Doctoring the Truth

Jenne Tunnell and Amanda House
  • 5.0 (20)
  • TRUE CRIME
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Welcome to Doctoring the Truth, a podcast where two dedicated audiologists dissect the world of healthcare gone rogue. Explore jaw-dropping stories of medical malfeasance, nefariousness, and shocking breaches of trust. The episodes provide deep dives that latch onto your curiosity and conscience. It's a podcast for truth-seekers craving true crime, clinical insights, and a dash of humor.

  1. APR 10

    Ep 60-Never Never Land: Rhode Island Hospital's Decade of Surgical Scandals

    Send us Fan Mail A hospital can have world-class branding and still be dangerously broken where it counts. We’re heading to Rhode Island Hospital, a major teaching hospital tied to Brown University, to follow a decade-plus trail of “never events” like wrong-site surgery, wrong-patient procedures, and failures so basic they sound unreal until you see the record. If you care about patient safety, hospital accountability, and how healthcare systems fail, this one will stick with you. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show and join the conversation. Resources:  https://www.golocalprov.com/news/a-decade-of-surgery-problems-plague-rhode-island-hospital https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/third-wrong-sided-brain-surgery-r-i-hospital-flna1c9463696 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ri-hospital-made-3-brain-surgery-errors/  https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/ri-hospital-fined-150000-in-wrong-site-surgery/ https://meridian.allenpress.com/jmr/article/94/4/6/437143/A-History-of-Wrong-Site-Surgery-in-Rhode-Island https://www.rhodeislandpersonalinjuryattorneyblog.com/wrong-site-surgeries-at-rhode-island-hospital-medical-malpractice-attorney/ https://thepublicsradio.org/article/25m-awarded-ri-couple-malpractice-rhode-island-hospital/ Support the show Don't miss a (heart) beat! Check out our Instagram @doctoringthetruthpodcast and email us your Medical Mishaps at doctoringthetruth@gmail.com. Join us on Facebook at Doctoring the Truth, and TikTok @doctoring the truth. Don't forget to download, rate, and review so we can keep bringing you more exciting content each week! Stay safe, and stay suspicious...trust, after all, is a delicate thing! Don't forget to check out these fantastic discounts using promo code STAYSUSPICIOUS from our sponsors at: *thecuminclub.com for 30% off *https://strongcoffeecompany.com/discount/STAYSUSPICIOUS for 20% off *www.handful.com for 30% off  *www.standshoes.com for 15% off *www.oldglory.com for 15% off *www.getcheeky.com for 30% off *https://mollybz.com for 10% off  *www.RSRVCollective.com for 30% off  *klearprotein.com for 20% off *www.torrain.org for 15% off *www.cozyearth.com for 21% off * www.yarokhair.com for 15% off   ...

    1h 1m

  2. APR 3

    Ep 59- Beware the Ice Pick: The Lobotomy Era

    Send us Fan Mail An ice pick through the eye socket. Ten minutes of “surgery.” A taxi ride home. That’s not an urban legend, it’s a documented moment in the history of lobotomy, and it captures the sick casualness that let psychosurgery become mainstream. If you care about medical ethics, informed consent, disability rights, or how mental health treatment gets shaped by social pressure, this conversation will stick with you. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves medical history, and leave a review with your take: where do you see “manageability over care” showing up today? Sources for today’s episode: National Library of Medicine — All in Their Heads: When Faces Made the Case for Lobotomy https://infocus.nlm.nih.gov/2020/01/30/all-in-their-heads-when-faces-made-the-case-for-lobotomy/ Nobel Prize — Controversial Psychosurgery Resulted in a Nobel Prize https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1949/moniz/article/ Nobel Prize — The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1949 https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1949/summary/ Encyclopaedia Britannica — Lobotomy https://www.britannica.com/science/lobotomy Encyclopaedia Britannica — Transorbital Lobotomy https://www.britannica.com/science/transorbital-lobotomy Encyclopaedia Britannica — Walter Jackson Freeman II https://www.britannica.com/biography/Walter-Jackson-Freeman-II Encyclopaedia Britannica — How Many People Actually Got Lobotomized? https://www.britannica.com/story/how-many-people-actually-got-lobotomized StoryCorps — My Lobotomy https://storycorps.org/stories/my-lobotomy/ StoryCorps — StoryCorps 455: My Lobotomy https://storycorps.org/podcast/storycorps-455-my-lobotomy/ PBS American Experience — The Lobotomist https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/lobotomist/ PBS American Experience — Howard Dully https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/lobotomist-howard-dully/ John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum — Rosemary Kennedy https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/the-kennedy-family/rosemary-kennedy U.S. National Park Service — Rosemary Kennedy, The Eldest Kennedy Daughter https://www.nps.gov/ Support the show Don't miss a (heart) beat! Check out our Instagram @doctoringthetruthpodcast and email us your Medical Mishaps at doctoringthetruth@gmail.com. Join us on Facebook at Doctoring the Truth, and TikTok @doctoring the truth. Don't forget to download, rate, and review so we can keep bringing you more exciting content each week! Stay safe, and stay suspicious...trust, after all, is a delicate thing! Don't forget to check out these fantastic discounts using promo code STAYSUSPICIOUS from our sponsors at: *thecuminclub.com for 30% off *https://strongcoffeecompany.com/discount/STAYSUSPICIOUS for 20% off *www.handful.com for 30% off  *www.standshoes.com for 15% off *www.oldglory.com for 15% off *www.getcheeky.com for 30% off *https://mollybz.com for 10% off  *www.RSRVCollective.com for 30% off  *klearprotein.com for 20% off *www.torrain.org for 15% off *www.cozyearth.com for 21% off * www.yarokhair.com for 15% off   ...

