Poor Historians Podcast

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Poor Historians Podcast

Medical history humor podcast with three modern emergency medicine docs.
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06/11/2024

The final episode of the Poor Historians Podcast is out in the world as of today. We hope you enjoy this one last topic. It ties many of our prior episodes together and was a good one to go out on.

We're forever grateful to all of our fans who have been the driving force behind the show. Our episodes will remain available for the future generations.

Be sure to listen past the outro to hear a bit of a special behind-the-scenes chat between the co-hosts, reflecting on the many years of work and friendship that went into making this show.

Feel free to follow over on Instagram and Threads if you want to see what he's up to. We'll still be monitoring our social media accounts for the show in case folks want to send us messages in the future.

Much Love,
Dr. Max & The Poor Historians Podcast

27/10/2024

Hello All PHPod Fans,

After much consideration over the prior months, we've decided that the Poor Historians Podcast is coming to an end with our next episode which will be the finale for the show.

Dr. Max who has been doing the editing and producing over the years will be taking time to focus on his medical training and the PHPod co-hosts have decided this would be as good a time as any to wrap the show up on our upcoming Nov 6th episode, Though it will be our last show, we'll look to make it a good one with a little extra special content for our fans.

We'd like to thank all of you fans out there who have taken the time to tell us how much you enjoyed the show, how much we made you laugh, and even how much the podcast meant to you in difficult times. It's been a pleasure to do this show for the past 3+ years and to hear from so many people out there who enjoyed what we did and appreciated our hard work. We're proud of our accomplishments in this creative space and it's been an amazing ride because of all of you.

The show's catalog will remain on all the podcast networks and Dr. Max will monitor the PHPod social media accounts for the foreseeable future. He will also continue to provide an occasional quip over on Threads as if you wish to follow him there.

Though we don't anticipate the show will return, if there are any new creative projects from the PHPod co-hosts in the future, you can expect them to be announced here on these pages.

Once again, many thanks to the PHPod universe.

Our fans are the best!

10/10/2024

We're happy to have special guest on the PHPod to lend her expertise on this topic.

It's surprising to see the Comstock Act of 1873 back in the news in 2024. In this episode we'll talk about Anthony Comstock's crusade against contraception, po*******hy, and women's health during the Gilded Age. This is what happens when a rogue post office administrator lets power go to his head....

Follow us if you're a fan of medical history and have ears. We'll podcast at them.

04/10/2024

This past episode saw an interesting addition to the Poor Historians Podcast Annals of Medical History (our vault of interesting artifacts).

In our episode on the placebo effect, we learned that an early placebo used during the 1700s-1800s was a dose of silver-encrusted bread crumbs. It was prescribed as a purgative but thought to be inert. Hard to say if it did anything, but I would be concerned that this "placebo" might have had negative effects.

We imagine silver bread crumbs were pretty, though, so there's that.

Check out more in our latest episode available on all the podcast places!

26/09/2024

Today's episode is an attempt to look at the history of one of the most misunderstood concepts in medicine: the placebo effect.

To be fair, it's a more complicated phenomenon than some sources might suggest. In this episode we'll talk about the origins of the word, "placebo," the first placebos in existence, and a history of scientific investigation into just what the placebo effect is.

The bottom line is that the placebo effect is a multifaceted, fascinating phenomenon.

We'll try to do our best with it.

Give it a listen! We're on all the podcast places.

19/09/2024

This past episode's entry into the PHPod, as selected by , is the horseblood used to make the mysterious (and ultimately fake) "Substance X" that would later be named Krebiozen. It was a quack cancer treatment that was popularized by a series of poorly conducted studies in the 1950's and 1960's.

Into the medical history vault with this one.

Check out our most recent episode on Krebiozen to learn more about this unfortunate chapter in the history of cancer treatment.

12/09/2024

Today's episode is brought to you courtesy of the newly released book, The Krebiozen Hoax by Matthew C. Ehrlich, an extensively researched account of a fake cancer cure that, much like its creator, seemed to appear out of thin air.

This is the story of Krebiozen, a medication said to have been developed by a secret process involving stimulation of horse immune systems and isolating a mysterious substance from their bloodstreams.

By the end of its 22 year run, Krebiozen left many patients without answers and a famous scientist's reputation in tatters, all while the medication's creator sought to flee the country.

Check this one out!

03/09/2024

We're adding a rotten sardine and thumbtack sandwich to our show's Annals of Medical History.

In the 1920's, this artisanal sandwich idea was one of the many ways that a group of NYC bar patrons used trying to kill "Durable" Mike Malloy, an Irish immigrant who survived numerous poisonings and traumas in an effort to collect on his life insurance policy. They hoped that a sandwich of rotten sardines and thumbtacks would do the trick.

It did not, so we're putting it in our show's archive of medical history artifacts. I'm sure it'll keep well in there.

29/08/2024

This episode is a tour of toxicology, trauma, environmental hazards, and drives home the point that you should pick your friends carefully.

