697

months’ ban on prescribing with the clear object of closing down hersurgery for addicts? It is worth noting that Dr Dally did tell Mr A toconsult his GP and that he did in fact do so; Dr Dally’s fault was infailing to follow up this advice with a letter, but nothing turned on it.The GP referred Mr A to a drug dependency unit, but he refused togo. Instead he went immediately to deal in the black market,whereupon he was arrested and put in prison. The patient at thecentre of the 1983 inquiry subsequently died from a drug overdoseafter his release from prison.There is no easy solution achieved by banning the like of Dr Dally

and driving long-term addicts into the hands of black marketeersbecause they cannot or will not cope with ending their addiction.Obviously, it is undesirable for addicts to have to consult privatedoctors in this area, but the willingness to pay shows that there is anunfulfilled need for a more satisfactory and demand-orientatedservice under the NHS.3

DIANA BRAHAMS,Barrister-at-law

GMC v Dally: Privy Council Appeal. Lords Keith, Mackay, and Goff. Sept14,1987.

3 See: Editorial. Management of drug addicts. hostility, humanity, and pragmatism.Lancet 1987; i: 1068-69.

International Diary1987

17th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience: New Orleans,Louisiana, Nov 16-21 (Society for Neuroscience, 11 Dupont Circle NW,Suite 500, Wahington, DC. 20036, USA).

1988

International workshop on Evaluating Medical Practice-the Case ofHysterectomy: Copenhagen, Denmark, Jan 13-15 (Myra Lewinter, Instituteof Social Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Panum Institute,Blegdamsvej 3, 2200 Copenhagen N).

The southern Californian course on Gastrointestinal Endoscopy 1988:Los Angeles, California, March 4-5 (David S. Cantor, 50 Alessandro 410,Pasadena, California 91105, USA).

23rd congress of the European Society for Surgical Research:Bologna, Italy, May 2-5 (Dr Giovanni Ussia, Istituto di ChirurgiaSperimentale Universita di Bologna, Pol S. Orsola, Via Massarenti 9, 40138Bologna).

2nd biennial congress on Advances in Coloproctology: Geneva,Switzerland, May 5-7 (General Secretary of the European Council ofColoproctology, Policlinique de Chirurgie, 1’Hopital Cantonal Universitairede Geneve, 1211 Geneve 4).

10th annual conference on Wound Management Workshop: SanDiego, USA, May 11-15 (Edith S. Bookstem, Conference Coordinator,WMW, PO Box 3586, La Jolla, California 92038, USA).

2nd international Sorrento me.eting on Current Therapy in

Nephrology: Sorrento, Italy, May 22-25 (Prof Antonio Dal Canton,Department of Nephrology, 2nd Faculty of Medicine, Via S. Pansini 5, 80131Napoli, Italy).

9th world congress of Anaesthesiologists: Washington DC, USA, May22-28 (Charlotte House, Fishley Sebley Associates Marketing, 4 LowerBelgrave Street, London SW1W OLJ).

International symposium on Therapeutic Progress in VirologicalCancers: Paris, France, June 29-July 1 (Dr Saad Khoury, CliniqueUrologique, 1’Hopital de la Pitie, 83 Bd de I’Hôpital, 75634 Paris).

4th international conference on AIDS Stockholm, Sweden, June 12-16(4th International Conference on AIDS, c/o Stockholm Convention Bureau,PO Box 6911, S-102 39 Stockholm).

2nd international congress on Cancer Pain: New York, NY, July 14-17(Mary Callaway, Executive Director, Memorial Sloan-Kettering CancerCenter, Box 52, 1275 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021, USA).

The 5th congress of the International Society of GreekNeuroscientists: Nicosia, Cyprus, Sept 1-3 (Dr N. Gonatas, Division ofNeuropathology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 454Johnson Pavillion, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA).

Obituary

KENNETH DAVID KEELEMD London, FRCP

Dr Keele, physician and medical historian, died on May 3at the age of 78.

Born into a family with a strong medical tradition, he waseducated at Epsom College and won a scholarship to StBartholomew’s Hospital Medical School. He graduated in 1932 and

after junior appointments hebecame casualty physician at StBartholomew’s and was elected tothe consultant staff of St Pancras

Dispensary, Evelina Hospital forChildren, and King GeorgeHospital, Ilford.At the beginning of the 1939-45

war, he was appointed consultantphysician, Emergency HospitalMedical Service, St Bartholomew’sHospital, St Albans. From 1942-46he served in the RAMC in Indiawhere he attained the rank ofLieutenant Colonel. In addition to

clinical and administrative responsibilities he was head of the sprueresearch team in Poona where he met Mary Thrussell, then in theQAIMNS/R, who became his second wife. She was sister in theresearch team and worked with Kenneth both before and after theywere married. After the war Kenneth was appointed whole-timeconsultant physician to Ashford Hospital, Middlesex, where from1946 to 1971 he developed his great interest in cardiology. In 1948he published pioneering work on the use of angiocardiography toprovide accurate diagnosis of congenital heart disease.

It was through his empathy for his patients that he becameinvolved in the study of pain, to which he made notablecontributions. He appreciated the difficulties of communicating,recording pain due to its subjective nature. Nevertheless, insofar aspain has a time course and varies in intensity it can be representedobjectively and so he introduced the pain chart in which intensity ofpain, as assessed by the patient, is plotted against time (1948). Thisproved a valuable tool in clinical and experimental studies of painand a modified form of pain chart, the visual analogue scale is nowused the world over. As a cardiologist he noted that some patientswith myocardial infarction suffered little or no pain. To study thisphenomenon further he developed the pressure algometer, a simpledevice to measure the mechanical pressure required to evoke painwhen applied to the forehead (1954). Patients hyposensitive to thepressure algometer had suffered the least pain at the time ofinfarction.

He was a distinguished medical historian. He wrote Anatomies ofPain (1957), a scholarly review of concepts of pain from prehistorictimes to the twentieth century, a masterly book on William Harvey(1965), and The Evolution of Clinical Methods in Medicine (1963)based on the Fitzpatrick Lectures he gave at the Royal College ofPhysicians in 1960-61. An account of his life-long study of theanatomical works of Leonardo da Vinci is to appear in the journalMedical History. He founded the Leonardo da Vinci Society in 1986and became its first president just before he died.

Kenneth combined great intellectual and artistic gifts with alovable nature. He was a good pianist and a lover of the arts,especially paintings. He was an enthusiastic communicator, inconversion, in lectures, and in his writings. His domestic life

brought him great happiness and two tragedies. His first wife diedsuddenly and his elder son by his second wife was killed in anaccident. He his survived by his wife and daughter.

C. A. K.