    1h 10m

  3. MAR 27

    Ep 58-Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust: A Funeral Home Horror Story

    Send us Fan Mail They thought they were holding their loved one one last time, then they learned the urn held concrete. We’re walking through the Return to Nature Funeral Home scandal in Colorado, where investigators say nearly 190 bodies were left to decompose in a Penrose building while grieving families were told cremations and burials were complete. It’s one of those true crime stories that doesn’t just horrify you, it makes you re-check what you assume is regulated, inspected, and safe in the funeral industry. Resources:  https://www.livenowfox.com/news/former-funeral-home-owner-sentenced-18-years-prison-giving-families-fake-ashe​​  https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/colorado-ex-funeral-home-owner-sentenced-to-18-years-in-prison-after-pleading-guilty-to-fraud  https://people.com/funeral-home-owner-sentenced-after-defrauding-grieving-families-with-fake-ashes-11927805  https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/national/2026/03/16/ex-funeral-home-owner-faces-20-in-prison-after-giving-families-fake-ashes/  https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/16/us/colorado-funeral-home-owner-sentenced  https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2026-03-16/ex-funeral-home-owner-faces-20-in-prison-after-giving-families-fake-ashes  https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex Support the show Don't miss a (heart) beat! Check out our Instagram @doctoringthetruthpodcast and email us your Medical Mishaps at doctoringthetruth@gmail.com. Join us on Facebook at Doctoring the Truth, and TikTok @doctoring the truth. Don't forget to download, rate, and review so we can keep bringing you more exciting content each week! Stay safe, and stay suspicious...trust, after all, is a delicate thing! Don't forget to check out these fantastic discounts using promo code STAYSUSPICIOUS from our sponsors at: *thecuminclub.com for 30% off *https://strongcoffeecompany.com/discount/STAYSUSPICIOUS for 20% off *www.handful.com for 30% off  *www.standshoes.com for 15% off *www.oldglory.com for 15% off *www.getcheeky.com for 30% off *https://mollybz.com for 10% off  *www.RSRVCollective.com for 30% off  *klearprotein.com for 20% off *www.torrain.org for 15% off *www.cozyearth.com for 21% off * www.yarokhair.com for 15% off   ...

