Second Opinion

KCRW

4.5 (65)
ARTS
UPDATED BIWEEKLY

An examination of medical ethics and the practitioners who define them. Sign up to receive the Second Opinion topics in newsletter form at kcrw.com/newsletters .

3D AGO

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.

5 min
DEC 14

Blessed or Broken? Rethinking Mental Health Across Cultures

What one culture calls mental illness, others call a divine gift.

5 min
DEC 7

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.

5 min
NOV 30

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.

5 min
NOV 23

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.

5 min
NOV 16

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.

5 min
NOV 9

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?

5 min
NOV 2

Medicare Advantage or Medicare Disadvantage?

Medicare Advantage covers more than half of seniors, but is it costing taxpayers billions and offering little advantage?

5 min

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4.5

out of 5

65 Ratings

Ticks and one health

04/30/2022

Sylverwylf

While I agree with the assessment of physicians and veterinarians should work together. Facts were wrong in the episode. Ticks require 3 blood meals over its life span, a blood meal at each stage larva, nymph, and adult. When a disease causing agent is ingested at an earlier stage, the tick can transmit it during the next stage, which is why ticks are a good transmitter of disease. Tapeworms are not directly transmitted from the pet to the person, therefore a physician would not need to know the pet had tapeworms. A human is most commonly infected with tapeworms by eating undercooked meat. Please get your facts right.
Not that kind of doctor

Nov 23

Fernandina M

I’ve been listening for a long time and today’s was the first episode I found disappointing. In “not that kind of doctor”, Dr Wilkes describes an NP with a doctorate degree as misrepresenting herself as a doctor, without mentioning her exact degree. He ends it by saying “NPs are great but they aren’t doctors” . This is contradictory- in this example, the NP is a Doctor of Nursing Practice. So she may say that as long as she states her full title. In the current political climate where the DOE is stripping nurses of their “professional” distinction (an action which will affect student loans and further contribute to the nursing shortage) this is a really harmful take. FWIW, I am an NP. I introduce myself as an NP. I correct patients when they call me doctor. But they continue to call me doctor anyway. Not much I can do, and I’m sorry to say that many patients simply don’t care what your actual title is as long as you can help them. While I agree it is wrong for a DNP to simply introduce him/herself as a doctor, there is no reason they Should not be able to use their full title they worked so hard for.
Love it

06/05/2021

lsmakarova1717b

Love it!
One opinion, Lop sided, physician centric

02/05/2022

Auditory Aficionado

Podcast brings a single perspective to common problems with the US healthcare system. At a time when debate, dialogue and collaboration are necessary more than ever before, the 4-minute long episode is unable to bring dissenting voices to the table. I’d rather spend my time on spirited debate and innovative problem solving, than sign on to an agenda.

An examination of medical ethics and the practitioners who define them. Sign up to receive the Second Opinion topics in newsletter form at kcrw.com/newsletters .