Second Opinion

4.5 (67)
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

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.

5 min
APR 24

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?

5 min
APR 19

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?

5 min
APR 12

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.

5 min
APR 4

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.

5 min
MAR 27

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.

5 min
MAR 22

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.

5 min
MAR 15

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.

5 min

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4.5

out of 5

67 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

11/23/2025

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 .