Lawrence Douglas Dorr M.D.

Dr Dorr replaced BOTH of my husband's knees in ONE procedure in 2000. His surgery was suppose to last for 10 years. It has now been 25 years and my husband's knees are still strong!!! Dr. Sorry was an amazing surgeon!!! Thank you, Dr. Dorr!!!

Hello I just heard of Dr. Dorr´s passing today from my sister Crystal Sanchez who is at USC Keck Arcadia waiting for a femur operation. In relaying the information to me she was crying as she has deep affection and appreciation for him as he did her hip replacement surgery over 40 years ago and I think 1 or 2 other replacements.

She has fond memories of him and now I´m learning of all his accomplishments and legacy he´s left behind. This world is a much better place because of him and what he built and continues to leave behind as my sister´s current surgery will be done by one of Dr. Dorr´s many students and protégés a Dr. O´Dowd will be doing this surgery and of course was taught by the best!

May his legacy continue to serve countless patients and healthcare professionals for at least decades to come and may God continue to bless and comfort his family friends and colleagues.
PS my sis sends her love.

Sincerely,
Randy Munoz, Vice-Chair
Latino Diabetes Association

Prayers to Mrs..Dorr, Mike, Randy and daughter. He was such a genius and such a wonderful person. That really cared about his patients. I was his personal Executive Secretary in the late 80s and early 90s at KJOC. I'm late but loss for words. Thank you for letting me be a part of your team. He trained very successful surgeons. He will be missed and remembered.

Thanks to Dr Dorr - you did both of my hips and also my son Stephen Clark - God bless you from the Clark family

34 years, 6 hip replacement surgeries - he was my doctor, surgeon and friend
In 1986, he had recently joined Kerlan-Jobe in LA and was gaining quite a reputation for surgical excellence. To this day, I can close my eyes and see him standing at the window looking towards LAX as he said yes, he would take my case and operate on my hips. He gave me back my active lifestyle, an active lifestyle that most hip replacement patients never attain: camping, hiking, snowshoeing, square dancing, tennis, pickleball, water aerobics instructing. Dr Dorr and God kept me moving and walking without pain! I shall forever be thankful for his care, skill, vision, tenacity and friendship. He was a blessing to the orthopedic community, so many people and the world. It was an honor to know him and be one of his patients.

His legacy lives on in our hearts.......and, for me, in my hips!

In loving memory of a wonderful person. We will love you and miss you always.

I am very saddened by hearing of Dr. L.J. Dorr's passing. I am a patient of his whom really was the most dilligent as well as caring physician I believe I have ever known. In December 1978 I fractured a deadened femur (petrified) for the 2nd time. And by the miraculous hands of Dr. Dorr I began mending through Old School Orthopedics
via Buck-Traction which is unheard of today due to the cost of Long-Term hospitalizations and advances. None the less he chose my treatment plan very meticulously and it prooved to be the better.
For that Dr. Dorr, I am sure there is a place in heavefor you. You and Victoria Canham were then and still are the
best medical caregivers I have ever known.
"May you Rest in Peace L.J."
nicholas darrin messerli

Dr. Dorr was an amazing human being. He replaced one of my hips when I was 40 years old and no one else would do it. He made me feel like I wasn't crazy for getting a hip replaced so young. My degraded hip was a result of aggressive training in the Army. He replaced my 2nd hip 10 years after my first. I carry a part of him with me. If it were not for him, my quality of life for the last decade or so would have been miserable. Thank you, Dr. Dorr. The world lost a great individual. And thank you to the team of doctors and nurses who worked so seamlessly and professionally with him, your work is very much appreciated.

Dr. Dorr did my hip replacement in October of 2013. He was such a kind man with such a great presence and really put me at ease. I only found out about his passing yesterday when I met with another surgeon about having a hip replacement for my other leg. The surgeon asked me who did my first hip replacement and I said Dr. L. Dorr. He then said it was a great job and that he was sorry that Dr. Dorr had passed away. I was so sad to hear this. Dr. Dorr always made me feel my health was so important. He had such a kind beside manner. He truly was a caring wonderful and most skilled dr. May you RIP Dr. Dorr.

Dr. Dorr replaced booth of my wife's hips. After having misdiagnosed back pain she was referred to him for a second opinion and after the X-rays he showed us the real problem and she has been pain free every since. It was the picture of the Great Physician" in his office that gave us immediate confidence in him. When I asked him about the picture he told me that his father was a minister. Dr. Dorr's ministry was his medical practice. May God bless his memory and his family.

