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Five years after the world shut down, we're revisiting one of the most controversial questions of the COVID-19 pandemic: Where did the virus really come from?  This Throwback Thursday, we're bringing back one of our favorite episodes as Kait and Megan take a deep dive into the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, gain-of-function research, and the scientists and government officials at the center of the debate.  From Dr. Anthony Fauci's congressional testimony to newly released emails, government funding, and competing scientific theories, we're following the evidence, the money, and the unanswered questions.

But this episode is also personal.  As healthcare providers who worked through the pandemic, we reflect on the chaos of 2020, the realities of caring for critically ill patients, and how those experiences shaped our perspectives on public health, scientific transparency, and institutional trust.

Was COVID-19 the result of natural spillover, an accidental laboratory leak, or something more complicated?  And were important questions dismissed before they could be fully investigated?  Grab a Corona (with a lime, obviously) and join us as we revisit the pandemic that changed everything, separate the documented facts from the allegations, and ask the questions that continue to fuel debate.

Disclaimer: This episode explores competing hypotheses, allegations, and the hosts' personal perspectives.  The origins of SARS-CoV-2 remain a subject of scientific investigation, and the discussion should not be interpreted as proof of a laboratory origin or deliberate cover-up.

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**Discussion begins at 4:25**

In 1692, a group of young girls in colonial Massachusetts began experiencing bizarre symptoms, including violent convulsions, uncontrollable screaming, strange movements, and claims that invisible forces were attacking them.  With no clear medical explanation, their community concluded that witchcraft was responsible.

But more than 300 years later, researchers have proposed several alternative explanations, including mass psychogenic illness, ergot poisoning, neurological disorders, and psychological trauma.  In honor of Halloween, let's go back to Salem and meet the patients, examine the differential diagnosis, explore the historical evidence, and ultimately ask whether modern medicine could have prevented the tragedy.

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Welcome back for a Throwback Thursday episode!  This week, we're reaching back into the Season 2 archives to revisit a topic that's near and dear to our hearts… Diet Coke.  Is it slowly poisoning us? Is aspartame actually dangerous?  Is your daily Diet Coke habit a one-way ticket to an early grave?  Or has the internet once again taken a perfectly good beverage and turned it into a public health emergency?  In this episode, we're digging into the science and separating the actual evidence from the fearmongering.  Because while Diet Coke might not qualify as a health food, some of the claims about it are a little more dramatic than the research supports.  

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** Discussion begins at 3:45**

Welcome to Consult Queens, our brand-new monthly series where we put Hollywood medicine under the microscope.  For our inaugural consult, we're scrubbing in with everyone's favorite sarcastic, Vicodin-popping diagnostician, Dr. Gregory House!  We're breaking down the Emmy winning episode "Three Stories" (Season 1, Episode 21), where three patients present with leg pain, but their cases take some wildly different turns.  From diagnostic dilemmas and missed clues to the devastating medical decisions behind House's own mysterious limp, we're examining what the show gets right, what it gets wrong, and what would actually happen in a hospital.

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This week, in our throwback episode the 3SchemeQueens and their expert guest Dr Andrew, PharmD, put Big Pharma under the microscope.  Are drug companies hiding cures to protect their profits?  Are we being prescribed medications we don't actually need?  And just how much influence does Big Pharma have over doctors, researchers, and the FDA?  From allegations of suppressed treatments and manipulated clinical trials to the very real scandals that have fueled public distrust, we're separating documented misconduct from speculation and asking the million-dollar question: Is Big Pharma in the business of making us better, or just making money?

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**Discussion begins at 5:25**

In 1988, Peggy Carr and several members of her family began experiencing bizarre symptoms, including excruciating pain, muscle weakness, and hair loss.  As doctors struggled to identify the cause, Peggy's condition rapidly deteriorated.  The culprit?  Thallium, a rare and deadly poison.  But how did an entire family become exposed, and who would want them dead?

This week, we're investigate the terrifying case of Peggy Carr, the medical clues that cracked the mystery, and the eccentric, Mensa-member neighbor with a suspicious interest in chemistry and murder mysteries.  We're breaking down the toxicology, the undercover investigation, and the shocking discovery that turned an ordinary soft drink into a deadly weapon.

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**Discussion begins at 2:25**
Welcome back to Throwback Thursday, where we’re digging into the 3SchemeQueens archives and revisiting some of our older conspiracy and mystery episodes that included medical discussions.  This week, we’re going back to one of history’s most persistent conspiracy theories: Did Adolf Hitler really die in his Berlin bunker in 1945, or did he somehow escape to Argentina?  Was Hitler even physically capable of pulling off an escape?  By the end of the war, his health was reportedly deteriorating, he had a tremor, significant gastrointestinal problems, and was being given a truly impressive pharmaceutical cocktail by his personal physician. So while we talk submarines, secret Nazi escape routes, alleged sightings in South America, and all the usual conspiracy chaos, we’re also asking: What condition was Hitler actually in during the final months of his life?  What drugs was he taking?  And if he had made it out of Germany, would he have had access to the medications and medical care necessary to survive?

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**Discussion begins at 5:00**

In 1995, 18-year-old Christa Pike committed the brutal murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a crime that would put Pike on Tennessee’s death row for three decades.  On September 30, 2026, the state attempted to carry out her sentence using lethal injection.  Two doses of pentobarbital later, Pike was still alive, ultimately leaving the prison in an ambulance rather than a hearse.

But Christa Pike is far from the first condemned prisoner whose execution did not go according to plan.  In this episode, we examine Pike’s case alongside some of the most infamous failed and botched executions in American history, and ask the question of how someone survives a procedure specifically designed to kill them.  We’re talking failed IV access, lethal injection pharmacology, malfunctioning electric chairs, execution protocols, and the uncomfortable physiology behind what happens when an execution goes wrong.

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**Discussion begins at 2:00**

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, and more than 60 years later, the JFK assassination remains one of the most debated mysteries in American history.  In this Throwback Thursday episode, we dive into the assassination of JFK, Lee Harvey Oswald, the Warren Commission, the single-bullet theory, the Zapruder film, and some of the most enduring JFK conspiracy theories.  With our healthcare backgrounds, we're also taking a closer look at the medical and forensic evidence surrounding JFK's death.  What do we know about Kennedy's gunshot wounds?  What happened at Parkland Hospital?  What did the JFK autopsy reveal?  And how have the medical evidence, autopsy photographs, X-rays, bullet trajectories, and chain of evidence contributed to decades of debate about the assassination?

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**Discussion begins at 2:50**

In 1994, Gloria Ramirez arrived at Riverside General Hospital in California critically ill.  During her treatment, 23 healthcare workers suddenly developed symptoms including dizziness, nausea, difficulty breathing, muscle spasms, and fainting.  Even stranger, some reported unusual odors and mysterious substances associated with Ramirez’s body.  As more people became sick, the emergency department was evacuated and the case quickly became one of the most unusual medical mysteries in modern history.

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