Hall pursued his medical degree at St George's Hospital Medical School in Tooting, South London, qualifying in 1988. His junior doctor days coincided with an era when junior physicians routinely logged grueling 80-to-100-hour workweeks. The physical and emotional demands were brutal. Newly qualified doctors were thrown into high-stakes clinical decision-making with minimal sleep and erratic support systems.
His rotations took him through general medicine, geriatrics, and casualty departments, including stints in Doncaster and London. One of the most harrowing chapters occurred during an obstetrics and gynecology placement. While working on a hospital maternity ward, Hall faced severe emergencies that shook his confidence in his clinical path. He later described the sheer terror of handling complicated deliveries where seconds determined outcomes. The chronic anxiety of potentially making a fatal clinical error weighed heavily on him, creating deep internal friction between his professional duty and his personal well-being.
