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© 2024 Poor Historians: Misadventures in Medical History
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Three modern emergency physicians and their show's "medical history intern" take a lighthearted, humorous quest through various stories in the history of medicine. New episodes every two weeks and a bonus episode once per month. Topics span from ancient times to relatively recent history, all related to important advancements, people, or discoveries in the history of medicine.
To provide feedback, check out merch, and to support the show in other ways, head on over to our website: www.poorhistorianspod.com
92 Episodes
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We said that episode one of this TV series was bad, medically and critically speaking. Maybe that's not fair. It was a pilot, after all. We went ahead and checked out episode 2. It was worse. ----- Patreon Page (support the show) -----Submit a Question for Mike's Trivia Challenge Segment (website form with instructions)-----Podcast Linktree (social media links / reviews / ratings)-----DrMqx (Follow Dr. Max on Twitch)
When a mysterious gastrointestinal illness starts turning into a dangerous neurologic disease accompanied by green tongues in post WWII Japan, researches scramble to find out why people are becoming sick. We'll do a deep dive on this one to figure out the cause.Sources:-https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/when-cure-is-cause-180967666/-https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15152488/-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC478909/?page=1-https://newint.org/features/1981/01/01/devils-ht...
From the discovery of this well-known medication, to the science behind its function, and spanning all the way to treatments for the underlying condition of erectile dysfunction as well as a complication of said treatments called priapism, this episode covers a lot of ground. As you might imagine, there will be discussions of male genitalia, the existence of sex, and sexual health in this one, as written by Dr. Mike and presented in Poor Historians Podcast fashion. Listener discretion i...
The Patrons have spoken! They suggested we lend our medical expertise in a new and unique manner, by watching, reacting, and reviewing a popular medical show. We chose "The Resident" and boy-oh-boy was it bad. Whether you're a fan of that particular show or have yet to see it, this episode will let you experience all it's medically inaccurate glory through the eyes of your favorite amateur medical historian doctors and their intrepid medical history intern. #medicalshow #medicine #t...
We invited Jerry Landry, host of the exceptional Presidencies of the U.S. Podcast onto the show today to help us discuss the clandestine surgery at sea that was done on President Grover Cleveland in the late 1800's. It was kind of a big deal.Listen to the end to hear a teaser on the upcoming Patron inspired TV show review. We'll talk about it after our bonus content with Jerry at the end of this episode.Go check out the Presidencies of the United States Podcast wherever you get your podcasts ...
Charles Darwin, the famous naturalist of the 19th century, was a big fan of collecting specimens. Some of those specimens would crawl around and feed on one's blood. In this episode we'll talk about the life of Darwin and the medical history of his death, considering that a fascinating infectious disease may have been a contributing factor.Sources: Historical Clinicopathological Conference:-https://archive.hshsl.umaryland.edu/bitstream/handle/10713/6862/Darwin_2011.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowe...
Botox, the widely popular injectable medication, has been on the market and popular for a while now. What you might not realize is that there's an intricate and fascinating story behind the discovery of Botox, a literal bacterial toxin. This episode welcomes physician and author, Dr. Eugene Helveston to the show to discuss his book, "Death to Beauty: The Transformative History of Botox," a comprehensive telling of the story of the development of this medication. It's a history he can tell as ...
On this episode, Mike leads a discussion of the history of defining narcissistic personality disorder as a psychiatric diagnosis. Starting with Napoleon Bonaparte, and including other historical examples, we'll examine the diagnosis as defined through different perspectives in time.Enjoy this unique approach to this historic giant.Sources:-https://www.history.com/news/napoleon-bonaparte-downfall-reasons-personality-traits-https://www.grunge.com/208529/the-truth-about-napoleons-personality-dis...
Behavioral health is certainly within the bounds of medicine and, thereby, medical history. The Stanford Prison Experiment asked the question of whether the environment of prison compelled bad behavior from those within the system. In order to study this, this 1970's university psychology experiment went to extreme lengths to turn its research subjects (students) into faux prisoners and prison guards in the basement of the department's building. It might not surprise you to find out that...
