It's Nightside with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Thank you very much, Nicole. As always, Dan Ray here the host of Nightside. We have a jam packed show for you tonight. During the first hour, we're going to talk about longer than expected waits in Massachusetts emergency room rooms. We're going to talk about serial killers, going to talk about an anti aging pill for dogs, and going to talk about daylight saving time, which all of us will experience this weekend. Rob Brooks is back in the control
room tonight. He'll take begin to take your calls at nine o'clock. We will talk during that hour with State Auditor Diane Desuglio. She continues to battle. She's one of the good ones on Beacon Hill, in my opinion, and she continues to battle with the legislative leadership out there. Voters last fall approved a referendum whereby the auditor would be allowed or will be directed by the voters to audit the state legislature. And guess what, the state legislature
leadership doesn't want to be audited. So we'll discuss that and then later on tonight. The question I have is with Doze specifically and all of the efficiencies that the Trump administration wants to make permanent within the federal government. Is it possible they're out over their skis a little bit. We have an example that I think most people will agree with, sort of a ridiculous request. We'll get to that at ten o'clock, but first we're going to talk
with doctor Laura Nasuti. Doctor Nasuti, she's the Health Policy Commissioner. She's the Health Policy Commissioners, the director of Research and Analytics, Doctor Nasuti. I hope I pronounced the last name correctly. Welcome to Nightside.
Thank you. So we week as part of one of our regular Health Policy commission Board meetings, we showed some preliminary results from a study on what we term emergency department boarding, and so that is when patients spend more than twelve hours in the emergency department.
And what we.
Found is that we see overall emergency department boarding went up for everyone and is continuing to increase into twenty twenty four, and especially for those who were in the emergency department for what's called behavioral health boarding, So for people who come to the emergency room primarily for a behavioral health condition, we see this going up.
Can I refer to that. Can I refer to that so the audience will understand as a mental health crisis?
Yes, yes, so it could be a mental.
Sometimes if you use different words, different language, Yeah, someone gets offended. So so if someone's having a crisis, uh, and they either on their own come to the emergency room or they're brought there by a loved one or by a friend, those wait times are lasting longer. Do we have an er doctor shortage? Is that? Is that contributing to this at all? Or is there a spike
in in in emergency room visits. I assume that over the course of some time, the same percentage of people would sprain an ankle or or cut their hand or bumped their head, And I mean, there's no crisis in terms of I assume the number of patients or the number of doctors.
Or is there Well, actually that's a great question. So what we what we see is the total number of visits overall to the emergency department is actually still a little bit lower than it was uh pre pre COVID. But what what is happening is that we are seeing that people are staying for longer lengths of stay in the inpatient setting. Uh, well, I'm going to back up for a second.
If that's okay.
We are there are multiple things happening at the same time. So one of the things that's happening is that patients are spending longer in the inpatient setting, either because they are in need of more care and needs to stay there longer, or because we're having a hard time discharging them to uh to something to like oppost acute care setting to nursing home, something like that. We also, at the same time know that there's some challenges with getting
access to behavioral health care in general. In fact, the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission was commissioned was casked with starting a behavioral health Workforce center, so something that's that's something that we're working on to better understand the needs of the behavioral health workforce in Massachusetts, so patients can act us care outside of the emergency department and be quickly placed with care in the community when when it's appropriate
for them to be taken care of in a community setting or at Again, I got.
To be honest with your doctor. It sounds to me like I don't know how to say this politely, but it sounds to me that this is kind of a mathematical formula. And unless if there's no real uptick in visits, and if we haven't cut back staff over time, the average weight should you know, it's almost supply and demand. If there's enough doctors and the visits have diminished, you would think that the length of time average weight would drop.
So you're telling me this really is really all behaviorally related. And either the behavior the people who are in need of some mental health care are either staying longer because they need to be treated longer, or maybe is there an uptick in the behavioral care visits. I'm trying to really struggling to understand this, and I know we're getting tight on time.
Well, there's there's a you're hitting on a third point, which is, uh, there there is an increased need for behavioral health services or mental health services, and so the why is that, Well, there there are a lot of theories out there, but we know that from from surveys that have been done that that there is an increased need for mental health services and people are seeking mental health services and are having a hard time finding some
of those services. And for some of those people, if they if they can't get into the right services, you know, the front door. They they do end up in the emergency room as a place of care.
