Second Opinion
An examination of medical ethics and the practitioners who define them. The show delves into challenging moral questions in healthcare and how doctors, nurses, and other professionals navigate these dilemmas. Listeners can also sign up for a newsletter covering the topics discussed, available through KCRW's website.
Episodes
The Comment In The Operating Room
When no one speaks up, silence can become part of the culture of care.
Want Your Doctor to Write Back?
Need to send your doctor a message? A new study suggests how you write it—not just what you say—may affect whether your doctor responds.
No Room In The Hospital
It's not the sniffles clogging our ERs. It's a hospital system with nowhere left to put people.
When Good Enough Is Never Good Enough
An A-minus isn't a crisis. But for some high achievers, it can feel like one. When does striving for excellence become something harmful?
The Pressure to Succeed
American teens are anxious, exhausted, and getting too little sleep. Are phones really the whole problem—or should we also be looking at our culture of achievement?
Would You Get Sick for Science?
They were conscientious objectors who refused to fight in World War II. So they found another way to serve: they offered their own bodies for dangerous medical experiments.
Maybe We've Been Fighting the Wrong Enemy
For 100 years we've been trying to kill mosquitoes. What if the real problem was us?
Mosquitoes Are Winning
We've spent decades trying to kill mosquitoes. So why do they seem to be getting better at living with us?
The Missing Ingredient in Fighting Ebola
You can bring doctors, laboratories, and protective equipment to an Ebola outbreak. But you can't ship trust in a box.
The Choice Dementia Takes Away
Who should make the final decision about your death? You, your family, your doctor...or a disease that slowly takes away your mind?
Evolution Never Saw this Coming
Your body was built for a world that no longer exists — and that mismatch might be making you sick.
In The Last Pew
When the family of a longtime patient invited me to her funeral, I found myself wrestling with a question I never addressed in medical school.
Before You Take That Alzheimer's Test, Ask This Question
New Alzheimer's blood tests are accurate, available, and increasingly advertised — but for healthy people, a positive result is rarely useful.
Because We've Always Done It That Way
Standard medical practice isn't the same as proven medical practice — and the difference can be deadly.
The Comfort Premium
It’s the same medicine. So why does the convenient version cost so much more?
Solving One Problem, Creating Another
From a Pacific island overrun by rats to hospital wards battling superbugs, why our best intentions so often backfire.
What's Your Pain Worth? The Ethics of Paying Research Subjects
Would you take $5,000 to be in a painful medical study? And should researchers even be allowed to ask?
Why Is She Being Blamed for Her Cancer?
We'd never ask a breast cancer patient what she did to deserve it. So why do we ask her?
Gorillas: The Canary in the Jungle
Veterinarians in Central Africa are bracing for an Ebola outbreak among gorillas. It might sound remote. It's not.
The Power of a Passport and the Privilege to Leave
I packed my bag, crossed the border, and eventually flew home to safety. The health care workers I left behind had no such option.
We Knew It Was Coming — We Just Didn't Care
From the Uganda-Congo border: a firsthand account of an Ebola outbreak, a failing response, and the political decisions that made it worse.
A Ship, a Virus, Nine Countries. And We Weren't There. We Built It, And Then We Broke It.
America built the global health system that protects us all — and then walked away from it.
Cut and No Cure - When Doing Nothing Beats Going Under the Knife
What if one of the most common surgeries performed in the world turned out to be no better than a fake one — and we kept doing it anyway?
Eight Legs, One Bite, Big Trouble
There's a vaccine for your dog. There isn't one for you. And that's not an accident — it's a scandal.
Who Is Qualified to Fix Your Mind?
Millions of Americans need mental health care and can't get it — so should we lower the bar on who gets to provide it?
Smarter Than Two Doctors: How AI Could Change Breast Cancer Screening
If AI can outperform two radiologists reading your mammogram, why is it still sitting on the sidelines?
The Socialized Medicine We Already Have — And It Works
We've spent decades arguing about whether government-run healthcare could ever work in America — but one system has been quietly proving it can. The answer might surprise you.
What Happened to Him? Why We Get Trauma—and Care—So Wrong
Our healthcare system often punishes behavior it doesn’t understand—and trauma is at the center of that misunderstanding.
Cruel Irony of Medical Expertise
If you've ever left a doctor's office nodding along and then lain awake at 3 am realizing you understood almost nothing — this might be for you.