Mike Malloy was also known as "Irish Rasputin" because he managed to survive a series of murder attempts. We'll piece together this story with various medical explanations as to how Mike Malloy managed to escape death, so many times.

18/08/2024

I don't always run into fans of the show, but when I do, they're rad AF.

Was awesome to meet .fontaine and enjoy the pit show last night .

Dr. Max recommends the fans check out their music and catch a show while they're on tour. It'll be good for your health.

What a great f***ing night.

15/08/2024

The early days of breast surgery involved some very questionable ideas. I don't know why some doctor back in history thought injecting a flammable wax to alter the breast shape through horrendous inflammatory changes, but we'll talk about that journey in the newest episode.

06/08/2024

In researching our recent episode on the so-called "O***m Eaters"--an unkind term for 18th and 19th century persons addicted to o***m and its derivatives--we came across this neat fact.

Felix Hoffmann was a German chemist that worked for Bayer pharmaceuticals when he developed the process of synthesizing acetylsalicylic acid (aka Aspirin). He would also be noted for reviving the work of an English chemist named Charles Wright, who was the first person to synthesize diamorphine (he**in) from the morphine molecule. Hoffmann recreated Wright's experiments heralding in the production of Aspirin and He**in by this major pharmaceutical company in the early 20th century--the period of time this advertisement is from.

***meaters

03/08/2024

Sometimes while researching an episode, we come across neat sources that don't always get discussed on the show.

These are some cases from a physician, Dr. James Bates, writing into this early rendition of the NEJM to share some successful stories of op**te addiction treatment.

The language is certainly insensitive by modern standards, but the interesting thing here is the gradual tapering down of the dose of op**te, showing a recognition that it took months and months to help a patient stop their op**te use and avoid withdrawal symptoms. For the time period, given the available options, this does seem like a scientifically reasonable approach.

Also, note that op**tes were used to treat "the insane" and I particularly enjoyed the understated poetic language of the first case's family being "annoyed by her lamentations" when she was going through what were probably awful withdrawal symptoms. I can't tell if the doc was being kind, dismissive, or both in that description.

***meaters

01/08/2024

New Episode Today!

O***m and op**tes have been a part of medicine dating back to the dawn of civilization. We're all well aware of the modern op**te crisis, but it isn't the first one the U.S. has been through.

We'll trace the origins of the so-called first op**te crisis, the origins of the term "op**te eater," and see why mail order he**in from Sears and Roebuck was, indeed, an overall bad idea.

Follow us and check out the show where you get your podcasts!

***meater

15/07/2024

's wife wanted to know why he was buying this from the antique shop. He explained their curio cabinet didn't have a strychnine-based poison "medication" & he wanted to remedy this.

That and he said it was a piece of medical history so she had to let him have it for the podcast's sake.

Not sure she was convinced but he did promise not to taste test the liquid that is still in the bottle.

Two truths: relationships are about compromise and Dr Max collects weird things.

25/06/2024

My sister in law wondered what this w**d was in my front garden, so she used one of those plant ID apps to find out.
Lo and behold, though it hasn't flowered yet, several apps said this was white snake-root.
Very apropos find given our recent episode on milk sickness, the illness that killed many American pioneers, including Nancy Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln would want me to get rid of this plant so I'll go ahead and do that.
Medical history is neat when it's in your yard.

27/04/2024

We're approaching our 3 year anniversary and just hit this milestone. Our humble little show has come a long way and we've learned a lot--about medical history, podcasting, and the power of consistency.

Thank you to our fans for listening to the show, for writing to us to tell us we made you laugh, and for giving us the inspiration to continue.

Thank you to my co-hosts for believing in the ride and to our friends and family who were the first compelled fans for the show. We've come a long way and can't wait to see where it all goes next!

-Dr. Max

11/04/2024

We welcomed a guest and fellow podcaster to help us tackle this medical history story. Special thanks to Presidencies of the United States Podcast host, Jerry Landry, who joined us to talk about a secret surgical procedure aboard a yacht, involving president Grover Cleveland's hard palate, some surgeons, a dentist, and a handful of teeth.
We hope you enjoy this one!

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We're happy to have special guest @aliciagutierrezrominephd on the PHPod to lend her expertise on this topic. It's surprising to see the Comstock Act of 1873 back in the news in 2024. In this episode we'll talk about Anthony Comstock's crusade against contraception, pornography, and women's health during the Gilded Age. This is what happens when a rogue post office administrator lets power go to his head.... Follow us if you're a fan of medical history and have ears. We'll podcast at them. #medicalhistory #medicine #history #historypodcast #podcast #comstocklaws #womenshealth #historyofmedicine

Today's episode is an attempt to look at the history of one of the most misunderstood concepts in medicine: the placebo effect. To be fair, it's a more complicated phenomenon than some sources might suggest. In this episode we'll talk about the origins of the word, "placebo," the first placebos in existence, and a history of scientific investigation into just what the placebo effect is. The bottom line is that the placebo effect is a multifaceted, fascinating phenomenon. We'll try to do our best with it. Give it a listen! We're on all the podcast places. #placebo #placeboeffect #medicine #history #medicalhistory #podcast

