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playing god?

Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics 15 Episodes Oct 13, 2026

Life-and-death decisions. Difficult tradeoffs. playing god? explores ethical dilemmas in health and medicine through the first-person stories of people who have lived them. Recognized with three 2024 Signal Awards. Brought to you by the Dracopoulos-Bloomberg iDeas Lab at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics.

Episodes

Gut Strings Oct 13, 2026 1468 playing god? presents… "Gut Strings," a musician’s experience with uncertainty around an unexpected colon cancer diagnosis. Loren Ludwig, previously protected by confidence in his ability to learn his way past personal obstacles, must now grapple with medical uncertainty. Bioethicist Gail Geller draws on 35 years of research on uncertainty in medicine to reflect on the profound impact of

A World Without Nurses Jul 7, 2026 1517 playing god? presents… "A World Without Nurses"—it’s a future no one wants to imagine, but doing so brings into sharp focus just how essential nurses are today. Prepare to be transported into this dystopian scenario through innovative storytelling and immersive sound design, ultimately serving as a call to action.Want to help make an impact? Explore our listening session facilitation guid

playing god? presents... Jun 30, 2026 134 The iDeas Lab team is hard at work on playing god? Season 3, but we have some special things to share with you in the meantime. Listen for a preview of what’s coming next in the feed. And we’re opening a voicemail box! Call us at 410-417-9860 to tell us your questions, reactions, and stories. We look forward to hearing from you.

Two Bodies, One Prescription Jun 23, 2026 1466 When Ashley Womble decides she wants to start a family, she worries she'll need to stop taking her antidepressant medication. Instead of finding clear guidance, she runs head-first into a troubling reality: many of the questions pregnant women and their physicians face about medication safety remain difficult to answer because pregnant women have historically been excluded from medical re

A Shot at Weight Loss: Should I Take It? Jun 16, 2026 1564 Rebecca Morrison is healthy by many measures. But like millions of people today, she finds herself wondering whether or not she should be taking a GLP-1 drug. What's the right thing to do? This episode explores how this new class of weight loss drugs is reshaping our healthcare choices, and the landscape in which we make them.You can read more about Rebecca Morrison’s story in her novel,

How Far Would You Go to Have a Healthy Baby? Jun 9, 2026 1756 After losing their son Noahto to mitochondrial disease, Kristelle and Evan Shulman are determined that his death will not be in vain, holding fast to their dream of having healthy, biologically-related children. This search leads them abroad in pursuit of an emerging reproductive technology, one filled with scientific promise, but also ethical questions, financial strain, and profound unc

Losing Noah Jun 2, 2026 1508 When Kristelle and Evan Shulman lose their young son Noah to a rare mitochondrial disease, they are told they may never be able to have a healthy biologically related child. Then they discover mitochondrial replacement technology, or MRT, a controversial procedure that could prevent the disease from being passed on to future generations. This episode explores how families, clinicians, and

To Infinity and Beyond—At What Cost? May 26, 2026 1505 Humanity is actively working towards a mission to Mars. When astronauts like Bernard Harris leave Earth, they accept risk as part of the mission. But a journey to Mars would push that risk into entirely new territory—where help is unreachable, uncertainty is unavoidable, and coming home may not be an option. This episode explores how space agencies, astronauts, and all of us need to grapp

I Need You To Help Me Die May 19, 2026 1753 When journalist Esmé Deprez receives a text from her father, Ron Deprez, asking for help to die, she enters one of the most ethically fraught spaces in modern medicine: Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD). This episode explores what it means to assist a loved one’s death under MAiD law—and how personal compassion collides with professional and societal ethics.This episode features:Esmé E. Deprez:

Coming soon: playing god? Season 2 May 12, 2026 108 Life and death decisions. Difficult tradeoffs. “playing god?” explores ethical dilemmas in health and medicine through the first-person stories of people who have lived them. Brought to you by the Dracopoulos-Bloomberg iDeas Lab at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. New episodes weekly starting May 19.

