Those with intellectual disabilities
Special Olympics is working to protect those inside Ukraine and those fleeing to neighboring countries.
Mar 27, 2022•5 min
Second Opinion
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 .
Episodes
The care of animals in times of war
Human are of paramount importance, but the health of animals is important as a part of human health.
Mar 20, 2022•5 min
The power of the health lobby
The most powerful lobbying groups rarely have our best interests at heart.
Mar 13, 2022•5 min
A re-emergence of polio
Just as we were on the cusp of eradicating polio from the globe we have a new outbreak.
Mar 06, 2022•5 min
The impact of a changing mental health diagnosis
The name of a disease often has greater implications than the disease itself.
Feb 27, 2022•5 min
Learning and Practicing Medicine on Real Patients
Despite lots of advances in simulation, at some point trainees still need to learn on sick patients.
Feb 20, 2022•5 min
Psilocybin: a treatment for depression
A new treatment with some unusual effects we need to understand before we agree to treatment.
Feb 13, 2022•5 min
Medical prior authorizations for drugs and devices
Medical prior authorizations are intended to deter prescribing and save insurance companies money. Their real impact is to decrease the quality of care for people with chronic diseases.
Feb 06, 2022•5 min
Orphan drugs to treat rare disease
Orphan drugs are often exceedingly expensive which beg the question of how much should we pay for a drug and how do we measure effectiveness?
Jan 30, 2022•5 min
Can the treatment of serious mental illness be futile?
Can we reach a point when there is nothing left to offer a person with serious mental illness? Can they refuse treatment at this point?
Jan 23, 2022•5 min
Health Disparities for those with disabilities
For too long those with disabilities have had poorer health outcomes.
Jan 16, 2022•5 min
Do friends influence our body weight?
Weight loss is never easy, but is it easier to do together than alone?
Jan 09, 2022•5 min
The science behind setting goals
Choosing wisely and setting milestones optimizes our chance of success.
Jan 02, 2022•5 min
Missing signs of elder abuse
It is often easy to miss the signs of elder abuse which can be insidious and deadly.
Dec 26, 2021•5 min
Political promotion of a medicine can be powerful
New research shows that the use of hydroxychloroquine for covid treatment was widespread and did not impact all populations equally.
Dec 19, 2021•5 min
What is low value health care?
If we can reliably designate some care as “low value”, then why do we still offer those treatments?
Dec 12, 2021•5 min
Informing relatives at risk of genetic disease
Who owns a patients’ test results and does the health provider have a duty to warn at risk relatives?
Dec 05, 2021•5 min
How do we know if a drug works?
Why aren’t patients given useful information on the effectiveness of medications?
Nov 28, 2021•5 min
Sex difference in surgical referrals
Female surgeons with similar experience and skill get fewer referrals than comparably trained male surgeons.
Nov 21, 2021•5 min
Written words matter
When people read doctor’s note they can feel offended and disrespected.
Nov 14, 2021•5 min
When to stop antidepressants?
Its easy to start antidepressants but when is a good time to stop taking them?
Nov 07, 2021•4 min
Back scratching: Medicine and drug companies
The relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and the medical profession is unhealthy and it impacts us all.
Oct 31, 2021•5 min
Daily aspirin to prevent heart attacks
Why did it take so long to change the recommendations about the preventive effects of aspirin?
Oct 24, 2021•5 min
The fallacy of Kubler-Ross stages of dying
Grieving is important and complex; there is no one “right way” to do it.
Oct 17, 2021•5 min
Pregnancy, mental health, and more
Pregnancy poses unique mental health challenges that we need to address urgently.
Oct 10, 2021•5 min
A new twist for cigarette related disease
Making profits from creating a disease and then making more profit from treating the same disease.
Oct 03, 2021•5 min
Dairy products and health
A close look at the health benefits of dairy products suggests the recommended 3 glasses of milk a day may not be a healthy choice.
Sep 26, 2021•5 min
Practicing What You Preach
How is advice to loose weight received from a clinician who is themselves overweight?
Sep 19, 2021•5 min
Lessons from 9-11
We have learned some important lessons about caring for people from 9-11 we can apply to those impacted by COVID.
Sep 12, 2021•5 min
Robots in surgery
At this point, surgical robots are not all they are cracked up to be.
Sep 05, 2021•5 min