Doctor Nasudi, I apologize profusely for the technical problem on our end, and perhaps we could we could have you back. I can talk to my producer about having you back for maybe an hour and talk about this and give you a chance to explain it a little more in depth. I know that we're pressed for time in this interview, and again it's on it's our fault, a technical problem
on our end problem. I think it's something that that it would be well for us to spend a little more time and perhaps even take some phone calls from listeners. So I'm going to my producer reach back to you if that's okay with you, and we can you know, we can take our time a little bit more than we did tonight. I thank you so much for your time tonight, and again my apologies for the technical issues on our end.
Okay, okay, thank you so much.
Again. Mental health care is very important in Massachusetts and anywhere, and let's understand it in a longer form conversation. Doctor Laura Nusudi, director of Research and Analytics with the Health Policy Commission, thanks again. Doctor. When we come back, we're going to have everything squad away and we're going to talk with a prior guest in this program, doctor Scott Bond.
He's a criminologist and he focuses on serial killers, and he will be appearing at the Wilber Theater in Boston in March twenty third, so you may want to listen very closely. He's been a great guest and I think he puts on a great presentation. Will at the Wilburg. We'll be back on Nightside. I will again remind you if you don't already have the new iHeart app, pick
it up. Get it. All you got to do is download it, pretty simple, even I did it, and then you can set WBZ as your number one preset, so you will have WBZ at your fingertips. Three sixty five, twenty four seven. My name is Dan Ray. Off to a little bit of a rocky start, but it's only going to get better from here. We'll be back on night Side right after this.
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Want to welcome back an old friend of this program. I shouldn't say an old friend, but a friend of this program, doctor Scott Bond. He's a criminologist. Dr Bond. Sorry about getting to you a little bit late. We had some technical difficulties off the top with our first guests, so we're going to get right to it. You have a big show coming up at the Wilbeth Theater in
Boston on March twenty third. Many of my listeners know exactly your background and what you do, but tell us about the show and tell us why people should should show up at the Wilba Theater on March twenty third to see this event.
Dat Dan, I really appreciate it. It's great to be here. And yeah, I am really excited the wilburg I understand. Is that just a beautiful theater. I'm excited to to bring my my show there. And yes, my my goal is to take the audience inside the minds of some of the most diabolical characters of all time that I have actually interacted with, gotten inside their their pathological minds.
And I'm talking about individuals like the son of Sam David Berkowitz, the buying torture kill strangler who is Dennis Raider, also the Long Island serial killer, allegedly Rex Huerman.
And you know, I know that you've talked to some of these Hueman is still he's a waiting trial, is he not?
Yeah, he is, he is.
And as I want to make sure, I just want to make sure to protect us legally here that he enjoys the presumption of innocence until his trial.
Oh yeah, absolutely. And I think I said, I think I said allegedly, Uh, I just want.
To, like I said, have you ever I know you've spoken to some of these convicted serial killers as human been. Have you had access to him or no?
Well, my relationship there, how I got involved was back in twenty ten when the Gilgo four were first found there on that desolate area of Gilgo Beach on the
long Shore south shore of Long Island. The New York Times newspaper asked me to put together an extensive profile of this unknown killer, which I did and utilizing techniques that I learned firsthand from the founding profilers there in the FBI, Quantico, Virginia, their Behavioral Science Institute, and I put together an extensive profile that some years later in twenty twenty three, when Huberman was arrested nailed him to a t one hundred percent, even to the extent that
I said he probably lived in the very neighborhood in which those bodies were found, which is absolutely true. In fact, you can see his burial ground from his backyard there in the south shore of Long Island.
Well, my question is is there a commonality? And I know that we're a little tight here on time, and I want to again mention in people. Tickets are available through the Wilworth Theater in Boston from March twenty third. That is a Sunday night if I'm not mistaken, or is it Sunday afternoon?
It is Sunday evening seven pm. Is the start of the show?
Great, Okay, So is there a commonality? I mean, other than the fact that these people obviously are sociopaths. If you're killing anyone who's an innocent victim, unless you're killing someone in self defense, I think you're a sociopath. But if you're killing Malta, if you're a serial killer, you're clearly a sociopath. What is it? What is the common strain that runs through them? A messed up childhood? Is
it that they just can't stand other people? Is there can you synthesize that for me, I've never asked you ken question before.