Dyslexia, Shame, and the Myth of Intelligence
The same children once labeled deficient are often highly capable adults — if they survive a system that misjudges them early. Dyslexia has nothing to do with intelligence, but everything to do with how badly we teach reading and judge those who struggle.
Why Competition Doesn't Work in Medicine — And Can Actually Make Things Worse
“A built bed is a filled bed” – why in American healthcare, more supply doesn't lower costs, it raises them.
Why Nurses May Be a Key to Fixing American Healthcare
New research suggests that expanding nurses’ roles in our hospitals could be one of the smartest — and most urgent — steps we can take for the future of American healthcare.
TrumpRx: What the President Didn’t Tell You
The President says TrumpRx will give Americans the lowest drug prices in the world — but a closer look reveals a much more limited program that will leave most patients exactly where they started.
The Boring Secret to Living Longer
One in four Americans die before age 70 — not because we lack longevity supplements, but because we've abandoned the basic primary care that keeps people alive.
Why Dying Needs More Than Medicine
Medical Care is often not enough. Doulas are bringing an ancient practice back to modern dying—one family at a time.
Follow the Money: What Super Bowl Health Ads Really Sell
Super Bowl medical ads use celebrity endorsements and fear tactics to promote disease screening - not primarily for public health, but to expand the patient pool for new, expensive treatments.
When Back Pain Strikes: Why Surgery Isn't Always the Answer
Most back pain doesn't require surgery—so why are we spending two billion dollars over a three-year period on it?
The Blue Blood That Saves Lives — But At What Cost?
Every medical injection you've ever received was safety-tested using the blue blood of a 450-million-year-old creature — and we're finally questioning whether that's worth their survival.
The Antidepressant Trap: The Story We Weren’t Told
My patient Paul has been trying to stop his antidepressants for months, and what's keeping him trapped reveals a truth the medical community has been slow to acknowledge.
When Politics Replaces Science, Public Health Pays the Price
The flu is surging, vaccine recommendations just got gutted, and somehow we're being told to trust butter over science—here's why you should be worried.
What My Patients Taught Me About Gratitude
When two of my patients faced serious health crises, their unexpected response taught me something profound about the science and practice of gratitude—lessons worth carrying into the new year.
Blessed or Broken? Rethinking Mental Health Across Cultures
What one culture calls mental illness, others call a divine gift.
Why the President's 'Routine' MRI Is Bad Medicine
The President's 'routine' MRI that cost $3,000 and no doctor recommends is a perfect example of how too much healthcare can be just as harmful as too little.
Where Goat Births and Human Births Meet
When veterinarians vaccinating goats in India discovered women were dying in childbirth along migration routes, the solution came from recognizing that herders already knew how to save lives—just not their own.
Not That Kind of Doctor
You're in the exam room. The person in the white coat says they're a doctor. But what kind of doctor? A federal court just decided that training matters more than free speech.
Rethinking the Pap Smear
The pap smear has saved countless lives, but it's also dreaded by millions of women. Now there's an alternative that's easier, more private, and just as accurate.
Why Refugee Food Assistance Is an Investment, Not a Handout
What happens when the world's richest country tells its most vulnerable newcomers they're on their own for food?
Medicare Advantage or Medicare Disadvantage?
Medicare Advantage covers more than half of seniors, but is it costing taxpayers billions and offering little advantage?
Gabapentin Nation: A Pain Pill's Unexpected Takeover
How did a pain pill that is only moderately effective and has murky side effects become America's 5th most prescribed drug?
The H-1B Visa Hike Will Cripple Healthcare in underserved areas
A shortsighted H-1B fee increase will eliminate the international doctors millions of underserved Americans depend on, deepening healthcare inequality.
The Hidden Cost of Ink: Tattoo Regret
When his daughter wanted a tattoo, this dad conducted a 3,000-person study instead—here's what they found.
Tuberculosis: When Having the Cure Isn't Enough
Tuberculosis kills more people worldwide than AIDS or malaria, even though we've had a cure for 50 years. One doctor learned from village healers in Uganda that you can't cure TB unless you first understand poverty.
How We Created an Autism "Crisis"
The dramatic rise in autism diagnoses over the past 25 years is primarily a result of changes in the definition of the condition and increased screening, rather than the causes claimed by politicians like Trump and RFK Jr.
