Sick Society

Talking about death can be hard, and in some societal settings it's become a taboo. How can we plan for death in a society that tries to avoid it at all costs? In Episode 8 of Sick Society, Dr Alexis Paton and Sir Andrew “Bod” Goddard are joined by Dr Kathryn Mannix, a palliative care consultant and bestselling author of With the End in Mind and Listen. Kathryn says we've lost sight of the process...

Climate change is one of the biggest issues facing our world, and the healthcare industry is not immune. Can sustainable healthcare turn the tide and make us healthier at the same time? In episode 7 of Sick Society, Dr Alexis Paton and Sir Andrew "Bod" Goddard are joined by Dr Hayley Pinto, the Education and Training Lead at the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare. Hayley teaches people how to pract...

We all know we are supposed to "eat healthy" but what does that mean? How does it really affect our health? In episode 6 of Sick Society, Dr Alexis Paton and Sir Andrew "Bod" Goddard are joined by Dr Duane Mellor, a double award winning registered dietitian and science communicator who says that we've lost touch with what food is. In this episode we will discuss: homogenization of our food supply...

Most people already know exercise is good for them. The harder question is why so many of us struggle to sustain it, and who actually has the conditions to make it possible. In Episode 5 of Sick Society, Dr Alexis Paton and Sir Andrew “Bod” Goddard are joined by Dr Jon Houghton, a sports and exercise physician whose work spans military rehabilitation, NHS practice, and elite professional sport. Hi...

Cold homes don’t just feel uncomfortable — they quietly change how the body works. In this episode of Sick Society, Dr. Alexis Paton and Sir Andrew Goddard are joined by Hannah Fearn, a social affairs journalist who has reported on housing and health policy for two decades. Together, they examine why the UK’s housing stock produces unusually high health harms and why addressing it is as much a pol...

Health misinformation crops up in everyday decision-making, and it’s reshaping our trust in medicine.  In Episode 3 of Sick Society, Dr. Alexis Paton and Sir Andrew Goddard are joined by Tim Caulfield, a leading researcher on health misinformation and science communication, to examine why today’s misinformation landscape feels harder to challenge than ever before, and why simply “correcting the fa...

Most health scandals aren’t sudden failures. They’re warnings that went unanswered. In Episode 2 of Sick Society, Dr. Alexis Paton and Sir Andrew Goddard are joined by Shaun Lintern, award-winning health journalist, to examine how medical scandals emerge, escalate, and repeat. The conversation draws on major NHS case studies, including Mid Staffordshire. It also examines failures in private and co...

Dr. Alexis Paton and Sir Andrew Goddard start with a simple question that turns out to be anything but: What is health?  Our premiere episode sets the season’s foundation: exploring how society and the world we live in quietly shapes our health — long before a doctor or hospital visit.  You’ll hear why: misinformation and “wellness culture” are impossible to ignore health means different things to...

Sick Society is a new celebrity doctor talk show examining how modern life, not just medicine, shapes our health. Hosted by Dr. Alexis Paton, one of the UK’s leading medical ethicists, and Sir Andrew Goddard, former President of the Royal College of Physicians, the series brings together globally recognised doctors, journalists, and public thinkers to unpack the social, political, and economic for...