Obituaries DR DONALD LANE (1935 – 2022) Dr Donald Lane was a much-loved physician and musician. His life will be remembered for his dedication to medicine and his contributions to Oxford music. All who met him found him a kind, compassionate, gentle man, and they greatly valued his medical expertise. Donald came from relatively humble beginnings that were dogged with tragedy. His twin sister died at birth, and his younger brother Robert died of cystic fibrosis at the age of 15, when Donald was 17. Despite this, and the disruption of the war, Donald went to Rutlish grammar school in Merton and excelled at science and music, the latter gaining him a scholarship to Christ Church to study Chemistry. On arrival at Oxford, the very recent death of his brother caused him to change to medicine. Thus, the scene was set for a career in medicine, and a lifelong interest in music. Donald’s interest in respiratory medicine was clearly influenced by his brother’s disease, but also by people he met during his training, such as physiologists Dan Cunningham and Brian Lloyd, and neurologist Honour Smith. He did junior jobs in Redhill, Oxford and Manchester, where he went on to do a DPhil with Jack Howell in 1970. They studied ventilatory control in respiratory patients and this involved many lumbar punctures for acid base measurements. Donald returned to Oxford and was made a consultant in respiratory medicine at the Radcliffe Infirmary, and a respiratory physician at the Churchill hospital, in 1971, a post he held until his retirement in 2000. As a consultant he developed a particular interest in asthma and, not surprisingly, cystic fibrosis. He wrote a popular book for patients on asthma (with Dr Anthony Storr a psychiatrist) in 1979, with a third edition 12 years later. His contributions to respiratory medicine in the UK were considerable and he was made the annual president of the British Thoracic Society in 1994. Another marker of his concern for patient welfare was his considerable involvement with the creation of the National Asthma Campaign in 1990, amalgamating separate asthma charities (the Asthma Research Council, the Asthma Society and the Friends of the Asthma Research Council). He was vice-president of
this charity for many years from 1993 and helped establish the National Asthma Training Centre, which taught hundreds of health care staff about asthma care. Donald also continued his interest in research and supervised several doctors for higher degrees, me included. In 1978, Donald had been asked by the parents of a nurse (Jill Broadis) who had died of a melanoma, to organise annual memorial concerts to raise funds for the Nuffield Department of Surgery. These Jill Broadis Concerts grew from strength to strength and evolved into three a year, with ever increasing forces involving health care professionals, their families, and friends. Donald ran and conducted the orchestra for over 25 years until 2005, raising money for many medically related charities. It is interesting that in an interview with his contemporary, Dr Derek Hockaday in 2013, Donald said that he would most like to be remembered for establishing and running the Radcliffe orchestra, pointing out correctly that the 100th concert would come up in 2016. The orchestra continues to flourish 45 years later and will be doing a memorial concert for Donald in November 2022. There are many medical musicians in Oxford and beyond for whom the orchestra allowed them an opportunity to gently return to playing again after enforced breaks. Donald was always fascinated by tales of medicine from years gone by, and some years ago after his retirement he started an extraordinary book called ‘The Poet, The Practitioner and The Professor’. These three highly imaginative stories, based on fact, are about John Keats (who initially trained in medicine and died of TB), Dr George Bodington (a 19th century GP with revolutionary ideas about the treatment of TB), and Professor William Osler of Oxford (who had a particular interest in TB and its treatment). Donald retired to Deddington and continued to organise many musical events, especially encouraging young talent. He had always been interested in composing, but it was only on retirement that he was able to take composition lessons from Cecilia MacDowell, allowing him to compose in earnest; and the Radcliffe Orchestra performed some of his pieces. In February 2011, coincident with his 76th birthday, he organised a concert of his and MacDowell’s songs in the Holywell Music Room; and for his 80th birthday in 2015, he initiated a concert of his and others’ works at Deddington Church. In all, he composed over 75 pieces. Written by Dr John Stradling, Emeritus Professor of Respiratory Medicine, University of Oxford.
Oxford Medicine | Spring/Summer 2022 33