I think, yes, it's a fantastic question, which I get into, obviously in great detail in my show. But to try to reduce it down to one answer. First of all, eighty percent of serial killers are either psychopaths or sociopaths. They are not clinically or legally mentally ill. They have culpability, they know that it's wrong to kill, they don't care. The remaining twenty percent are actually mentally ill, schizophrenic, paranoid, schizophrenic, psychotic,
et cetera. Now, the vast majority, the eighty percent, these individuals, they are as different as night and day. They come in every race, every gender, every sexual orientation, IQ, education, religiosity, you name it. But they do have one single common denominator, dan, and that is that for these rare individuals, the killing of complete strangers over a long period of time, develops inside of them a psychological craving, a hunger, a lust
for blood that only killing will satisfy. And the exact nature of that fantasy, and it's borne out through fantasy varies by serial killer. It can be power and control, it can be a mission that they decide they need to rid the world of a certain type of individual. It can be visionary in the case of David Berkowitz, he believes Satan was driving him to kill, and it can be lust or sexual desire. In the case of Jeffrey Dahmer, it was the seventeen men that he killed.
He had sexual lust and desire for them. But if you can unlock the fantasy need for a particular serial killer, his psychological craving, then you can understand his pathology and you can go a long way toward predicting his future behavior and ultimately apprehending him.
My guest, doctor Scott Brown, he is a fascinating guest. He's been on the show as recently as last year. He will be appearing live what's called a live theatrical event at the Worldworth Theater in Boston on Sunday evening, March twenty third. Cont I think it's going to be a great show and I recommend him highly. Doctor Scott Bond, thanks so much for joining us. Again. We went into our newscast a little bit to try to make it up to you, but we had some technical issues early,
so thank you so much. Your good sport and best of what I hope you enjoy Boston.
Thank you so much, Dan, great to be here.
Absolutely great to talk with the CAAM will talk soon. All right, when we get back, right after the newscast, we're going to talk to another doctor. This is doctor Deborah Cato. She's the co director of the Stanford Center on Longevity and the longtime dog Mom. Anti aging pills for dogs have cleared an FDA hurdle. That's the good news. But there's a doctor who says unforeseen problems can occur
with new drugs that are still in testing. We'll be back with doctor Deborah Cato right after this, and after nine o'clock we'll be talking with state Auditor Diana Dezaglio about her quest to follow through and what the voters have requested lust fall. During the election of twenty twenty four, they said that the voters in Massachusett by an overwhelming margin, want the state legislature to be audited. It's our tax
money they're playing with. And Diana Dezaglio will talk about the battle with the legislature ongoing back on Nightside right after this.
You're on Nightside, Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news Radio.
All right, Welcome back everyone, Thank you very much, Nicole. It is said of dogs, the dogs don't live long enough. The reason is that you know, dogs are probably on average they live ten to twelve years on average, and sometimes if you get a dog that lives for fifteen years, you can consider yourself to be blessed, doubly blessed, not only that you have the companionship of a dog and a friendship of a dog, but you have them for
longer than you would expect. With us, as doctor Deborah Cardo, she's the co director of the Stanford Center on Longevity. I assume that's a Stanford Center on Longevity for human beings.
Doctor Cardo, Yes, that is correct, it's for human beings today. We don't have a dog representation there.
Okay, but you're a longtime dog mom and I'm a longtime dog dad, so we have that in common. So I didn't realize, to be honest with you, that there are anti aging pills for dogs that have cleared a key FDA here hurdle. Tell us about that.
Yes, apparently a company based in San Francisco has cleared a hurdle that I guests shows safety in giving a pill that affects the metabolism of older dogs weighing over fourteen pounds that perhaps increases their health and lifespan, so that they've been approved to now conduct a larger study of about one thousand dogs recruited across that nary practices across the United States to see if in fact this works better than a placebo good tasting pill for the dogs.
Okay, so the bottom line is these pills. I don't want people running to the vet tomorrow and saying we want them anti aging pills for Fido. These pills are not available commercially at this point.
Correct, That is correct, Although the study is enrolling through veterinary practices across the United States. So if one were so inclined, they could try to find a veterinarian who's participating in the study and become enrolled, although they wouldn't be guaranteed they have a fifty fifty chance of actually getting the pill with this special compound versus.
Yeah, my audience understands that.
Okay, this is a test.
So yeah, the is the list of the veterinarians available. If there are people in my audience who are who would like to have their dog participate in this is there other than going through a list of just calling veterinarians at random. Is there a way in which we can help people find the veterinarians who are participating in this study?
That is correct, There is a way, and I did a little preparation for this call. They're the name of the company that's giving or testing this drug is called Loyal and they have a website that you can look up how you could enroll your dog in which veterinarians are participating in the study.
Okay, now I'm assuming you don't have that website off the top of your head.
That is correct.
They're probably giving it to me. Okay, it's amazing. Okay, let me see this like l.
