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A surgeon tells you everything went fine then you spend years in pain, ashamed, and confused because the truth never made it into your chart. We dig into the case of Dr James Burt of Dayton, Ohio, the physician behind “love surgery,” a set of experimental genital procedures he performed on thousands of women, often without informed consent. The details are as horrifying as they are important.

We walk through how Burt sold his theory, how he used authority and taboo to isolate patients, and how institutions that should have protected women instead protected themselves. Hospitals restricted liability rather than stopping him, medical culture discouraged doctors from reporting other doctors, and the state medical board dragged its feet until national media made silence impossible. The story raises hard questions about medical ethics, patient safety, hospital credentialing, and what real accountability looks like when harm happens behind operating room doors.

If you care about informed consent, medical malpractice, and how trust can be weaponised in healthcare, hit play now. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a rating or review so more listeners can find the show.

Resources: 

https://www.thermofisher.com/us/en/home/clinical/diagnostic-testing/brahms/prenatal-screening/preeclampsia-screening/clinical-solutions.html 

https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/0/1993/1993-Ohio-178.pdf 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_C._Burt 

https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/11/us/charges-against-doctor-bring-ire-and-questions.html 

https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/26/us/doctor-loses-practice-over-genital-surgery.html 

https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/09/us/doctor-is-accused-of-immoral-tests.html 

https://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/22/us/article-964091-no-title.html 

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/03/05/Dr-Love-files-250-million-suit-against-CBS/9944636613200/ 

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-06-22-mn-936-story.html

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-04-19-ca-139-story.html

https://abcnews.com/Health/ohio-woman-writes-book-love-doctor-mutilated-sex/story?id=17897317 

https://pegalislawgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ABC-NEWS-Dec-2012-Sandy.pdf 

https://patient-safety.com/burt/ 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23179235/ 

https://nursingclio.org/2021/01/28/upholding-first-do-no-harm-a-review-of-sarah-b-rodriguezs-the-love-surgeon/ 

https://meridian.allenpress.com/jmr/article/107/1/37/465209/The-Love-Surgeon-A-Story-of-Trust-Harm-and-the 

https://lithub.com/the-cautionary-tale-of-the-love-surgeon/ 

https://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/0/1996/1996-ohio-107.pdf 

https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/janet-phillips-v-james-890952408 

https://www.scribd.com/document/859350481/The-Love-Surgeon-A-Story-of-Trust-Harm-and-the-Limits-of-Medical-Regulation-Direct-Download 

https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/m6qodz/til_gynaecologist_james_c_burt_from_dayton_ohio/ 

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/female-circumcision-and-clitoridectomy-in-the-united-states/james-burt-and-the-surgery-of-love-196689/63B2364BBECF307F1002FCC6E060D826 

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