    1h 3m

  4. MAR 20

    Ep 57-Organ Donation Disasters

    Send us Fan Mail The scariest part of modern medicine isn’t always the unknown, it’s the moment you realize the system can build momentum before certainty feels complete. We’re talking about organ donation disasters and near misses that force one brutal question: how do we know someone is truly dead when organ procurement is on the clock? Using the reported case of TJ Hoover in Kentucky, we trace how a single story can crack public trust, especially when families say they saw signs of life and later reporting suggests professionals inside the process had concerns too. If this raises questions for you, we want to hear them. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find Doctoring the Truth. Resources: LEX 18, “KY man wakes during organ harvesting procedure, prompting federal investigation.” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “HHS Finds Systemic Disregard for Sanctity of Life in Organ Transplant System; Announces Major Initiative for Reform.” UNOS, “Understanding Donation after Circulatory Death (DCD).” UNOS, “U.S. surpassed 48,000 organ transplants in 2024.” House Energy and Commerce Committee, “Ensuring Patient Safety: Oversight of the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplant System.” ABC News, “Patient ‘Wakes Up’ as Doctors Prepare to Remove Organs.” Oklahoma Gazette, “Oklahoma man who lived through being pronounced dead appears on Today.” Support the show Don't miss a (heart) beat! Check out our Instagram @doctoringthetruthpodcast and email us your Medical Mishaps at doctoringthetruth@gmail.com. Join us on Facebook at Doctoring the Truth, and TikTok @doctoring the truth. Don't forget to download, rate, and review so we can keep bringing you more exciting content each week! Stay safe, and stay suspicious...trust, after all, is a delicate thing! Don't forget to check out these fantastic discounts using promo code STAYSUSPICIOUS from our sponsors at: *thecuminclub.com for 30% off *https://strongcoffeecompany.com/discount/STAYSUSPICIOUS for 20% off *www.handful.com for 30% off  *www.standshoes.com for 15% off *www.oldglory.com for 15% off *www.getcheeky.com for 30% off *https://mollybz.com for 10% off  *www.RSRVCollective.com for 30% off  *klearprotein.com for 20% off *www.torrain.org for 15% off *www.cozyearth.com for 21% off * www.yarokhair.com for 15% off   ...

    52 min

  5. MAR 13

    Ep 56-Notorious Nurse: The Murders of Jolly Jane

    Send us Fan Mail A cheerful bedside smile is supposed to mean safety. That’s why the case of Jane Toppin, nicknamed “Jolly Jane,” still hits like a gut punch more than a century later. We walk through how a Boston woman born Honora Kelly could become one of America’s earliest notorious female serial killers while working as a nurse, using charm as cover and exploiting the gaps of late-1800s medical oversight. We trace her early life through poverty, loss, institutionalization, and being indentured as a child in the Toppin home where she’s even given a new name. Then we follow her into nursing, a profession that gave her something she craved: access, authority, and trust. From there, the story turns dark fast, with discussions of morphine and atropine poisoning, her reported fascination with convulsions, and how patients who were elderly or isolated could become targets with few questions asked. We also talk through her arrest, her unnerving candor, and the trial that ends with an insanity verdict that sparks strong reactions. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review, then tell us: what systems would you want in place to catch the unthinkable sooner? RESOURCES: Advanced Science News  ETH zurich  Schecter, Harold. “Fatal: The Poisonous Life of a Female Serial Killer.” HarperCollins, 1992. McBrayer, Mary Kay. “America’s First Female Serial Killer: Jane Toppan and the Making of a Monster.” Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. Morbid Podcast, “Jolly Jane” two-part series. https://morbidpodcast.com/ Boston Daily Globe archives, 19th century reporting on Jane Toppan. Taunton Insane Hospital records, Massachusetts Archives. Bartleby Criminal History Resources: https://www.bartleby.com/docs/crime/jane-toppan.html Early 20th-century nursing journals, Massachusetts Historical Society archives. Support the show Don't miss a (heart) beat! Check out our Instagram @doctoringthetruthpodcast and email us your Medical Mishaps at doctoringthetruth@gmail.com. Join us on Facebook at Doctoring the Truth, and TikTok @doctoring the truth. Don't forget to download, rate, and review so we can keep bringing you more exciting content each week! Stay safe, and stay suspicious...trust, after all, is a delicate thing! Don't forget to check out these fantastic discounts using promo code STAYSUSPICIOUS from our sponsors at: *thecuminclub.com for 30% off *https://strongcoffeecompany.com/discount/STAYSUSPICIOUS for 20% off *www.handful.com for 30% off  *www.standshoes.com for 15% off *www.oldglory.com for 15% off *www.getcheeky.com for 30% off *https://mollybz.com for 10% off  *www.RSRVCollective.com for 30% off  *klearprotein.com for 20% off *www.torrain.org for 15% off *www.cozyearth.com for 21% off * www.yarokhair.com for 15% off   ...

