[3] As the senior physician responsible for the mental observation ward at the Central Middlesex Hospital[4] he described and named Munchausen syndrome in a 1951 article in The Lancet.

He married Margaret Augusta Eliot at St Pancras' Church, London on 27 July 1943,[6] whereupon his father-in-law gave him a complete set of the Oxford English Dictionary, which doctor and medical ethicist Maurice Pappworth alleged was the source of Asher's "accidental" reputation as a medical etymologist.

[16] Asher's 1949 paper "Myxoedematous Madness"[17] alerted a generation of physicians to the interaction between the brain and the thyroid gland.

Asher is remembered today mostly for his "refreshingly provoking"[3] articles which "sparkle with sequins--his own aphorisms, imaginary dialogue, fantasies, quotations.

"[23] Notable articles include: The "Seven Sins of Medicine"[3] is a lecture delivered by Asher and later published in The Lancet, describing medical professional behaviour that is considered inappropriate.