Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine
Episodes
Thalidomide
24 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1950s, Thalidomide was rolled out very quickly and what followed was a tragic story that highlighted perils of greed and hidden agendas. This w...
Vicks
10 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Justin takes over Sawbones researching duties from Dr. Sydnee this week as he begins profiling the unsung heroes of business: Brands. In this inaugura...
Virology
03 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How well do we understand viruses? We were fighting them before we could even see them. Fast forward to today, Dr. Sydnee explains how all of this rel...
Balto
27 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sawbones is finally doing the Balto episode! What happens when a remote town in Alaska has a diphtheria breakout, but their entire anti-toxin supply i...
Naloxone
20 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Naloxone is known as the “life-saving drug,” since it can bring someone back from an opiate overdose. Dr. Sydnee goes through the history of this ...
Hot Medical Question Summer
13 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s time to answer more of your medical queries, like what is Texidor’s Twinge, when does the sunscreen clock start, and yeast infections: why?Mu...
Jimmy Buffett
07 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We recorded this episode live on the Joco Cruise 2020, where Dr. Sydnee dissects the medicine mentioned in the songs of Jimmy Buffett. What is recomme...
Physician Burnout
29 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Workplace burnout is commonplace in the 21st century, but it’s a fairly recent idea. It’s especially insidious among physicians, who are taught th...
Black Lung Disease
15 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As any proud West Virginian knows, the history of mining in the United States is tied tightly to the history of the labor movement. This was partially...
COVID Variants and Guns for Vaccines
08 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
You might have heard about the COVID variants that have some people worried, and how effective the current vaccine will be against them. But not to wo...
The Parasite Delusion
25 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, we talked about if eating papaya seeds could rid your body of parasites (spoiler: it can’t). But being concerned about having parasites i...
Papaya Seeds and Parasites
18 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
TikTok is where the kids are getting all their information on new new wellness trends, so Dr Sydnee decided to check one that’s been popping up a lo...
Revenge of the Sawbones Quiz
11 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Test your medical history knowledge from this past year’s episodes in the Super Secret Sawbones Quiz of Interesting Information to Inform and Enligh...
Direct-to-Consumer Advertising
04 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For MaxFunDrive 2021, Sawbones is talking about gross medicine of a different sort. In the United States (and New Zealand) we see a lot of those comme...
Chlorophyll
27 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Along with Dr. Sydnee’s amazing videos, TikTok is also a host to an interesting wellness trend: chlorophyll. The green pigment that helps plants tur...
Vaccine Verification
20 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
About a year ago, Sawbones discussed what herd immunity was not. In this episode, we look at how we’ll get there, and what role vaccine verification...
St John's Wort
06 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A somewhat invasive plant with yellow flowers named after John the Baptist has been used for centuries as a kind of cure all. Dr. Sydnee will lead you...
Gamer Danger
30 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When the Nintendo Wii was released, it also came with a warning about potential injuries, to yourself and to others. But are video games good or bad f...
Blue Light Therapy
23 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever noticed an old house house that has blue glass windows? It's pretty, sure, but it's also supposed to provide healing energy. You can tha...
COVID-19: One Year Later
16 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It's been around a year since COVID-19 began to reshape America. On this week's episode of Sawbones, we look back at the past 12 months and examine wh...
Harm Reduction
09 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There are simple, common-sense ways we can save the lives of injection drug users. The United States is woefully behind in adopting these best practic...
Believe It Or Not, More As for Your Qs
02 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The more questions answered, the more oddly specific they become. Justin plays the listener as Dr Sydnee addresses Alice in Wonderland syndrome, super...
The U.S. Surgeon General
16 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A new presidential administration means a new U.S. Surgeon General, so this week on Sawbones, we're examining exactly what that means. Are they a gene...
Mewing
09 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Would you believe that without spending a single cent, with just a slight movement of your tongue you could breathe better, sleep better and perhaps e...
The Great Smog
02 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As with almost every cultural touchstone, Dr. Sydnee and Justin are extremely late to The Crown party. But the Netflix historical drama has provided n...
How to Talk About Vaccine Hesitancy
26 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The COVID-19 vaccine has finally arrived and there are, dishearteningly, too many that are on the fence about getting it. This week on Sawbones, Dr. S...