O y A L. And then if you put anti aging dogs, I think anybody can.
Here's the deal. I got it. I got it even more quick, pretty adept at this stuff. Doctor loyal dot com good news. It's one stupid and it says be the first to know when we release more details on our products. I'm a dog owner, I'm a veterinary professional. So so what do the clinical trials so far suggest
that the that the light? What? What? What is the potential lifespan Obviously, even if this meets all the criteria of the FDA, we're not going to have dogs living to you know, to forty five years of dog you know, dog life, I mean of you know, forty five human years. How much do you think if this is successful, that you know, Fido's life can be extended a couple of years.
Well, given that I would have not participated in the trial, I don't know what the compound even is. It would be hard for me to project on what the UH life extension capabilities are and if in fact health span is improved as well. So those are things that they will test. And generally for human trials we like to go at least three years. So I'm sure it can't be forty five years because the trial it would be forever to get FDA approved.
So I was spenting tongue in cheek at that point, meaning not that that the trials would be for forty five years. But you know, whoever is running this saying if we're successful, you know some mad scientists, if we're successful, your dog will live for forty five years. I just I'm assuming we don't script these questions, as you probably know, So I'm sure questions that you and you're doing great. Just just bear with me here for a second. So we at least have the website loyal dot com. People
can go look at it now. In the prep work that I have here, there's some suggestion that one doctor, and maybe that's you, is suggesting that unforeseen problems can occur with any new drugs that are still you know, obviously in testing, has there been any despite the FDA approval or whatever prop you know, sometimes there's there's a preliminary approval and a temporary improval, your final approval. I mean,
the f d A has their own system. What's what's the potential downside or is there any potential downside or unforeseen problems?
Well on the company website, we're not privy to that information, and perhaps they're not even any concerns, but oftentimes we do have things that crop up that we can't predict. So it could be anything from earlier heart attacks to worstening physical function, to tummy aches, two mood changes. We just we just don't know. But I think they are planning to measure all of those things so that they can get a sense if the DUG is doing what
it needs to do. In terms of the metabolism, maybe flowing the metabolism as well as increasing health span and lifespan.
Okay, so now let me ask you one other question that is nonscript from a medical point of view, and as a veterinarian, you're my medical expert for the moment here, So and you're at Stanford, which is a good school.
Do you think that if they're successful in terms of extending the lifespan of dogs through you know, the miracle of science, could that have some application or in your opinion, is the composition, the physical composition of dogs, the DNA of dogs so different from human beings, although they are men's best friend and woman's best friend too, that this is not likely going to have an application dog to human.
Well, as you said, Dan, I am a huge dog lover. In fact, dogs were my first kids, and dogs have contributed over the past century in terms of improving the lives of humans, not just by being a pet of many owners across the world, but also through scientific investigation. So without dogs, we would have not discovered the cause of diabetes, for example, But back then they had to do they weren't treating the dogs to make them live longer.
They were trying to get at the mechanisms of why what's happening in the pancreas, and they found insulin through their studies on dogs and so and then as a medical student, for example, in the eighties, we were told that this is why I remember it is that we could learn about the anatomy and how to perform surgeries by doing surgeries on dogs who didn't have homes. And that was tough for me, honestly to do that. But surgeons learned on real tissue and realizing that the anatomy
is quite similar. So I can foresee that if this drug is successful in the dog, there may be certain applicability also to humans. And the beauty of doing the study and the dog is also the reason why they're being studied is that they don't live as long as we do. So it's very hard in humans to show efficacy because what are we actually measuring. We can't wait for people to die. But for dogs, since their time span, you know, the lifespan is shorter, we are able to see those outcomes.
Everyone. When you spell the word dog backwards, it spells God. And that's the way you feel about dogs, to be really yes.
And what I was going to say. What I was going to say was also that scientists who study geroscience in humans, they do believe when you say forty five years for they'd be like, right on, if you get at the basic underlying mechanisms, why not, why is that not possible? Why just like living on Mars.
Yeah, well, let's hold I would prefer to extend the life longevity of dolls then being able to live on Mars every day of the weekend twice on Sunday. I think it would be much better for us. Anyway, Thank you, doctor Carter. I really do appreciate your time tonight. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Take care.
You're welcome when we get back. When it top about daylight savings time, it beckons this weekend spring forward is this weekend, but it might affect your sleep and your health. We'll talk with a doctor, a medical director of the Center for Sleep Bedicite, a tough medical center. Right after this quick break on night Side.