I am so saddened to hear of the passing of my beloved Dr. Dorr.
He was the best orthopedic surgeon in Los Angeles. He was kind and compassionate and his bedside manner is remarkable.
I was his patient from 1998 until his retirement in June of 2019.
He will certainly be missed by so many of his patients.
May Dr. Dorr Rest In Peace and my deepest condolences to his wife Marilyn and his entire family.

Dr. Door was a mythic figure in orthopedics, not only in LA, but the world! God bless! Rest In Peace!

I was very saddened to hear the news about Larry. I was a fellow at Rancho Los Amigos hospital in 1987. I was "the English one", the first UK fellow to work in the Arthritis service at the hospital. Larry was a huge influence on me and instilled in me a passion for hip surgery which continues today. Larry and Marilyn made me and my young family feel very at home in L.A. He was great to work for and taught me so much. He has influenced hip surgery in so many parts of the world but there is certainly a very special fondness for him in Warwick U.K.
Steve Young Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon Warwick Hospital

I am so grateful that I was referred to Dr. Dorr. He performed my hip replacement when another doctor told me I should wait another 10 to 15 years. By doing so, the quality of my life improved significantly. God bless you Dr. Dorr.

Worked with him as a Sales Rep, in Palm Springs he will be missed.

A Tribute to the Giant in Arthroplasty

Our condolences from Tanzania to his family and WOGO.

Dr Dorr did double hip replacement on my husband May 7, 1990 at Centinela Hospital in Inglewood, Ca. I remember Dr. Dorr's perpetual smile. My husband was a fellow Iowan. Dr. Dorr was humble yet self assured, business minded yet compassionate. He hired the same in Jeri Ward and Marianne Seiben as well as Dr. Long. He was a special person to us. Heaven has received him with joy. His faith in God was a witness to our creator.

Please except my deepest sympathies to you and your family at this time of grieving. May God be with you and your family in this time of sorrow.

I read Dr. Door's obituary in the LA Times last week with dismay. A great loss to us all. I bless the day I heard about Dr. Door from a teaching colleague in 1998. I had had a left hip replacement back in 1985, and it was failing. Besides that, my right hip was causing me pain from the same arthritic condition. I consulted with Dr. Door, and a surgery date was set in July of 1999. He replaced the prosthesis in the left hip and significantly reinforced it, and then he did a clean hip replacement of the right hip. All this in approximately half the time a surgeon took to replace one hip in 1985. That was more than 21 years ago, and the hips are just as sturdy now as they were then. Even though I'm not. During the operation, a heart blockage was uncovered. So I had a quadruple by-pass in August, also at Good Sam. Amazingly, I was back to work by the middle of September. Not only was Dr. Door a magnificent surgeon (I know there are myriad testimonials to that); he was also a most compassionate and generous human being. He and some of his staff visited me after the hip operation, which I expected. But he also visited me after the heart operation, just to see how I was doing and to offer his support. The man restored me to mobility and saved my life as well. My gratitude for his masterful skill and his human concern is beyond my capacity to express fully. He lives in my memory as a master of his craft and as my hero. I am fortunate to have known him and to have been under his care.

I met Dr Dorr at Rancho Los Amigos Hospital when I was 22 ...I needed one of my artificial hips redone & he's the only one who would take my case .. I had Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis as a child & it destroyed my hips .At the age of 13 I had my first bi-lateral hip replacements at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.. In 1985 I came to Rancho in need of another revision.. No other Doctor would touch my case but Dr Dorr said he would be take it on.. I was his patient for the next 5 hip revisions.. For 25 years he was my hip surgeon... My condolences to the Dorr family & all his work staff as well ..... He was my hero & still is .. I will surely miss him..

NO! I am saddened! This man was the first surgical case I ever attended. I had never been in the OR other than for a broken wrist as a kid, and he invited me to see a total hip. I met with him in his office at Centinella in El Segundo and we chatted for hours. He always remembered me and his photographic mind was beyond compare. My first time in the hospital, and OR were an experience that set my course as a rep, manager, investor, and businessman. His words to me after his first incision which followed my gasp of “Coooooollll” was, “Oh, you’re gonna be just fine at this!” I learned a ton. He invited me back several times before I moved back to NorCal and had my own territory with Intermedics in my bag. Thank you Dr. Dorr. I wish I could tell you how much you guided me into my career.

Larry and I went to rival high schools in Des Moines. We became friends during our respective residencies at Rancho and remained so throughout our professional careers. He was larger than life guy who lit up the room. Unstaged photos always captured his big smile, twinkling eyes, and laughter. I acknowledged his inspirational influence in a book published on Kindle on Christmas eve which he will never see. My sympathy to Marilyn, his immediate and extended family.