    1h 6m

  6. MAR 6

    Ep 55-Inside The Psychopath Test: Power, Labels, And The Cost Of Certainty (Part 2)

    Send us Fan Mail A checklist that claims to measure danger. A hospital that tried to manufacture empathy with LSD and isolation. A courtroom that treats a number like destiny. We dive into the strange power of labels by tracing the psychopathy story from Oak Ridge’s “total encounter capsule” to Robert Hare’s PCL-R and the very real ways scores still steer sentencing, parole, and civil commitment. We unpack the seductive clarity of risk tools—and the trouble that follows when dimensional traits are forced into binary verdicts. Tony’s story from a UK high-security hospital lays bare the diagnostic double bind: calm becomes “shallow,” protest becomes “manipulative,” and every reaction confirms the label. We contrast that with emerging neuroscience that finds differences in fear and emotion processing rather than emotional emptiness, and with longitudinal evidence that context and early intervention can shift traits over time. The point isn’t to deny danger; it’s to question certainty. Then we pivot to medicine’s own reckoning with bias and overconfidence. In our chart note, pediatric clinicians and engineers use 3D CT and finite element modeling to interpret infant skull fractures, replacing gut feel with measurable patterns. The lesson carries back to courts and clinics alike: a red flag should prompt slower thinking, not shortcut it. We close with a gripping ER story from a listener in recovery whose pain was sidelined by an old label until one doctor listened, ordered the right tests, and changed the trajectory of the night. Across psychiatry, law, and emergency care, the throughline is clear: tools help, but certainty can harm. Let numbers inform judgment, not replace it. If this sparked thought, share it with a friend, follow Doctoring the Truth, and leave a quick review—what’s one label you think we overtrust? REFERENCES The Psychopath Test, by Jon Ronson: panmacmillan.com www.hare.org Hare, R. D. (1998). The Hare PCL-R: Some issues concerning its use and misuse. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 3(Part 1), 99–119 Support the show Don't miss a (heart) beat! Check out our Instagram @doctoringthetruthpodcast and email us your Medical Mishaps at doctoringthetruth@gmail.com. Join us on Facebook at Doctoring the Truth, and TikTok @doctoring the truth. Don't forget to download, rate, and review so we can keep bringing you more exciting content each week! Stay safe, and stay suspicious...trust, after all, is a delicate thing! Don't forget to check out these fantastic discounts using promo code STAYSUSPICIOUS from our sponsors at: *thecuminclub.com for 30% off *https://strongcoffeecompany.com/discount/STAYSUSPICIOUS for 20% off *www.handful.com for 30% off  *www.standshoes.com for 15% off *www.oldglory.com for 15% off *www.getcheeky.com for 30% off *https://mollybz.com for 10% off  *www.RSRVCollective.com for 30% off  *klearprotein.com for 20% off *www.torrain.org for 15% off *www.cozyearth.com for 21% off * www.yarokhair.com for 15% off   ...

    1h 2m

  7. MAR 1

    Ep 54-From Checklists To Chaos: Psychopathy, Oak Ridge, And The Mask Of Sanity (Part One)

    Send us Fan Mail A bright green room. No clocks. No privacy. And a radical promise: strip away the mask and rebuild empathy from the inside out. We follow that promise from a cryptic book that landed in mailboxes worldwide to the Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R) and then into Oak Ridge’s notorious Total Encounter Capsule—where encounter therapy, humiliation, and even LSD tried to force transformation. The footage looked convincing; the results, years later, were devastating. When “healing” teaches people to mimic remorse, are we improving safety or upgrading manipulation? This story isn’t tidy, and that’s the point. Tools help, but they cannot replace judgment, transparency, and safeguards. Press play for a sharp, humane look at psychopathy, the Oak Ridge experiment, and the high stakes of getting certainty wrong. If the episode sparks you, share it with a friend, hit follow, and leave a review—your support helps us bring more evidence-driven stories to your feed. Resources: The Psychopath Test, by Jon Ronson Court decision: Barker v. Barker (2020 ONSC 3746) Primary-source paper: “The Total Encounter Capsule” (Barker & McLaughlin, 1977) Outcome study: Rice, Harris & Cormier (1992), Law and Human Behavior   Government/period document: Canadian Penitentiary Service report on visits to the STU (Oak Ridge) (1978)  Mark Bourrie, By Reason of Insanity: The David Michael Krueger Story (1997)  https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/endometriosis https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2025/214846s012lbl.pdf?u Support the show Don't miss a (heart) beat! Check out our Instagram @doctoringthetruthpodcast and email us your Medical Mishaps at doctoringthetruth@gmail.com. Join us on Facebook at Doctoring the Truth, and TikTok @doctoring the truth. Don't forget to download, rate, and review so we can keep bringing you more exciting content each week! Stay safe, and stay suspicious...trust, after all, is a delicate thing! Don't forget to check out these fantastic discounts using promo code STAYSUSPICIOUS from our sponsors at: *thecuminclub.com for 30% off *https://strongcoffeecompany.com/discount/STAYSUSPICIOUS for 20% off *www.handful.com for 30% off  *www.standshoes.com for 15% off *www.oldglory.com for 15% off *www.getcheeky.com for 30% off *https://mollybz.com for 10% off  *www.RSRVCollective.com for 30% off  *klearprotein.com for 20% off *www.torrain.org for 15% off *www.cozyearth.com for 21% off * www.yarokhair.com for 15% off   ...