Dropsy
19 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It's a true shame that the medical condition with perhaps the most adorable name, dropsy, doesn't really exists. Well, it exists but ... you know what...
COVID-19: The Final Mile
05 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
OK, so the COVID-19 vaccine is here, basically, kind of, but how do you get it? How does your Nonnee get it? How will anybody get it? The answers are ...
COVID Vaccine Questions and Answers
18 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Vaccines are here! Vaccines are here! But wait ... aren't they ... rushed? Did you hear they might be ... tainted? Do they give you ... cheetah powers...
Don't Steal Your Dog's Worm Medicine to Treat COVID-19
11 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Ivermectin is a fantastic, incredible miraculous drug that has recently been touted by some as a potent treatment for COVID-19, despite not having the...
Sawbones: Clinical Trials
04 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Sydnee and Justin have turned themselves into lab rats as they join a COVID-19 vaccine trial. But how did humanity discover the practices and poli...
Even More Weird Medical Questions
27 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Is it possible for your medical questions to be ... too weird? That's a question you may be asking yourself on this latest Q&A episode of Sawbones, wh...
Hypodermic Needles
13 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
With news that a COVID-19 vaccine may be on the horizon and flu shot season in full swing, we take things back to basics with a history of the hypoder...
Angel's Glow
08 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On a chilly, rainy Civil War battlefield in Tennessee, soldiers started noticing something strange: Some of their wounds had begun ... glowing. Strang...
A Health Care Voter's Guide
30 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
If, by some set of unexplainable circumstances, you are still an undecided voter in the U.S. we've prepared something special for you in anticipation ...
Herd Immunity
23 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
There's been a lot of discussion about herd immunity in the face of COVID-19, but did you know that anyone who talks about achieving herd immunity wit...
Sawbones: Osteopathic Medicine
16 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.s) have been thrust into the spotlight recently when one was tasked with caring for the world's most famous COVID...
Our 2020 Flu Shot Extravaganza
02 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gather the family around, it's time for our annual celebration of the flu shot! We got you the PERFECT gift: A bunch of answers to your flu shot quand...
How Horseshoe Crabs (Probably) Saved Your Life
25 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Horses? Majestic. Frogs? Maybe royalty. But have you taken a moment to reflect on the humble, half-billion-year old horseshoe crab that almost certain...
Forced Sterilization
18 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Many were shocked to learn of allegations of forced sterilizations at an ICE facility. In this episode, we explore the long American history of this p...
Death Certificates
11 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
You may have recently heard a statistic that just six percent of COVID-19 deaths are attributed to COVID alone. This statistic was based on death cert...
Nostalgia
04 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Lately, have you found yourself pining for a simpler time? An easier time? Maybe just, like, ANY time other than your current one? You may be experien...
Vagina Shaming
29 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For millennia, people with vagina was told that there was something wrong with them (if they were even spoken about at all). Their vagina smelled wron...
Oleander
21 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Puzzled as to why a pillow peddler is pushing poison to the president to pacify a pandemic? Please press play.Music: "Medicines" by The Taxpayers
Grounded for Life
14 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Sawbones, we explore The Most Important Health Discovery Ever! We know it's the The Most Important Health Discovery Ever because the book...
Osmosis Jones
07 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Sawbones, we close out the #MaxFunDrive with a FAR too thorough examination of history's only medical animated comedy in which Bill Murra...
Dr. Joycelyn Elders
31 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Joycelyn Elders is an American hero who went from a sharecropper's daughter to the first black Surgeon General of the United States. This is the s...
Operation Warp Speed
24 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Yes friends, that's the actual name of the U.S. government's race to creation a coronavirus vaccine. It's either radical or a huge embarrassment, depe...
Sawbones: Amnesia
18 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In what is perhaps the first and only example of the Fast and Furious franchise inspiring an episode of Sawbones, we're diving into amnesia. We'll see...
Health Media Literacy
13 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We're being inundated by medical news in the face of COVID-19, but how is the layman supposed to make sense of all it? How can you tell a trustworthy ...
Sawbones: The Weight of the Human Soul
03 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
An introspective moment on Sawbones this week as we meet the doctor who devoted his life to discovering the weight of the human soul.NOTE: This episod...
Systemic Racism in Medical Honors
26 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
AOA is a medical honors society that's supposed to separate top-tier medical students from the rest of the pack. It helps determine which doctors get ...