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Big event this weekend. It's not the Super Bowl, March Madness, it's not the opening of the baseball season, it is the arrival of daylight saving Time this Sunday morning, about two am. And with us is doctor Artie Grover, the medical director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at Tuft's Medical Center. Doctor Grover, welcome to Nightside.
Hi, goodness, good evening, Dan. How are you nice to speak with you?
Very nice to speak with you. You know, we really don't everybody thinks we gain an hour of daylight. We don't. We just kind of switch it around. It'll be a little darker in the morning and lighter in the afternoon. And of course, as the sun continues its annual expedition, we I should say, take our annual expedition around the sun. We will get more light up until around June twentieth or so, and then the process will reverse. However, just to change as I understand that it does impact people's
sleep and their health. I've never been impacted by this. I noticed it for a couple of days, but it doesn't impact me. Maybe it's impacting me and I don't know about it. So what are we talking about here? Dr Grover?
Okay, so that very good question. So just to kind of look back at a little bit of history, you know, we know that a daylight standard. Daylight saving time was created during World War One, initially and then eventually in nineteen sixty six it was adopted by the federal government where most states adopted it, and we accept couple of states like Arizona and Hawaii doesn't observe this. So daylight standard time actually does affect our circadian clocks. So this
is our internal clocks that are not aligned with the sun. So, like you said earlier, the daylight standard time, we think we're saving daylight, we are actually not saving anything and we're actually misaligning with our internal clocks. So as you know, as we all know, we've spring forward the second Sunday of every March every year and we fall back in November the first Sunday usually, so our standard time which
starts in November. Now that time is what is aligned with the sun and our internal clocks, and this is what works best for humans and other mammals, whereas daylight standard time saving time actually affects us negatively, and a lot of the studies have shown that that it can lead to car accidents. Even that one hour of sleep debt that we create the week with the day off Sunday into the following week. It takes a while before us to adjust. Most of us do adapt over the
next one to two weeks. We will all adapt by mid March or maybe a little bit later. But a lot of the people do get affected by this change of one hour because of the misalignment, because our circating costs affect our hormones, our temperature, our mood, and alertness because we are mammals who get exposed to light in
the morning and that affects us. So just that those small change can you know, can increase car accidents, risk of car accidents, mood disorders, high risks of suicides, high risks of party vascular events like heart attacks and strops. So yeah, so those are some of the negative health effects that we see in some of the data and all the studies that we've seen from the help expert point of view. So yeah, so it definitely has negative effect, and I'm glad you're not affected by it.
Well I'm really not. I mean, obviously, that's sun when you lose an hour of sleep supposedly, well, you know, I lose hours of sleep every night. I have a sleep sedule. I work until midnight and when I'm done I should probably consult you sometime professionally. When I work at midnight, I'm I'm wired, you know, and it's like I can't just go to sleep. I mean, I'm doing like the Globe crossword puzzle, trying to make myself drowsy.
I say this to all of my patients that if you are twelve o'clock, is my sixth or seven o'clock, then I'm finished with work. Then I need a couple of hours to unwind before I go to sleep. So I recommend the same for you that you know, for your getting off of work at midnight, You're not going to want to go to sleep at twelve fifteen, right, You need like a couple of hours to unwine.
You try to try to minimize it because if you don't go to sleep until two o'clock in the morning, you know, whether it's January or July, then you're getting six five hours or six hours sleep. Because when the sun comes up and the world starts to the normal world starts to wake up, you got to kind of be with with the world everything.
There.
Yeah, so there is that concept of social jet lag that we have to live with the world that we live in.
But.
Our brain doesn't work that way, right, Our internal clocks or how sleep we all need is important.
So yeah, one of the things that I that I do, to be honest with you, is if I can get to the gym five six four or five six days a week, that actually re energizes me, to.
Be honest, that's so.
I mean, it's almost as good as sleep anyway.
I mean we all need that a little bit of adrenaline rush, whatever that workout means for us working out in the gym, dancing, or just going for a quick walk or a quick run to energize ourselves. I think anyway you can get any exercise during the days, it can be helpful and it can help our Please, that's.
Critical in my world, Doctor Grover. Appreciate your time, and we'll I'm sure talk to you maybe later on during the year when we reverse this cycle.
Okay, oh absolutely, that will talk about more detrimental stuff from that change.
Thanks, doctor Grover, Thank you so much.
For your with you. Thank you great.
Have a great rest of the night. Enjoy all right, we get back, we're going to be talking with State Auditor Diana Disauglio. I think one of the most courageous people in elected public office here in Massachusetts. Right now. I'll explain why. Right after the nine o'clock news