First Opinion Podcast

STAT

A weekly podcast about the people, issues and ideas that are shaping health care.

  1. hace 6 días

    The patients demanding unvaccinated blood transfusions

    If you’ve ever donated blood, you know about the screening process: Have you traveled to certain countries? Engaged in risky sexual activities? One question that they don’t ask is: Have you been vaccinated against Covid-19? But some patients and their families, worried by misinformation around Covid-19 vaccines, are insisting on getting blood transfusions from donors who haven’t been vaccinated. When that happens, says Deva Sharma, an assistant professor of hematology-oncology and transfusion medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, they often don’t speak directly to the physician. Instead, the families — often parents of pediatric patients — turn to their nurses, or even directly call the blood bank to make requests. (That approach does not work, according to Sharma.) On this episode of the “First Opinion Podcast,” host Torie Bosch speaks with Sharma, who recently co-authored a study looking at 15 patients and families who requested directed donor blood transfusions — that is, transfusions from donors they know personally. That might seem harmless, Sharma says, but there are serious risks: “[T]here were delays in medical care, including delays in transfusion for very severe anemia and also delays in surgical care,” she told me. They discuss the need for hospital policies on direct donations, the ethical considerations, and why, exactly, patients are so insistent on unvaccinated blood.

    25 min

  2. 20 may

    The rise of perimenopause misinformation

    In recent years, people are increasingly blaming perimenopause for a constellation of symptoms: weight gain, hair loss, brain fog. But does the evidence support this point of view? Who’s profiting from it? And what does it mean for perimenopause to be such a hot topic? On this episode of the “First Opinion Podcast,” host Torie Bosch speaks with Patricia Bencivenga and Adriane Fugh-Berman of the Georgetown University Medical Center’s Pharmed Out project about their research on menopause and perimenopause, and why they’re concerned about women being too quick to blame their hormones. “Women have been seen as erratic and unstable due to their hormone changes and their hormones for hundreds of years, right? You’re erratic, and untrustworthy when you’re pubescent, and then again your hormones are out of control when you’re PMSing, and then again, when you were having your period or you’re on the rag, or then again when you are pregnant, or then when you postpartum, or now perimenopausal or menopausal. So at what point are we going to be seen as fully stable and secure people?” said Bencivenga.

    27 min

  3. 13 may

    What can ‘blue zones’ really teach us about aging?

    In 2023, Netflix released a documentary titled “Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones,” which looked at some small, geographically isolated places around the world in which, reportedly, residents regularly lived to 100 or beyond. It was just the most recent installment to a longevity franchise that began roughly 25 years ago. But how real are “blue zones”? And has the concept’s commercialization drowned out its scientific value? Medical journalist Shelley Wood, author of the novel “The Leap Year Gene of Kit McKinley,” and cardiologist Eric Topol, author of “Super Agers,” recently teamed up recently to write a First Opinion essay examining blue zones at 25 years. They join host Tori Bosch on this episode of the “First Opinion Podcast” to discuss their findings and how the idea of blue zones fits into the current longevity craze. They argue that the concept, which originated with mountain villages in Sardinia, Italy, may have been flawed from the start, given how many records were destroyed by World War II — but that it still promotes some valuable ideas, especially in an age of longevity pseudoscience.

    32 min

  4. 6 may

    Dr. Glaucomflecken wants to make a stink

    His real name is Will Flanary, but you probably know him as Dr. Glaucomflecken — the internet’s go-to doctor/comedian. On this episode of the “First Opinion Podcast,” we talked about how he mixes humor with some of the most pressing issues facing health care, from misinformation on social media to the corporate takeover of medicine. In particular, Flanary has been deeply involved with advocacy around PeaceHealth’s decision to use a corporate group to staff the emergency department in Eugene, Oregon, instead of the community-based physicians who had been there for more than 35 years. “There's a lot people in hospital administration, in health insurance, in private equity, doing bad things for patients and for doctors. And one unifying characteristic of every story … is that they don't want people to know what's happening. They want to keep it out of the news,” he told me. “They don't want this kind of scrutiny because they know this is really unpopular and that maybe this isn't the best for patient care, but it's maybe good for pocketbooks, maybe good for other reasons that are not as altruistic.” By “making a stink” on social media, he said, he hopes he can bring scrutiny to those trying to avoid it.