Sawbones: COVID-19 and Bad Data
12 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
OK, yes, this is an episode about medical research, but it's the sexiest medical research story you're ever going to hear. It's got scandal! It's got ...
Sawbones: The Black Panthers and Public Health
05 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
If you received the typical, white-centric education, you probably associate the Black Panthers only with violence and political protest. This week on...
Sawbones: Medical Racism and Protest Safety
01 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Sawbones, we examine how Black Americans have received substandard care and fewer opportunities within the American medical system. Also,...
Sawbones: The Cholera Riots
22 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Fear that the government and doctors were allied in a grand conspiracy to oppress the populace was at a fever pitch. The people took to the streets to...
Sawbones: COVID-19 Q&A
17 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It should come as no surprise that the Sawbones inbox has been chockablock with questions about the ongoing ... unpleasantness. This week, we're tryin...
Sawbones: Cabin Fever
08 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know that cabin fever isn't just the cooped-up funk we all find ourselves in? It's a real actual disease called typhus -- or at least, it used...
Sawbones: COVID Lies, Darned Lies and Statistics
01 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Two doctors made headlines this week by trying to construct the narrative that the COVID-19 pandemic has been overblown by the hospital system in purs...
Sawbones: The Most Dangerous Parade
24 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Sawbones, we discuss Philadelphia's disastrous Fourth Liberty Loan Parade that helped reignite the 1918 influenza epidemic in the region....
Sawbones: Dr. Anthony Fauci and Coronavirus Myths
17 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Sawbones, we dive into the backstory of Dr. Anthony Fauci, a beacon of hope and reason for so many in these troubling days. In the back h...
Sawbones: Hydroxychloroquine
12 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
There are some pushing hydroxychloroquine as a miracle treatment for COVID-19 in a way that should seem familiar (and a little scary) to long-time Saw...
Sawbones: Ignaz Semmelweis
03 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Sawbones, it's the fascinating, inspiring and infuriating story of Ignaz Semmelweis. You'll learn how he discovered why it was so importa...
Sawbones: Masks
30 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The COVID-19 outbreak has recently pushed masks and other protective equipment into the forefront of the global conversation, especially as a shortage...
Sawbones: Coronavirus Part 2
22 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Surprise! This week our medical history podcast is about the biggest medical history event in any of our lifetimes. Let's talk about home testing! Soc...
Sawbones: Revenge of the Weird Medical Questions
13 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Once again, we're putting Justin at peril of being supremely yucked out by your weirdest medical queries: Should your pee smell so good? Why is your e...
Sawbones: How Yellow Fever (Nearly) Destroyed Philadelphia
06 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Sawbones, it's the story of how Yellow Fever killed 10 percent of Philadelphia, destroyed the government and made everyone rethink their ...
Sawbones: Quarantine
02 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For reasons we assume you can guess, we're discussing the history of quarantine, and how its historical misuse should make you particularly alert in t...
Sawbones: William Cunningham and the Ghouls of Cincinnati
24 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We love grave robbers on Sawbones and ... well, that came out wrong. We don't have a particular affinity for today's grave robbers, but they've played...
Sawbones: Laudable Pus
17 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Sawbones, it's the truly embarrassing story of why we spent several centuries thinking it was important for us to make wounds as pus-fill...
Sawbones: Body Temperature
10 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Sawbones, things are getting hot! Well, no, come to think of it, they’re doing the opposite. They’re getting colder. And by “they”...
Sawbones: Coronavirus
02 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Sawbones, we've got a no-panic-allowed history of coronavirus along with a guide to the current strain that has held the headlines in a s...
Sawbones: IV Cocktails
24 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Would it surprise you to learn that people with too much money are flocking to "IV bars" and paying hundreds of dollars for intravenous cocktails of v...
Sawbones: Viking's Disease
19 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Sawbones, we celebrate a trip to Minnesota with an exploration of Viking's Disease. You'll meet the people it isn't really named for and ...
Sawbones: Bidets
10 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We bidets have been all the rage for years around the globe, they never really caught on in the U.S. What part of their seedy history kept them out of...
Sawbones: The Chicago River Reversal
28 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Sawbones, the incredible true story of how Chicago changed the direction of a river to battle typhoid and cholera. Music: "Medicines" by ...