White Coats with Union Cards
As healthcare prioritizes profits over people, doctors are organizing to reclaim their profession and protect patients
When Healers Can’t Heal: The Tragedy of Afghan Medical Refugees
Afghan medical refugees watch helplessly as their earthquake-devastated homeland suffers without adequate healthcare, while America wastes their desperately needed expertise due to credential barriers during our own provider shortage.
Pay to Publish: The Academic Scam Costing Taxpayers Billions
Publishers profit billions by charging scientists to publish publicly-funded research that volunteers review for free.
Paralyzed by Possibilities: The Hidden Danger of Medical Options
Too many medical treatment choices overwhelm both patients and doctors, leading to worse decisions and greater dissatisfaction.
From Medical Miracle to Political Target
Despite COVID-19 mRNA vaccines being a Nobel Prize-winning breakthrough that saved millions of lives, political interference by RFK Jr. is now undermining this medical achievement just as COVID cases are rising again.
From Hiroshima to Today: Medicine's Unfinished Mission
Medical professionals have a unique responsibility to prevent nuclear war, the ultimate public health catastrophe.
When Countries Run Out of Children
Young people globally are having fewer babies and creating aging populations, while surprising shifts in gender preferences are beginning to favor daughters over sons.
The Testosterone Trap
Testosterone treatment, sought after as a “foundation of youth,” has become a lucrative industry, fueled by extensive marketing with limited medical evidence.
How Medieval Plague Still Shapes Your Health
Nearly 700 years ago the plague wiped out half of Europe. The genetic impacts are still present today.
Why Cutting Medicaid Hurts Everyone Who Works
What the White House failed to tell us
Cleared for Market but Not Proven to Work
We expect that FDA-approved drugs have been shown to be safe and effective. But, that isn’t always the case.
An Incubator: The Rights of a Brain-Dead Woman
Should a state have the authority to override a woman’s wishes regarding her body—not for her benefit, but for someone else’s?
The Dying Art of Learning from the Dead
It’s often hard to let go of traditions, but it's time to rethink the role of anatomy dissections.
Toilets Prevent Disease—If You Can Find One
Unhoused people lack safe bathroom access—an issue of public health, safety, and basic dignity we can no longer ignore.
The Persistent Dark Legacy of Eugenics
For more than a century, there has been a nefarious fascination with engineering society in ways that disadvantage the most vulnerable.
Biden Followed Doctors' Orders – and still got cancer
Evidence-based recommendations from groups like the US Preventive Services Task Force are only as effective as the screening tools currently available.
Unprofessional Behaviors: Catching Bad Habits Early
Medical schools must address unprofessional behavior early, as student misconduct often predicts future disciplinary issues and patient harm.
That Message to Your Doctor Might Come With a Price Tag
Digital communications are playing a larger role in health care, but transparency and equity are being forgotten.
Life, Death, and the Cost of Being a Surrogate
Being a surrogate decision-maker for someone at the end of life isn’t easy, but there are steps you can take to ease the burden.
Science, Safety, and the Return of Measles
Let's examine the evidence and clarify what we really know about measles and why it's important.
Trust, Talk, and the MRI That Wasn't Needed
Requesting a test or procedure from a clinician can raise tricky issues
The Dangers of a Broken Heart
Takotsubo Syndrome provides strong evidence for the link between mind and heart
Regret in Medicine: The Hidden Burden Doctors Bear
Even when things go right, the outcome may not be what was expected.
One Health, One World, One Essential Partner: USAID
Anthrax – an example of how the US Government has worked to stop the spread of disease
The impact of USAID funding cuts in Uganda
Without warning, and with no time to develop alternative approaches, funding just stopped. People are dying.
Disparities in “Assisted Aid in Dying”
Data suggests that barriers may exist with adults being aware of this option for care at the end of life.
Vladimir’s Choice – a fable from Eastern Europe
We often make choices that are short-sighted and seem to serve our own interests rather than the interests of all
Recommended
True Crime Classics
The Healer Revolution
Becoming: HER with Nikki Spoelstra
Booked, Blonde & Busy w/ Olivia Ponton
McKinsey on Consumer and Retail
megahired.com
Hard Knocks Podcast
Effective Weight Loss for Moms | High protein, Strength Training, Lose Weight, Meal Planning, Fat Loss, Healthy Habits
The Human-Animal Connection - Pet Life Radio Original
The Daily
World News Tonight with David Muir
English Vocabulary Help
