August.
On Thursday, his website’s administrator wrote about Lesslie’s death on Facebook, and shared an excerpt he recently wrote about the death of their beloved family dog, Doxology:
“We have no idea what Heaven will look like, only that it will be perfect,” Lesslie wrote, predicting he would one day walk through a lush, peaceful green with his wife.
“And there will come Dox, charging towards us, his ears flapping in the breeze, his golden hair and majestic tail waving in the wind, and both of his laughing, dancing eyes meeting ours.”
This story was originally published April 8, 2021 at 1:19 PM with the headline "‘Everybody has something to teach us.’ Slain SC doctor shared ER tales with readers."
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