LOL! I haven't heard that in a long time. My grandmother used to say
that.
It's just an expression of fondness and concern for someone you care
about. Same as "bless her heart." (or, here in the south, "Bless her
little pea-pickin' heart.)

Sherry

Phew,  I hope it was her, last you said you thought she'd been eaten by
coyotes.  I told Boyfie that she'd gone away to be a model and he waited a
while and got himself another wink wink, Mimi.

Tweed

Oh, I won't get a different surgeon.  He is, according to reliable sources
"the top in his field."  The payback for this is that he is an a/hole.  It
often happens.  The more they rise up the ladder, the more they get
pussyfooted around by their "minions" and the more important they think
their opinion is, as no-one dare disagree with them.
My eye surgeon was an exception.  Not only was he top in his field, but he
was modest and very kind to both his patients and his staff.  We all adored
him.
My gynae surgeon was nice to his patients, although a bit "hurry up with
what you've got to say.." but I saw him interact with a fairly junior member
of staff and I cringed on her behalf.
It was a "ward round", in the early morning the consultants come round with
an entourage of medical students and nurses, stand at the bottom of your bed
and discuss your case.  "This is Mrs So and so, who presented with "whatever
symptoms" and was admitted.  What do you think might be wrong with her?"
Etc.  Then the students prod you around and make guesses.
This was when I was in for investigations for severe abdominal pains in
2005.  Well, we had all sorts of guesses from appendicitis to ectoptic
pregnancy.  None of them were right.
It seemed to please him to say "You are all wrong.  This patient has ovarian
cancer, note the distension of the abdomen as the tumour grows and grows,
she needs operating on in the very near future."

He turned to a junior nurse and said "Get me my list."  Meaning his
operating list - to see how he could fit me in soon.
Poor lass, she didn't know what to do, she'd obviously had prior
instructions so she said, very nervously  "We don't *do* lists on a Tuesday,
sir"
Whereupon he turned to her, and in front of all the others, said "You *do*
lists whenever I tell you to so now *GO AND GET ME MY LIST!!*
She burst into tears and ran off to get him his list.  I felt so bad for
her.
It's not necessary to humiliate people, is it?
He could have taken her aside and said "look, if I ask you to do something I
need you to do it without questioning me, is that okay with you?"
There are ways and means of getting what you want and need and any sort of
bullying isn't the way.  The use of language is important too.
Consider the difference between:
"How long are you planning to stay?"  and "When are you going home?"
They both mean practically the same, but one is much more offensive than the
other.

Tweed