    32 min

  5. 29 abr

    The medical school nutrition blues

    One of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s refrains has focused on medical education: Doctors don’t know enough about nutrition and preventive medicine, he likes to say. He has encouraged medical schools to beef up (tallow up?) their education on healthy eating and its connection to chronic disease. What do medical students think of this? On this week’s episode of the “First Opinion Podcast,” host Torie Bosch spoke with Tiffany Onyejiaka, a fourth-year medical student, and Lauren Rice, who is poised to start her residency in internal medicine this summer. Both have written First Opinion essays on Kennedy’s claims. In November, Tiffany argued that it would be more productive to support the work of registered dietitians and encourage them to collaborate with doctors. More recently, Lauren wrote that she agreed that medical school needs more of a preventive health mindset. I brought them together to discuss each other’s arguments and compare their experiences in medical school. “Our country's health is going down a very poor trajectory and something needs to change,” Lauren said on the podcast. “I don't have the answer to what that needs to be. I don't think Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has the answer. I don't think anyone has the answers. But the conversation needs to start and it needs to a conversation with a lot people at the table.”

    33 min

  6. 22 abr

    Behind every miracle drug is a story

    Have you ever wondered how many drugs are behind the counter at your local pharmacy? According to Thomas Goetz — a journalist, entrepreneur, and host of the new podcast “Drug Story” —  “there are over 3,000 drugs behind a typical pharmacist counter.” And behind each drug is a story. On “Drug Story,” which debuted in January, Goetz picks one drug and examines its history, the disease it treats, and how it intersects with society and public health. “In every drug, every medication, there is a much larger story to tell about health and medicine and society and business and economics,” he told me on this episode of the “First Opinion Podcast.” We talked about Ambien, Ozempic, and how drugs attempt to treat the ways modern life is incompatible with the human body; how his thinking about weight loss drugs has changed over the years; and much more — including my ill-fated attempts to feed a baby salmon puree to stave off fish allergies.

    30 min

  7. 15 abr

    Hosting the ‘intellectual wrestling match’ between MAHA, public health

    The deep distrust between public health and the Make America Healthy Again movement may seem impossible to heal. But the podcast “Why Should I Trust You?” is trying to do just that by facilitating conversation between people who often view each others as enemies. Brinda Adhikari and Tom W. Johnson launched “Why Should I Trust You?” in 2025. Since then, they’ve hosted big names from MAHA, the Trump administration, the anti-vaccine movement, and traditional health. They also bring on everyday Americans trying to keep their families healthy while navigating a confusing information ecosystem. “Everyone, when they come on the show, no matter what their quote unquote, expertise, they're all equals. Everyone gets time to speak,” Adhikari said. On this episode of the “First Opinion Podcast,” host Torie Bosch speaks with Adhikari and Johnson about their show’s goals and the criticism they’ve received from public health and MAHA alike.

    38 min

  8. 8 abr

    How sports betting is hooking some young men

    Ahead of Monday’s NCAA men’s basketball final, much of the news coverage focused on two overlapping dynamics: 1) what bets to make and 2) how the rise of sports betting is causing damage. According to Isaac Rose-Berman, a fellow at the American Institute for Boys and Men, the skyrocketing popularity of sports betting is a burgeoning public health crisis, especially for young men. While men and women are roughly equally represented at the casino, with “sports betting you’re talking, you know, 85-90% of the users” are men, according to Isaac. That results in two problems from a public health perspective: the financial cost, which can lead to depression, anxiety, and even suicide, and the compulsive behavior that pulls people out of their normal lives.

    34 min
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A weekly podcast about the people, issues and ideas that are shaping health care.

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  • Canal
    STAT
  • Creador
    STAT
  • Años de actividad
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodios
    161
  • Clasificación
    Apto
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
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