Tag: Hugh Tunstall-Pedoe
-
Last rites x2
Hugh Tunstall-Pedoe Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom In the late 1960s, I was non-resident neurology house physician in a hospital in central London when we admitted a prominent citizen as a private patient. He was suffering from a catastrophic cerebral hemorrhage—he was moribund, but the decision was taken to perform cerebral angiography (it was before…
-
“Brace, brace, brace!”—“Are we all going to die?”
Hugh Tunstall-Pedoe Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom Flying to and from Scotland as an airline passenger years ago sometimes involved small aircraft. The smallest from Edinburgh to Belfast at one time was so small that a hostess got on at departure, wriggled between the passengers handing out packages, and then squirmed back and disembarked. Perfectly…
-
For debate: Presents from patients
Hugh Tunstall-Pedoe Dundee, Scotland Christmas gift, 1964. Drawn from memory by the author. It was Christmas Day in Guy’s Hospital, London. Two months into my first house-physician post, I was completing a morning round with the staff nurse on my female ward. At the far end of the open ward was a bed with…
-
Novice doctor at Guy’s Hospital in 1964
Hugh Tunstall-Pedoe Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom Fig 1. “Entrance into that most noble Public Charity and admirable Medical Establishment Guy’s Hospital” Founded 1721 by Thomas Guy it was intended for the incurables rejected by neighboring St. Thomas’s Hospital—the foreground scene shows this restriction had ceased. The building on the east (left), Boland House was…
-
Medical and other memories of the Cold War and its Iron Curtain
Hugh Tunstall-Pedoe Dundee, Scotland, UK Iron Curtain as described by Churchill 1946. Edited from original. Original by BigSteve via Wikimedia. (CC BY 1.0) In 1946, Winston Churchill named the political barrier appearing between the Soviet bloc and the West the “Iron Curtain.” It lasted until 1991. I met or crossed it several times. The…
-
Mithridates, “deadly poison” in history, and a classic misdiagnosis
Hugh Tunstall-Pedoe Dundee, Scotland Mithridates VI of Pontus (136-63BC), the Poison King Mithridates VI of Pontus (136-63 BC), a formidable enemy of the Roman Empire, was vanquished after several wars. Intrigue and treachery in pursuit of power were then commonplace. Following the poisoning of his uncle, he usurped, imprisoned, or murdered his mother…