A Medicine Called Christmas 2: A Royal Pain
22 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Just in time for Christmas, we've got another extremely special holiday film created by Justin and Sydnee McElroy. Gather the family and prepare for A...
Sawbones: Elderberry and Other Things That Don't Prevent the Flu
13 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
You may have seen a Facebook meme claiming that a combination of elderberry and Oscillococcinum can prevent the flu. The truth of the matter may surpr...
Sawbones: Taint Tanning and Heliotherapy
06 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Listen, we're not gonna sit here all fancy and act like we didn't just record an entire episode about people sunning their buttholes. That's what happ...
Sawbones: Yes Virginia, There Are More Medical Questions
01 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We're marking our 300th episode (OK, it's our 301st) by answering all of your pressing medical questions. Can you really poke your brain through your ...
Sawbones: The Man Behind the Knick
25 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the 300th (!) episode of Sawbones, meet William Halstead, the father of American surgery, the man who inspired Cinemax's The Knick and .....
Sawbones: Food Sensitivity Testing
15 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The market is flooded with at-home tests that let you "take medical care into your own hands" but is that something you even want in your hands? Are t...
Sawbones: Auto-Brewery Syndrome
03 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
On Sawbones, we take pride in our ability to detangle medical myth from fact and give you the truth about the human body. This week on Sawbones ... th...
Sawbones: Cough Drops
25 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
William Goldman wrote in The Princess Bride "True love is the best thing in the world, except for cough drops." This week on Sawbones, we ruin them. W...
Sawbones: Ben Franklin
21 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Ben Franklin may not have have been a doctor, but he still had a massive impact on the medical field in his time. What were his contributions? And was...
Sawbones: The Hippocratic Oath
11 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We've all heard about the oath new doctors have to take before they get their first scalpel and weird head mirror thing. But has it always been the sa...
Sawbones: National Hotel Disease
04 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin check in with National Hotel Disease, the diarrhea so bad it almost brought down a U.S. presidency. Music...
Sawbones: Essential Oils
27 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Sawbones, we talk about the many, many things essential oils can't do for you and the dueling Utah-based companies that insist we're wron...
Sawbones: Garlic
20 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
For thousands of years, throughout an unprecedented number of cultures, garlic has been touted for its ability to improve our health. How? Well, by wa...
Sawbones: Vaping
13 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
On Sawbones, we like to take a lot of hard lines and make grand proclamations: Vaccines good, viruses bad, that sort of thing. But when it comes to va...
Sawbones: Hydrotherapy
09 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Water: There's plenty of it, it's not obviously poisonous and it's cheap as all get out. Maybe THAT'S the answer to all our species' medical woes? ......
Sawbones: The HPV Vaccine
30 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A vaccine that can practically eliminate a type of human cancer should be cause for celebration across our species. Would it surprise it to learn that...
Sawbones: Sneezing
26 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to all the owners of human bodies! You're gonna love these things, they can run, jump ... and every once in a while they uncontrollably blast ...
Sawbones: Fever
18 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Any species could have created a bunch of bogus ways to treat fevers. But only humans could use fevers as a bogus treatment for other stuff and then e...
Sawbones: Eli Lilly's Secret Pot Farm
04 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
One of the nation's leading pharmaceutical companies once maintained one of the biggest marijuana farms in the country. This week on Sawbones, how Eli...
Sawbones: Yes, More Medical Questions Answered!
26 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Does medicated chap stick doing anything? What are doctors hiding? Why can't you keep your bones? This week on Sawbones, Dr. Sydnee and Justin bring y...
Sawbones: The Chattanooga Medicine Company
19 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Sawbones, live from the historic Ryman Auditorium, hear the patent medicine company so insidious they made Dolly Parton sing about laxati...
Sawbones: Medical Reversals
12 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
You're well acquainted with all of humanity's history of medical mistakes, but even modern medicine changes it's mind from time to time. This week on ...
Sawbones: Wine
30 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We all know that consuming wine has no downsides whatsoever, but did you know it also has some amazing health benefits as well?! It's true! (Depending...
Sawbones: Medicine in Japanese American Concentration Camps
21 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week on Sawbones, we revisit a dismal period in American history that our government seems determined to repeat. Also you'll meet the heroic Japa...