Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine

Latest Episodes:

Radium Girls Jun 28, 2022

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Back in 1917 radium was all the rage. The fact that it glowed made people believe it was healthy and important, so they included it in things like toothpaste, cosmetics, even water. The Radium Girls, factory workers who used radium-laced paints to detail watch faces, were among the first to indicate that it may not be as safe as we imagined. Charlie McElroy is here to tell us about their fight for workplace safety.

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

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Vomiting Jun 22, 2022

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What’s the deal with vomiting? Justin and Dr. Sydnee meditate on the various ways we get nauseated, from smelling something gross to getting hit in a sensitive spot, and what we’ve done over the years to help alleviate it. Although sometimes kids just vomit for no reason and we can’t really help you there.

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

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Is it Safe to Eat This Plutonium? Jun 07, 2022

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We’re back with Sawbones Medical Questions! Justin acts as stand-in for the listeners while Dr. Sydnee answers questions about tall people getting COVID, eye goop, nose goop, labor organizing in the medical field, and corn in poop. This one’s for the Sawboners.

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

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Monkeypox May 31, 2022

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You may be worried we’re headed into another global health crisis in the form of Monkeypox. But it’s not new, and we already know quite a bit about it. Dr. Sydnee explains what it is, how to treat it, and the recommendations at the moment from the CDC, all compared to COVID (which is now unfortunately our standard for how to relate to potential public health threats).

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

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History of Abortion May 24, 2022

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With the recent news about Roe v. Wade, it’s important to talk about the history of abortion in the United States. The right to autonomy over one’s own body in regard to medical care is one of the basic tenets of medical ethics; but no matter what anyone personally believes, banning abortion doesn’t stop abortion. It just makes it unsafe.

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

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Infant Formula May 17, 2022

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The United States is currently in a dire formula shortage, and people are taking to the internet to propose some less than ideal solutions. Dr. Sydnee talks about the origins of how formula came about, how the shortage came about, and why people on the internet are wrong. And just in case you miss the message: do NOT try to make your own formula.

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

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Harry Beno: The Poison King May 03, 2022

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Harry Beno (not BEAN-o) one day walked into a barn hungry for biscuits and emerged the poison king. Believing himself immune to strychnine, Beno took to eating poison for an audience. From there his act escalated to the next logical step, hammering nails into his head and burying himself alive. Justin and Dr. Sydnee tell the story of “Beno the Wonder” who confused doctors but couldn’t escape the ultimate Sawbones lesson: don’t drill a hole in your head.

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

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Testicle Tanning Apr 26, 2022

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Some people believe that men in the world are getting softer and masculinity is under attack. But not to worry, there’s a solution: tanning your . . . nethers. Although the idea of exposing your soft bits to the sun may be embarrassing, there's also, as Dr. Sydnee explains, zero evidence that it's beneficial.

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

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Cereal Apr 19, 2022

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Remember when the Cheerios box said it would lower cholesterol and prevent heart disease? Well, it doesn’t say that anymore because cereal isn’t medicine. But this is just one example in a long history of breakfast cereals claiming to be beneficial to health.

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

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The World of Warcraft Plague and COVID Apr 12, 2022

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A very long time ago, in 2019, we talked about the Corrupted Blood plague, a pandemic within the World of Warcraft. How it affected the digital world was used as a model for how people might behave during an actual real-life pandemic. Well . . . we’ve got that real-life pandemic now. So how did it actually play out (and is still playing out) versus how it went in-game?

Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers https://taxpayers.bandcamp.com/

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