Searching for Medicine’s Soul
Hosted by Dr. Aaron Rothstein and featuring expert guests, Searching for Medicine’s Soul explores medicine’s purpose: Why do physicians do what they do? How does the practice of medicine relate to scientific progress and human flourishing? The result is an in-depth analysis of the history and aim of medicine, and its collision with a thrilling and sometimes tragic age of discovery.
Episodes
Thursday Oct 10, 2024
Carl Elliott on Whistleblowers
Thursday Oct 10, 2024
Thursday Oct 10, 2024
In this episode, Aaron is joined by Dr. Carl Elliott, author and philosophy professor at the University of Minnesota. They discuss how medical education can corrupt character, Dr. Elliott’s experience as a whistleblower, and his latest book, The Occasional Human Sacrifice: Medical Experimentation and the Price of Saying No, which explores the history of medical experimentation.
Thursday Oct 03, 2024
Charlotte Bismuth on Prosecuting the Opioid Crisis
Thursday Oct 03, 2024
Thursday Oct 03, 2024
On this episode, Aaron is joined by Charlotte Bismuth, author of Killer in a White Coat: The True Story of New York's Deadliest Pill Pusher and the Team That Brought Him to Justice. Bismuth discusses the profit motive behind the opioid crisis and her decision to prosecute Dr. Stan Li, whose criminal medical practice in New York led to 16 overdoses from prescription drugs.
Thursday Apr 25, 2024
Dasha Kiper on Supporting Dementia Caregivers
Thursday Apr 25, 2024
Thursday Apr 25, 2024
On this episode, Aaron is joined by Dasha Kiper, author of Travelers to Unimaginable Lands: Stories of Dementia, the Caregiver, and the Human Brain and a clinical trainer at Renewal Memory Partners. Aaron and Dasha discuss the impact dementia has on caregivers. Through cultural pressures, family dynamics, and a lack of support, caregivers have become what Dasha calls “invisible victims.”
Thursday Mar 28, 2024
Marc-David Munk on Emergency Medicine in Africa
Thursday Mar 28, 2024
Thursday Mar 28, 2024
Episode description: On this episode, Aaron is joined by Dr. Marc-David Munk, author of Urgent Calls from Distant Places: An Emergency Doctor’s Notes about Life and Death on the Frontiers of East Africa. Dr. Munk discusses his travels to the Middle East and Africa, Christianity’s role as a trusted institution in places where government has failed, and how to bring the focus back to patients in the American healthcare system.
Thursday Mar 14, 2024
Doron Gothelf on Traumatized Israeli Children After October 7th
Thursday Mar 14, 2024
Thursday Mar 14, 2024
On this episode, Aaron is joined by Doron Gothelf, a professor of child psychiatry at Tel Aviv University and an integral member of the medical team involved in treating Israeli children hostages who have been released. Aaron and Doron discuss childhood trauma, how traumatic events affect the young, and Doron’s work with the victims of Hamas’ violence.
Thursday Jan 04, 2024
Lewis Grossman on Drug Regulation
Thursday Jan 04, 2024
Thursday Jan 04, 2024
On this episode, Aaron is joined by Lewis Grossman, professor of law at American University and author of the book Choose Your Medicine, to discuss the history of drug regulation and medical freedom.
Thursday Dec 14, 2023
Jim O’Connell on Medicine for the Homeless
Thursday Dec 14, 2023
Thursday Dec 14, 2023
On this episode, Aaron talks with Dr. James O’Connell, author of Stories from the Shadows: Reflections of a Street Doctor. Dr. O'Connell discusses his work providing medical care for the homeless in Boston, his experience working as a doctor for the homeless during the AIDS crisis, and the perverse incentives of the medical profession.
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
Dr. Samuel Shem on Our Hospital
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
In this episode, Aaron is joined by psychiatrist and novelist Samuel Shem, who wrote the satirical novel House of God. Aaron and Samuel discuss Samuel’s latest and final novel in the House of God series, Our Hospital. The book serves as a reflection of the truth of medicine during COVID in which hospitals are driven by profit over humanity.
Thursday Oct 12, 2023
Drs. Worsham and Jena on Natural Experiments and Doctors’ Biases
Thursday Oct 12, 2023
Thursday Oct 12, 2023
In this episode, Aaron is joined by Drs. Christopher Worsham and Anupam B. Jena, professors at Harvard Medical School and authors of Random Acts of Medicine: The Hidden Forces That Sway Doctors, Impact Patients, and Shape Our Health. The three discuss natural experiments and the biases and outside forces that impact doctors and health policy.
Thursday Sep 28, 2023
Ronald Dworkin on Educating Doctors in the Liberal Arts
Thursday Sep 28, 2023
Thursday Sep 28, 2023
In this episode of Searching for Medicine’s Soul, Aaron was joined by Dr. Ronald Dworkin, a 30-year practicing anesthesiologist, professor of political philosophy at George Washington University, and author of Medical Catastrophe: Confessions of an Anesthesiologist. Aaron and Ronald discuss the importance of medical physicians having a liberal arts education and the consequences of a lack thereof.