First Opinion Podcast

In this episode of the First Opinion Podcast, Pat gets a history lesson on the deadly and disgusting diseases of the American Civil War and the important public health lessons to be learned from them, in a conversation with medical historian Jonathan S. Jones.  Diseases like smallpox, measles, and dysentery killed two-thirds of the one million people who died in the Civil War. "Chronic diarrhea" plagued soldiers for decades after the war. And while we no longer depend on digging ditches for latrines, we're still struggling with faith in national public health measures, racial disparities in healthcare, and more. The conversation was based on Jones' recent First Opinion, "Lessons learned — and forgotten — from the horrific epidemics of the U.S. Civil War."

Pat speaks with Baghdad-trained physician Lubab al-Quraishi about her disappointment with the medical licensing system in the United States. She worked for a decade as a pathologist in Iraq, but ended up working at Popeyes in the US because she could not afford the studying time or financial costs of the exams needed to transfer her license. The conversation is based off al-Quraishi's recent First Opinion, "Foreign-trained doctors like me were asked to help fight Covid-19. Now we’re being tossed aside."

Pat speaks with two addiction doctors who have seen delirium first-hand, and wrote last week's First Opinion, "Excited delirium: valid clinical diagnosis or medicalized racism? Organized medicine needs to take a stand." Though the term was first used back in 1985, little evidence exists that the diagnosis of excited delirium is a valid one.  Brody and Jordan break down the difference between delirium and "excited" delirium, contextualizing the racist systems of medicine and policing that created it.

This week, the podcast takes on antimicrobial resistance and "superbugs," a topic that should be worrying all of us, but somehow isn't. Pat talks with David Hyun and Rachel Zetts, both with The Pew Charitable Trusts' antibiotic resistance project, about their recent First Opinion, "Many hospitalized Covid-19 patients are given antibiotics. That’s a problem."

In this week’s episode, Dr. Jason Karlawish and Richard Bartholomew, the husband and caretaker of one of his patients, share insight into the relationship between caregivers and clinicians when looking after someone with Alzheimer's. The conversation covers how diseases like Alzheimer's and Covid-19 ramify to affect more than just its patients, and how caregivers shouldn't be thought of as typical hospital visitors, but as essential members of the care team.

Host Pat Skerrett talks with Kara Zivin, a physician, research scientist, and professor of psychiatry and of obstetrics and gynecology. She wrote a moving and informative First Opinion, "Meghan Markle gave voice to the despair I once felt during pregnancy," soon after Oprah Winfrey's interview with the Duchess of Sussex.  In their conversation, Kara talks about her own struggles, as well as the balancing act between protecting one's privacy and advocating for changes in policy and stigma. A caution to listeners: This episode includes discussions of suicide during pregnancy.

Host Pat Skerrett talks with emergency physician turned diversity consultant Uché Blackstock. Her First Opinion essay, “Why Black doctors like me are leaving faculty positions in academic medical centers,” published in January 2020, was a call to arms for many Black physicians. We also talked about a “green book” for prospective medical students, #DNRTulane, the strong current of medicine that runs through her family, and more.

Host Pat Skerrett talks with Walter Isaacson, a journalist, historian, and author about his First Opinion, “CRISPR rivals put patents aside to help in the fight against Covid-19.” It was adapted from his latest book, “The Code Breaker,” about the revolutionary gene editing tool known as CRISPR and the transcontinental rivalry it spawned.

In today’s episode of STAT’s “First Opinion Podcast,” host Pat Skerrett speaks with Dr. Haider Warraich, a physician, writer, and clinical researcher.  They break down an argument Warraich made in a recent First Opinion, “Hospitals need to earn their tax-exempt status,” which details his first experience with the American healthcare system after training in Pakistan, and how he came to see its flaws.

This week on "The First Opinion Podcast," Pat Skerrett talks with Catherine Mezzacappa and Ruth Faden about the long-standing reluctance to test and administer new vaccines, including those for Covid-19, in people who are pregnant.