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Steve - The diagnosis of "essential tremor" describes a benign, hereditary minor/fine tremor of the hands or head. Tremors that develop in old age could also be called "intention tremors," which appear during (or are increased by) movement of the body part. A cerebeller disorder should be ruled out by the doctor. The Parkinson tremor tends to be more pronounced, in the fingers as well as the hand, is present during rest and can disappear during sleep. Most PD patients have unilateral (one-sided) tremors and will exhibit handwriting difficulty and impairment of their gait, leading to loss of balance. Patients with these symptoms are usually treated with dopamine medications to see if their symptoms improve. If there is improvement, PD is diagnosed, but there still could be other aging factors causing some of the symptoms (PD 'plus'). Take your father to a neurologist who treats PD. Stephan. [log in to unmask]