Past Medical History

Past Medical History

By FlightBridgeEDSociety & CultureDocumentaryMedicineHealth & Fitness
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Past Medical History episodes

  • The Scalpel in the Storm

    Before he became one of the most influential surgeons in modern history, Michael DeBakey was just a fourteen-year-old boy in New Orleans holding the wrist of a dying neighbor and learning how fast life can slip away. That moment became the engine that drove him through lecture halls, operating rooms, and eventually into the largest war the world had ever seen. 


    This episode follows DeBakey from the humid streets of Louisiana to the chaos of WWII, where he transformed battlefield medicine, redesigned evacuation systems, and planted the seeds that would become MASH, helicopter evacuation, trauma centers, and the Golden Hour itself. 

    A story of relentless innovation, quiet grief, and the surgeon who dared to fight time.

    33 min
  • PMHX: NoFX - Episodes 1-3

    PMHX: No FX is the official aftershow for Past Medical History: The Story of EMS.

    Each week, creator and co-hosts Sophie, Evan, and some occasional special guests break down the episode in a raw, unscripted conversation about the story, the research, the decisions, and the creative process behind the scenes. No sound design. No effects. Just the humanity, the history, and the craft that shape every chapter of the season. 


    If you love the cinematic episodes and want to dive deeper into how they’re built — and why these stories matter — No FX is your place.

    20 min
  • After The Guns Fall Silent

    When the guns stop firing, the dying doesn’t end.


    In this episode, we follow the story of a wounded Union lieutenant left to perish on the field at Second Bull Run. He is abandoned not by fate, but by a broken system. That single tragedy may have become the turning point for a quiet, analytical surgeon named Jonathan Letterman. 

    From the coal-smoked streets of Pennsylvania to the cholera-ridden wards of Philadelphia, Letterman grows into the one mind capable of diagnosing the Army itself. And on the battlefields of Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg, he builds the first true American trauma system, a blueprint that will shape EMS for the next 160 years. 

    This is the story of how one man changed the fate of the wounded… long after the guns fell silent. 

    36 min
  • The Doctor Who Refused To Wait

    In 1793, the French Revolution burned across Europe. Amid the chaos, a young surgeon named Dominique Jean Larrey refuses to stand idle as wounded soldiers bleed and die where they fall. Against orders and tradition, he builds a system that will change the fate of the injured forever... a flying ambulance that brings care to the battlefield itself. 


    Through Larrey’s defiance and innovation, Past Medical History: The Story of EMS explores the birth of organized emergency medicine, where compassion met ingenuity, and where the first principles of triage were forged in the smoke and fire of war. 

    This is where mercy began to move.

    25 min
  • Nobody is Coming to Save You

    In 1783, a young merchant’s son lies dying on a frozen Scottish road, his leg shattered, his lifeline severed, and no help in sight. Before ambulances, before medicine as we know it, survival depended on luck, distance, and the kindness of strangers.


    Through one man’s struggle to survive, Past Medical History: The Story of EMS traces the origins of emergency care from rural folk healers to the first anatomy theaters of Edinburgh to a battlefield surgeon who refused to accept that dying in the dirt was inevitable.

    This is where it all began: the moment humanity realized that help had to come.

    20 min
  • Halloween Special Edition: The Death Shift

    In 1981, the night shift at Bexar County Hospital in San Antonio earned a name whispered in fear... the Death Shift.


     Tiny lives in the pediatric ICU began to fail without warning. Alarms blared. Monitors flatlined. And at the center of it all stood one nurse whose touch brought not healing, but horror.

    In this Halloween Special Edition of Past Medical History: The Story of EMS, we take you into one of medicine’s darkest legends: the chilling true story of Genene Jones, the “Angel of Death.” From the fluorescent corridors of a Texas hospital to the courtroom where justice finally spoke for the silenced, this episode unravels the nightmare that changed healthcare forever.

    Blending cinematic soundscapes, immersive storytelling, and historical accuracy, this special episode marks the launch of our brand-new podcast series. Our first season is already in production, bringing you more true stories where medicine and humanity collide.

    If you enjoy this episode, it would mean the world to us if you took a moment to rate and review the show wherever you’re listening. Your feedback helps others discover these stories and keeps us inspired to share more. Know someone who’d love this episode? Send it their way and help us grow the conversation.

    Be sure to follow us on Instagram @pmhxpodcast for behind-the-scenes updates and announcements about our first season... coming soon. Stay tuned for release dates and more exclusive content.

    54 min
  • Where the Story Begins

    Step inside the ambulance of history. Past Medical History: The Story of EMS is a cinematic documentary podcast that unearths the wild, untold, and sometimes downright eerie origins of modern emergency medicine. Hosted by flight paramedics Evan Claunch and Sophie Fuller, this isn’t your typical medical lecture, it’s an adventure through time.


    Through immersive soundscapes, cinematic scoring, and audio-drama-style storytelling, Evan and Sophie bring history to life — from battlefield medicine and bizarre experiments to the birth of paramedicine itself. Each episode drops you into the moments, voices, and chaos that shaped how we save lives today.

    1 min

About Past Medical History

From the publisher's feed

Hosted by paramedics Evan Claunch and Sophie Fuller, Past Medical History: The Story of EMS is an immersive, cinematic storytelling audio drama and documentary-type podcast featuring rich soundscapes and dramatic narration. The PMHX podcast explores how heroes, disasters, and ideas collided to create the world of EMS we know today. Sometimes it’s dark, sometimes it’s inspiring, but it’s always real, raw, and rooted in the passion of those who answer the call.