My condolence to the Dorr family, I was there sitter in the 80''s
Bonnie Callaghan

Dr. Dorr did a hip replacement for my husband Jeff Knaus in 2004 when Jeff was 45 years old. He had been limping in pain for 5 years and all the Doctors locally in Torrance said Jeff was too young, and come back in 5 years. I found Dr. Dorr and scheduled an appt and that day he immediately told my husband, yes, you need this surgery. At the time it was an innovative "less invasive" surgery...where all the other Drs were saying Jeff would be in the hospital for 2 weeks...and Dr. Dorr said NOPE...we'll have you home the same day with some frozen peas on your hip and he was right! It was so amazing...he was a pioneer and amazing Dr not just for us but all the work he has done globally. When we saw his obit today I couldn't help but give a shout out for our appreciation for his great work! Jeff is 61 now and going strong. So grateful! Jeff and Jane Knaus, Torrance, CA.

I worked with Dr. Dorr for more than 30 years, off and on, He was at KJOC when I was first hired right out of school to be their medical illustrator. More recently, he and I would work on drawings for a paper or a talk almost every fall, usually during football season, He loved the Iowa Hawkeyes. One year, he was sending comments about my sketches from the stadium, in a snow storm.

Many times I have told fond stories about Dr. Dorr. The time he gave a bottle of Dom Perignon to everyone in my department, and, after Christmas, when I thanked him for it, he asked how I liked it. I told him I added orange juice and turned it into a mimosa. I told him I wasn't much of a champagne drinker. He howled with laughter. He asked what I did drink, I said I knew good whiskey from bad. The next day I had two bottles of Markers Mark on my desk.

I met some of his patients - ones with shattered hips that no one else would touch. I saw them walk after he was done.

When my dad needed a hip, there was one person I trusted with him.

This fall, I had been thinking about him, Usually, in the fall, he would shoot me an e-mail about a project he needed some drawings for, They were usually pen and ink, sort of simple, but the important part was getting the angles right. Sometimes he would send one of his own drawings, and my husband would marvel at how I knew what it meant. Dr. Dorr was always very precise in his sketches. It was my job to make it look good. I was very proud to have been able to work with him.
Dr. Dorr and I clicked. He could tell me what he wanted, I could get it back to him, and it was a great collaboration.

He was also just a really, really nice guy. A genuine, kind, appreciative fellow, who understood the value of another person.
I shall miss him.

My deepest condolences to his family. I know they must feel a tremendous loss because he was a tremendous man.

I am attaching one of the drawings I did for him, to honor the good work he did for so many people.

In loving memory of a wonderful person. We will love you and miss you always.

Dr Dorr was my orthopedic hip surgeon of 34 years for 6 surgeries and a friend. He gave me a far more active and productive life than most hip replacement patients can ever hope for. The world has lost a legend of a surgeon, a great humanitarian and a wonderful man. He will be missed by so very many.......

Dr. Dorr replaced my hip in December 2018 - I am so grateful to him. A wonderful doctor and man...he will be missed.

I went to Dr Dorr in a panic at 29 years old after a skiing accident broke my first hip implant in 1990. After developing Leg Perthes as a boy at the young age of 10 I was told I would never walk again. Dr William Craig of Orthopedic Hospital treated me with experimental surgeries that got me to 23 when he provided me with a cement-less implant that freed me! I lived my life with vigor leading me to my panicked first meeting with Dr Dorr! I remember saying can you fix me so I can walk up to 50 years old before heading to a wheelchair? He laughed that heartily laugh and spent the next 30 minutes asking questions and explaining why I had the type of implant I had (big head and screws) and more importantly what my new one would look like. To this day, some 30 years later, I have the same implant with the exception of a new liner he replaced 8+ years ago. I owe my life in many ways to Dr Dorr!

I began my work relationship with Dr. Dorr in 1992. As a young, single mother at that time, Dr. Dorr allowed me to work remotely from my home so I would always be there for my young son. Even tho I worked into the late, late hours many a night, I was always able to be there for my son. Dr. Dorr provided a childhood for my son that he and I will never forget. He taught me to take pride in my work, and I was always there for him, 24/7, and he was always there for me, as well. Deadlines--never a problem for he and I! I adored him, and I was always so proud of the man I worked for. He loved his students, residents and fellows, and I was fortunate to see so many of these young men and women grow into their careers. He was a "Superhero to all of us"! RIP my dear Dr. Dorr; you have touched and shaped so many lives, and it would be impossible for us to make that count. May you shoot for "birdies" on every hole now! Lovingly, PJ

Larry and I always joked about being a pair of “farm boys from Iowa”. Always a hardy laugh.

What a beautiful tribute to such a wonderful person. There is so much more to him that words cannot describe. He will be missed by so many. He taught so many of us not only the art of surgery, but also compassion, caring, and doing the right thing. Rest in peace my mentor.