The Good Doctor Snow

Blue Mountain, Aotearoa

 

 

 

 

Peter Snow was a leading medical researcher who helped identify chronic fatigue syndrome (or "Tapanui flu") while working as a dedicated country doctor who served his West Otago community for more than 30 years.

 



He was a family man, a country doctor, a researcher, a photographer, a deer farmer, an entrepreneur, and a man of the community whose impressive and wide knowledge was often called on by various sectors.

 

 

Locally, he was at the forefront of efforts to keep open the doors of Tapanui Hospital in the face of Wellington's demands for centralised health services, and, like most rural doctors, he was virtually on call in the West Otago area 24 hours a day, seven days a week for more than half his working life.

Nationally and internationally, he led the research effort to identify and suggest the means of alleviating the effects of chronic fatigue syndrome.

 

 

 

Being a GP has its own rewards, especially if you are part of the district. In time, the country doctor has the privilege of becoming a confidant of the community—on hand at births, deaths and all the life in between.

 

"It's hard to put a price on the satisfaction of watching someone you helped deliver into the world grow up, reach adulthood and have families of their own."

 

Image sourced from The Dreamstress

 

 

 

Perhaps his greatest claim to fame was his key role in identifying chronic fatigue syndrome, or what the media termed "Tapanui flu". In the early 1980s, farm stock in West Otago were suffering various selenium deficiency characteristics, and he noticed some of his patients seemed to have a similar syndrome. He and two University of Otago academics studied the outbreak—of what came to be called chronic fatigue syndrome—and their research conclusions, published in the New Zealand Medical Journal, attracted international attention.

 

 

Dr Snow had been concerned about the intense media interest in the syndrome at the time, fearing it would make light of the issue. But, on reflection, he believed that interest had actually been positive because it revealed the extent of the problem, both locally and globally. The media had also uncovered the medical profession's initial disbelief in the existence of chronic fatigue syndrome, as well as the widespread dissatisfaction among sufferers of the debilitating condition with the profession's lack of understanding.

 

 

Since then, much research has been carried out, including an unpublished study by Dr Snow and his University of Otago colleagues that revealed chronic fatigue had multiple causes.

 

 

Dr Snow was also nationally influential in raising safety awareness about the use of farm bikes, after several West Otago farmers suffered severe injuries from accidents on their farms.

 

 

Dr Snow was a man of wit and intelligence—one who always relished the stimulation of quick minds—and hosted many New Zealand and overseas student doctors in his practice. Dr Fox said he had maintained a lifelong interest in seeking knowledge and he was at the forefront of general practice research.

 

 

It was noted in his citation for the fellowship that Peter had:

 

 

 "the farmer's ability to perceive the connections between what to others might seem unrelated things".

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr and Mrs Snow moved permanently to their Lake Hayes home after selling the West Otago practice to the West Otago Health Trust three years ago. The couple had initially planned to operate Venetian-style gondolas on Lakes Hayes and Wakatipu, but decided to shelve the idea due, Dr Snow claimed, to stifling by "red tape".

 

 

Text swiped from The New Zealand Medical Journal