Today's episode is brought to you courtesy of the newly released book, The Krebiozen Hoax by Matthew C. Ehrlich, an extensively researched account of a fake cancer cure that, much like its creator, seemed to appear out of thin air. This is the story of Krebiozen, a medication said to have been developed by a secret process involving stimulation of horse immune systems and isolating a mysterious substance from their bloodstreams. By the end of its 22 year run, Krebiozen left many patients without answers and a famous scientist's reputation in tatters, all while the medication's creator sought to flee the country. Check this one out! #medicalpodcast #quackmedicine #historypodcast #historyofmedicine #medicine #medicalhistory #hoax #krebiozen

This episode is a tour of toxicology, trauma, environmental hazards, and drives home the point that you should pick your friends carefully. Mike Malloy was also known as "Irish Rasputin" because he managed to survive a series of murder attempts. We'll piece together this #truecrime story with various medical explanations as to how Mike Malloy managed to escape death, so many times. #podcast #historypodcast #MedicalHistory #toxicology #history #medicine #methanol

The Patrons suggested so we did it! The Poor Historians Podcast reviewed the first episode of The Resident and boy was it medical nonsense. We had a lot of fun with this one. It's a tangent from medical history, certainly, but we'll call it an exercise in the examination of medicine in popular culture. Enjoy! . . #TheResident #medicine #medicaltv #medicineculture #r#ResidencyLife #residency

President Cleveland's Secret Surgery

Today's episode centers on an interesting theory of a possible cause of death for the famed naturalist, Charles Darwin. Did his curiosity and willingness to play around with some of the insect species he'd discovered along the way lead to health problems later in life? Many doctors of Darwin's time tried to come up with an explanation for his numerous health maladies so we thought we might add our opinion to discuss a fascinating theory involving a very insidious infectious disease, known as Chagas Disease. . Check it out and follow us in all these places if you'd like to keep up with the show! . . . . . #CharlesDarwin #darwin #medicalhistory #medicine #Chagas #kissingbug #histmed #historypodcast #medicalpodcast #podcast

New episode today! Dr. Mike puts the one and only Napoleon Bonaparte onto the psychiatrist's couch to discuss the history and features of the diagnosis of narcissitic personality disorder. In this episode, medical history meets psychology with this historic figure as a jumping off point. . . . . #histmed #medhist #medicalhistory #psychiatry #psychology #historyofpsychology #historypodcast #podcast ##napoleón

Today's new episode is about psychology and behavioral health research and experimentation in the absence of sensible ethical oversight. . That's how the Stanford Prison Experiment came into existence. . We'll examine the examiners in charge of this mess in this latest episode. . Follow us and connect for more! . . . #MedicalHistory #histmed #medhist #psychology #psychologyhistory #Stanford #stanfordprisonexperiment #medicalethics #historypodcast #medicalpodcast #podcast

Dr. Max has been a fan of the @dropkickmurphys for decades. In fact, he and his wife can trace the official origin of their relationship to a Dropkick Murphys moshpit, long ago. . What Dr. Max didn't realize is that the now world famous punk band was named for a then famous, Boston area physician named Dr. John "Dropkick" Murphy who, as it so happened, also was a professional wrestler in the 1930's and 1940's. . We found the definitive book on Dr. Murphy, written by Boston's own, @emilysweeney22 and we bring you an interview with her on today's episode! . Note that Ken Casey, founding and current member of the Dropkick Murphys wrote the foreword for Emily's book, which it so happens is an amazing and enjoyable read. Go get this book (links in show notes)! . Dr. Murphy dedicated his career to helping men with alcohol addiction and dependence, employing what were, for the time, novel methods to try and treat both the physiological and psychosocial aspects of what we might call alcohol use disorder in the modern day. . Tune in wherever you get your podcasts and check out this great interview on a fascinating corner of medical history. Share with all of the Dropkick fans you know that--like Dr. Max--never looked into the origins of the name. . . . . . #DropkickMurphys #boston #punkrock #historypodcast #history #MedicalHistory #historyofmedicine #histmed #medhist #podcast

Alexander the Great did a lot with his young life. He conquered a bunch of places, sailed a bunch of places, and drank a bunch of wine. , He also died a mysterious death, medically speaking, so we're gonna talk about it on this episode. , Much greater minds than ours have weighed in on the topic and, fortunately for us, we were able to find their papers and use them as sources. , We hope everyone enjoys! , Follow us and never miss a new episode! . Link to podcast players in our bio via our Linktree. , , , , #AlexanderTheGreat #medicine #medicinepodcast #historypodcast #histmed #medhist #historyofmedicine

Today's episode is a relatively recent bit of medical history with a heavy helping of genetics. Imagine being a mother bearing children and one day finding out they do not carry your DNA. It sounds implausible, but as we found out, a historic case helped explain how this was possible.We hope you all enjoy this episode! #podcast #histmed #medhist #historyofmedicine #genetics #chimera #Medicinepodcast #historypodcast #medicine

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