Death, suffering, and the after life – what a way to finish a geriatric medicine congress! I had at first viewed the invitation to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra concert as […]
Desmond O’Neill
Des O’Neill: Christmas, South Park, health, and pluralism
When the largest teaching hospital in Dublin removed the Christmas crib from its atrium a few years ago, the response to the resulting public outcry suggested a timorous confusion about […]
Des O’Neill: So, when do you become “old”?
An occupational hazard of being a geriatrician is that not infrequently I am asked at social occasions: “So, Des, when do you become ‘old’?” The questioner is usually a fit […]
Desmond O’Neill: An appalling (Irish) vista
It is sad that the memory of Lord Denning, the eminent jurist, will always be associated with the unhappy phrase “appalling vista,” pronounced during the appeal hearing of the Birmingham […]
Desmond O’Neill reviews “Taking the keys away”
If geriatricians had a pound for every time an adult child said that it wasn’t safe for their older parent to go home from hospital, their financial standing would improve […]
Desmond O’Neill: Social networking, telemedicine, and stroke
Some medical technologies creep up on you, some arrive with a bang. In internal medicine much of the change – electronic laboratory reporting, digital imaging – is gradualist and steered […]
Desmond O’Neill: A bloomsday brush with brilliance
One of the challenges of teaching medical ethics is the need to continually connect with the wellsprings of philosophy and (whisper it) theology. Without these elements there is danger of […]