Prequel: The God Squad Dec 12, 2023 1276 Back in the 1960s, a committee of seven Seattle residents met regularly to decide which patients with chronic kidney disease were “worthy” of life-saving dialysis. Whoever wasn’t selected by the committee would likely die within months. An exposé of this so-called “God Squad” helped spark the formation of a new field: bioethics. In this prequel to playing god?, we’ll find out how this co

The Future of Baby-Making Dec 5, 2023 2066 In this episode we head into the future to learn about a controversial technology that could change the face of reproduction. Researchers are developing a technology called in vitro gametogenesis (IVG), which can reprogram human cells–like a skin cell–to become eggs or sperm. With IVG we could reach a future where anyone could produce either eggs or sperm, in potentially limitless quantit

Miracle Drugs, Million Dollar Price Tags Nov 28, 2023 1900 Cheryl Yoder’s son Jase, was born with an incurable rare disease called spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), which meant he was unlikely to live beyond two years old. Jase managed to get a spot in a clinical trial for an experimental drug. It halted the disease and allowed him to grow up as an active little boy–a miracle cure. A growing list of uniquely tailored drugs can treat, and even cure,

An Off Switch For Depression? Nov 21, 2023 1705 For years Brandy Ellis had tried everything to treat depression but nothing worked. Then one day she heard about something called deep brain stimulation, a brain implant that treats some neurological conditions. This technological intervention–that changed her life–also raises ethics questions. Because brain implants have the potential to change our personalities and our performance– wher

Creating One Life to Save Another Nov 14, 2023 1739 When Laurie Strongin’s son Henry was born with the rare, often fatal disease of Fanconi anemia, doctors told her that the best way to save his life was with an umbilical cord blood transplant from a genetically matched sibling. But Henry had no matching siblings. Laurie and her husband then got a call from a doctor with a novel idea of combining three technologies to create a child who wa

A Womb of One’s Own? Nov 7, 2023 2077 Jen Dingle yearned to get pregnant and have children, but there was one problem: she was born without a uterus. So when she was ready to have children she was desperate to find a way to do it. That’s when she learned that a local research hospital was starting up a uterus transplant program – one of the first in the U.S. Jen shares her personal experience and we explore the risks, financi

Why Can’t I Buy a Kidney? Oct 31, 2023 1498 It can take years to get to the top of the waiting list for a donated kidney in the U.S. So when Sally Satel found out she’d need a kidney transplant, she wondered why she couldn’t just buy one. We’ll hear from a behavioral economist and a bioethicist who shed light on the ban on organ sales and whether it’s possible to create an ethical compensation program for organs.Show notes:In addit

Need a new Liver? Drinkers to the back of the Line. Oct 24, 2023 1785 One day, when she was only 39, bar manager Jamie Imhof collapsed. While she lay in a coma, doctors told her family that they knew how to save her life: she needed an immediate liver transplant. But, transplant centers follow an informal “rule” when it comes to patients whose livers fail due to heavy alcohol use. Jamie would not be eligible for a new liver for six months. For a case as sev

The Girl Who Died Twice Oct 17, 2023 2056 When a 13 year-old girl from Oakland named Jahi McMath was pronounced brain dead after a surgical complication in 2013, California issued her a death certificate. Five years later, she received a second death certificate in New Jersey. How could one person die twice? In this episode, we learn that the line between life and death isn’t always as clear as you might think. Show notes:This ep

I Would’ve Let You Die, Too Oct 10, 2023 1709 While Andrea Rubin lay unconscious and severely burned after a car fire, her father told doctors to do everything they could to keep her alive. She would need many surgeries. Her quality of life wouldn’t be the same. Her friends were outraged. They told doctors that Andrea would not want to live that way. While Andrea was being kept alive on a ventilator, her loved ones fought about what

Introducing: playing god? Sep 26, 2023 201 A new podcast about the complex ethical questions that get raised with groundbreaking medical innovations. Brought to you by Pushkin Industries and the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. New episodes weekly starting October 10.

playing god?

Episodes

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