If you're like me (Dr. Max) and the words "Dropkick Murphy" conjure images of the legendary Boston-based punk rock band, you might be surprised to know the history behind that name. In this interview, Dr. Max sat down to interview Emily Sweeney, a staff reporter for the Boston Globe and author of a book on Dr. John "Dropkick" Murphy, who was not only a pioneering physician of earlier 20th century alcohol treatment, but was also a professional wrestler of his day. This is an amazin...
He conquered many lands, sailed many seas, and was finally awarded his own Netflix miniseries, but at the age of 32, the ruler of Macedonia known throughout the ages as Alexander the Great, died in the palace of a Babylonian king shortly after a night of partying. There have been numerous potential explanations as to what happened. In this episode we'll review the case and the leading thoughts as to what brought down this renowned military leader.Announcement: Dr. Max is on Twitch! A li...
1This is a fascinating dive into the world of genetics, set against a backdrop of a curious dermatology finding, and ending with one of the most interesting and convoluted paternity cases you may ever hear about. The Maury show has nothing on this one, trust us.Mike suggested this episode be titled "This is Chimerica!" or "Have you Heard About the Lady Whose DNA was a Chimera? No, Sounds Greek to Me!" I used my editorial powers to override him. Sources:-Cicada Films. “The Twin Inside Me....
This episode of the Curious Case Vault has an admittedly grim premise--a patient who suffered two gunshot wounds to the head. In this discussion, Alba leads us through a case of a young Brooklyn, NY man who, in the spring of 1888, sustained what could have been a devastating injury in any time in history. In his case, we'll see how the neurosurgeon of the time treated this patient leading to an amazing if not inspiring outcome. We'll talk about the evolution of this type of ...
Rabies is a fascinating and frightening infectious disease. It has a long history in the natural world and stories involving a case of it rarely end on a happy note. It just so happens there is at least one such story. In this episode we'll talk about one of the only documented cases of survival from this viral infection. We'll discuss the disease itself, how it works, how it's prevented, and how, at least once, it was successfully treated right here in Milwaukee, Wisc...
The 1920's was a time in the U.S. when anybody with a clever sales pitch and a willingness to pull a patent could devise a concoction and call it a "medication." Unfortunately, the heyday of the "patent medicine" era coincided with the discovery of radium before the downstream consequences of radioactivity were known. The wealthy industrialist, Eben Byers found himself unwittingly the victim of the hazardous set of circumstances. This is the story of how a patented substance...
A 30 year old woman in 1842 comes down with an awful gastrointestinal illness and a physician is called. He recounts the case in this article and asks if this might have been something called "Cholera Morbus." We'll go through the case, talk about causes for this sort of thing, and do our best to guess the diagnosis. The approach to treating the disease in the 1840's was interesting, if nothing else. Did we miss anything? Have a thought about the case? Send...
This unusual, recurrent epidemic illness has popped its head in and out of the annals of history. It goes by many names: the English Sweats, coma somnolentum, Schlafkrankheit ("sleep sickness"), and the Nona, to name a few. The last time it was widespread was during the influenza pandemic of 1915-1926, but medical case studies and reports of recurrent epidemcis date back to the 16th century. Is it a new viral or bacteral illness? Or something more complicated? We...
Let's do a neurologic case featuring an American music legend who sought help after developing unusual headaches and a distorted sense of smell. We'll figure out what happened and who it is in this installment! Avoid clicking through the references if you wish to keep the mystery intact. Referenceshttps://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736%2817%2931623-9 Lancet Letter Wikipedia Page for the mystery patient.https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s004...
CPR (aka cardiopulmonary resuscitation) is a simple way to save a life. When a heart stops, the modern teaching is to "get on the chest" and start giving compressions. But it may surprise nobody that there were early forms of CPR. There were whole committees devoted to this topic. Some of the first ideas were definitely a rough draft. Others were downright comically bad, though well-meaning. The history of CPR is almost as sexy as Baywatch made it seem.Ref...
We decided to throw out a little bit of a bonus episode. In what we're calling the Curious Case Vault for now, we'll go into the archives of a well-established medical journal and read a real case report from long ago--1841, to be exact.In this case, with our help as physicians, Alba will puzzle through the case of a 53 year old patient who, unfortunately, developed a sore throat in the 19th century. We'll go through the case, do our best to figure out what happened, and we'll com...
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Just discovered this, exactly what I was looking for 😊
Super fun & interesting show.