Dr. Peter Hall​

This will be my last column for Local Matters.  I’ve been knocking out 400 words just about every month for four years, and frankly I’ve run out of things that are wrong with me so have no more material.    My editor has, trustingly, allowed me to traverse a wide range of topics and it seems

I’ve just finished Atul Gawande’s “Being Mortal”.  It’s a thought-provoking reflection on ageing and end of life care, and should be read by everybody in the sector, possibly everybody who is growing old. For the first few chapters he paints quite a bleak picture of how modern medicine has interfered with nature and robbed patients

There are some organs in the body that don’t get enough credit.   When was the last time you thought about your pituitary gland, for example?  I can tell you that, despite its anonymity, none of us would be alive without it.  It’s only the size of a pea and nestles quietly at the base of

Degenerative.   I’m not very fond of this word.  Mostly because parts of me are degenerating at an alarming rate.  But also, because it implies progressive deterioration, pain and un-treatability.  For instance, if I diagnose osteoarthritis most patients assume that nothing can be done about it. This is not necessarily the case, but it is true

Agony does funny things to a person.   I was lying on the floor of the squash court with a spectacular degree of pain coming from my ankle, and an odd notion in my mind that if I scratched my finger nails over the boards I might feel better. Sadly, it didn’t work.  I didn’t know

It was 3 in the morning and I had just heard the most dreaded question of marital life…”Are you awake?” Now I’m not at my best at that time.   I blame biorhythms. Being woken then is like coming up from the depths of a blissful warm nirvana. It’s a relief that we no longer do