    52 min

  8. FEB 13

    Ep 53-Sedation, Secrets, And The Dark Web: Exposing A Predator In A Dental Clinic

    Send us Fan Mail A patient under anesthesia is supposed to be safe. What we uncovered is what happens when that safety is only assumed. We dig into the case of Cody Alan Stolfa, a dental assistant in Stillwater, Oklahoma, who pled guilty to 33 felonies for sexually assaulting sedated patients—crimes revealed not by a complaint, but by a dark‑web video that set off a digital breadcrumb trail. It’s a story about power, access, and how easily abuse hides in the gaps of outpatient care. From there, we widen the lens. We talk victim psychology when trauma exists without a narrative, why disclosure still matters, and the concrete policies every clinic should adopt: two-person minimums in sedation rooms, auditable monitoring, tighter hiring standards, and transparent patient education. We also press pause on hype with a reality check on the viral “Russian cancer vaccine”—what therapeutic mRNA vaccines can promise, what current evidence can’t, and how to separate hope from headlines without losing either. If you care about patient safety, medical ethics, true crime in healthcare, and critical thinking in the face of sensational claims, this one will stay with you. Listen, share with someone who books dental surgery, and tell us: what safeguard would you insist on before consenting to sedation? Subscribe, leave a rating and review, and send us your story ideas—we’re listening. Resources:  https://www.facebook.com/TheDemandProject/posts/sensitive-content-warning-aggravated-sexual-assault-in-stillwatera-position-of-t/1344754514361968/  https://www.newsnationnow.com/crime/former-dental-assistant-pleads-guilty-to-sex-crimes-with-sedated-patients/  Cancer breakthrough  ​ Support the show Don't miss a (heart) beat! Check out our Instagram @doctoringthetruthpodcast and email us your Medical Mishaps at doctoringthetruth@gmail.com. Join us on Facebook at Doctoring the Truth, and TikTok @doctoring the truth. Don't forget to download, rate, and review so we can keep bringing you more exciting content each week! Stay safe, and stay suspicious...trust, after all, is a delicate thing! Don't forget to check out these fantastic discounts using promo code STAYSUSPICIOUS from our sponsors at: *thecuminclub.com for 30% off *https://strongcoffeecompany.com/discount/STAYSUSPICIOUS for 20% off *www.handful.com for 30% off  *www.standshoes.com for 15% off *www.oldglory.com for 15% off *www.getcheeky.com for 30% off *https://mollybz.com for 10% off  *www.RSRVCollective.com for 30% off  *klearprotein.com for 20% off *www.torrain.org for 15% off *www.cozyearth.com for 21% off * www.yarokhair.com for 15% off   ...

    1 hr
See All (60)

5
out of 5
20 Ratings

About

Welcome to Doctoring the Truth, a podcast where two dedicated audiologists dissect the world of healthcare gone rogue. Explore jaw-dropping stories of medical malfeasance, nefariousness, and shocking breaches of trust. The episodes provide deep dives that latch onto your curiosity and conscience. It's a podcast for truth-seekers craving true crime, clinical insights, and a dash of humor.

Information

  • Creator
    Jenne Tunnell and Amanda House
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    60
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Doctoring the Truth
  • Show Website
    Doctoring the Truth

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