Clearly Mr Simpson exhibits a number of poor lifestyle choices that are having a detrimental effect on his health. His excessive eating, drinking and lack of exercise have resulted in obesity.

Mr Simpson also continues to put himself in situations which result in sustained traumatic head injuries. Without further brain imaging it would be difficult to estimate the extent of this damage. However, it would be remiss not to look beyond the (large) surface and think about some of the other possible conditions that Mr Simpson could be suffering from.   

Radiation Poisoning

Mr Simpson's hair loss, pronounced skin darkening (around the face and neck) and fatigue could be the effect of chronic exposure to dangerously high levels of radiation. This may be in part due to his own carelessness or because of poor safety control at Mr Burn’s nuclear power plant. Excessive exposure to ionising radiation can cause damage to organ tissue which the body cannot repair. Most symptoms appear after around 15 years - Mr Simpson started work in late 1980s.

Kleine-Levin Syndrome

A rare disorder which is characterised by hypersomnia - excessive amounts of sleep, sometimes over 20 hours/day - and compulsive hyperphagia - which can be indiscriminate in its nature and takes in all food sorts. Patients may also show an abnormally uninhibited sexual drive resulting in attempts to perform acts without due care and attention to discovery - for example on a public crazy golf course. Although, adolescent males are the predominant victims of the disorder, it can appear at any age as a result of autoimmune disease. There is only symptomatic treatment.

Congenital hepatic fibrosis

Mr Simpson is yellow. His father is yellow. His wife is also yellow as are his children. This is suggestive of a genetic condition that is inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern. CHF is such a disease. Medically speaking it is a ‘fibrocystic liver disease associated with proliferation of interlobular bile ducts within the portal areas and fibrosis that do not alter hepatic lobular architecture’. The end result is that jaundice is widespread in the Simpson family and Bart, Lisa and Maggie should consider having their future partners genetically screened to avoid passing this on to further generations - or at least attempting to date someone who isn’t yellow.

Intermittent explosive disorder

IED is a behavioural disorder characterised by extreme expressions of anger, often to the point of uncontrollable rage that are disproportionate to the situation at hand. On several occasions Mr Simpson has been reported to have been attempting to ‘throttle Bart’ with only the flimsiest of reasons. He was also smiling. Research suggests that subjects often reported a feeling of relief or even pleasure while committing the acts. While I am in no doubt that this is learned behaviour there does appear to be an inability to resist resorting to these actions - sometimes more than once in a 30 minute period.

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