The Poor Historians: Medical History Misadventures

We'll look inward this week to talk about the history of our own specialty as emergency physicians.  People may not be aware that the practice of emergency medicine is relatively new in the house of medicine.  Before the 1970's the ER was a very different place as you'll find out.   Link to documentary called 24/7/365 on the topic discussed in episode (courtesy of EMRA - the Emergen...

With the success of "The Last of Us" show, we thought we'd take some time to look at historically important cases of fungal infection.  We'll investigate a possible explanation for all those witch trials of yesteryear as well as a common childhood fungal infection that accounted for quite the degree of social upheaval in Victorian England.   Also, we'll have our first entr...

There are many misconceptions and myths surrounding the death of the great magician and skeptic, Harry Houdini.  Though many believe he may have died during one of his dangerous escape performances, the truth leads to a common diagnosis with a possible uncommon and unusual cause.    FYI: Full show notes will be posted to our website. Sources: - https://www.thehistoryreader.com/historical-figures/d...

In this week's episode we'll trace back the beginnings of the modern intensive care unit and critical care medicine as we know it.  Much of this arose thanks to two particular infectious diseases--polio and tetanus.  Tune in to find out how intrepid Danish physicians collaborated to save the lives of people dying from these diseases and ultimately led to a whole new concept in medicine--...

We're back! Many people know that insulin is an important part of the treatment for diabetes.  In this episode we'll talk about how insulin was discovered and first used to treat a disease that, throughout the whole of human history, was previously fatal.  We'll explain what diabetes is, how it used to be treated in the age before insulin, and how a brilliant cohort including a Cana...

Apologies but we'll have to delay the episode another week.  Technical issues + scheduling conflicts + illness have all made for difficulty getting the episode done on our usual schedule.   Also, the podcast will be moving back to releases every two weeks.  Good changes in Max's career have unfortunately overtaken the free time he'd had to increase the show output.  So, starting nex...

While we've discussed numerous famous Victorian era surgeons, we haven't taken this deep of a dive into their facilities.  This week we bring you a conversation with Monica Walker, PhD, all the way from London, England.   This episode runs a bit longer than the others but that's just where the interview took us.  So many neat tidbits.  We'll talk about some of the common surgic...

Doctors and the Hippocratic Oath just go together like Turner and Hooch.  That analogy makes as little sense as it does to keep harping on the Hippocratic Oath as a rite of passage for graduating physicians.  There's plenty of myth to dispel here. Fortunately we won't go it alone. This week we are joined by physician and author, Dr. Brian Elliott who has written a book examining several...

This week we are joined by Laurie Fink, PhD, from the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) to discuss their anatomical collection as well as their super cool exhibit on quackery in medicine.  Exhibits from the former Museum of Questionable Medical devices have been incorporated into the SMM's exhibit called "Weighing the Evidence."  We'll talk about what's inside that peculia...

Let's mix one part anatomy lesson with one part historical overview of a very important blood vessel that has been a problem for numerous famous figures including Lucille Ball and Albert Einstein.  We'll talk about what the aorta is, the various ways it can become a problem, people in recent and past history who have had issues with it, and finally how we developed a modern treatment for...

In addition to introducing us to our prior guest, James Wilke, the International Surgical Science Museum also joined us to talk about the work that their museum is doing.  We'll talk about a variety of subjects including some international skeletal remains housed in their collection, paying tribute to an ancient surgical technique.  We'll find out what Milwaukee has to do with finding th...

Thanks to a listener suggestion we have this week's masterpiece.  In this week's episode we'll talk about "Dr." John Brinkley who's affection for transplanting goat balls would be impressive if he weren't a charlatan.  Could you imagine building a career of lies on something like this?  No?  Well, you're a better person than this guy.  We bring you the story...

Our guest this week is author Paul Craddock, here to share his new book with us. Spare Parts is his first published work and is an excellent read into the history of one of the most complicated frontiers in medicine, transplant surgery.  Stretching back to the 16th century and arriving into the present day, we'll go over some of the discoveries that led to the ability to transplant organs in...

Addendum: There were some errors in the original audio file caught by early listeners.  These were corrected but early downloaders may have the old version.  Apologies for that. This week we bring you part two of our deep dive into the history of smallpox and the discovery of vaccination.  We'll talk about smallpox in the Americas and the unimaginable devastation wrought upon the native peopl...

Tik Merauke - An Epidemic Like No Other by Dr. John Richens, available from Melbourne University Publishing.  ---->> Click HERE to purchase. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this week's episode we are joined by author and physician, Dr. John Richens, all the way from the U.K.  He is a world expert in the disease known...

Any medical history podcast needs to spend some time talking about perhaps the worst and most culturally influential infectious disease we've known: smallpox.   So we're going to do this in two parts, starting with an overview of how smallpox affected various areas of the world and truly shaped the whole of human civilization.  It's also one of those rare stories that ends in triump...

This week brings us to the Lancaster Medical Heritage Museum in Lancaster, Pennsylvania to talk with their director, Kim Jovinelli.  She does just about everything at the museum and you might recognize her if you've spent any time looking at medical history stuff on TikTok where she and her staff give glimpses of life at the museum and share fun medical history facts. In addition to learning...

If you can believe it, there once was a time when your friendly neighborhood barber might do more than cut your hair and give a close shave.   For many centuries, barbers took on numerous surgical, medical, and even dental procedures when others would not.  In this episode we'll talk about the role of the barber-surgeon, from their beginnings to the decline of the profession.  Maybe you'...

Welcome to the first of a series of episodes taking a deep dive into some of the most interesting medical museums in the world, starting here in the U.S. with our friends of the show at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine.   Kyle Dalton will join us from their ranks to take us behind the scenes of the museum itself, and to discuss varied topics in medical history as they relate to the U.S. C...

It's about time we talk about one of the most iconic physicians of ancient Greece.  Galen is a well known name in medical circles.  Many precepts in medicine can be traced back to him.  His teachings lasted the better part of 2,000 years and were the foundation for the medical schools of yesteryear.  That being said, Galen was wrong about a lot of physiology.  This episode will explain why. ...

Episode 37 In this week's show, Aaron will take us on a tour of the medical historical explanations  behind some of the most iconic creatures of the night.  Myths arise from many places and, as it turns out, the legends of things such as vampires, werewolves, and zombies could possibly stem from historical misunderstandings of various medical conditions.  We'll see out the Halloween seas...

As we approach the objectively best holiday of the year in Max's humble opinion, we thought it best to do some Halloween themed episodes for the month of October.  In this episode we'll talk about the link between modern medications and their roots in what were suspected practices of witchcraft.  There seemed to be magic in the salves and potions used by suspected witches of the 12th-19t...

What was missing from this point in this podcast was a good true crime episode.  So here you go!  This is the story of Dr. Thomas Neill Cream, a physician and serial killer that, despite his best efforts to NOT hide his crimes all that well, took way to long to be caught.  There is also speculation he may have been Jack the Ripper.  This is a dark and twisted tale that shows the Hippocratic oath i...

While we’re usually reaching far into the past on this show, this week’s episode will feature a discussion of the tragic death of Princess Diana.  We’ll focus on the details of the case from the standpoint of physicians doing trauma care in the modern day.  We’ll question as to whether the outcome might have changed given modern technology or different circumstances.  Though the general story is w...

We are joined by special guest educator Patrick Kelly on this collaborative episode.  Here we'll talk about severe allergic reactions and how early discoveries in the treatment of such led to a revolutionary life-saving technology: the auto-injector pen.  Commonly known as an Epipen, this little bit of medical marvel was the culmination of a fascinating story of discovery involving a tropical...