The Poor Historians: Medical History Misadventures

This is the final episode for the Poor Historians Podcast. It's been a wonderful ride and we're happy to end on what we think is a high note, talking about the topic that interested Dr. Max in starting a show about medical history in the first place.

The chief source for this episode is "The Knife Man" a book by Wendy Moore talking about the life, times, and accomplishments of the Scottish Surgeon, John Hunter. You may not know it, but so many advances in medicine (and past episodes of our show) owe him a debt of thanks.

We thank everyone for listening and supporting our show and for sending us all the wonderful messages over the years.

Check out Wendy Moore's amazing book, HERE.

With much love from Dr. Max, Dr. Aaron, Dr. Mike, and Alba.

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If you've ever wondered why your over-the-counter pill bottles have that annoying little foil under the cap, you'll be happy to know it's there for good reason. It all stems from this true-crime meets toxicology story. We'll lay it all out here in this episode.

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We welcome our special guest historian to discuss an overview of issues affecting medical history and it's approaches to women's health during the late 19th century into the early 20th. We'll talk about Anthony Comstock and his silly morality-influenced laws, discuss early forms of contraception, and will examine all of this amidst the cultural milieu of the era. 

We'll go out on a limb and say the doctors of this age were a bit behind the times and we're happy to laugh at their expense.

Guest Info: 

Dr. Alicia Gutierrez-Romine is a historian and author. She specializes in California history with an emphasis on gender and sexuality, medicine, and race and ethnicity. She is an expert on the history of criminal abortion in the United States and is currently doing research on intersections of race, public health, and immigration in California and the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands. 

Check out her latest book -> From Back Alley to the Border: Criminal Abortion in California, 1920–1969.

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This is a fascinating and complicated dive into the history behind the first placebos and observations of their effects. We'll do our best not to lose our own minds trying to sort out the complexities of the placebo effect as we understood it simply in the past, and try to contrast that with all of the newer science on the topic. This gets weird.

Sources:

• Wikipedia: Placebo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo
• The Neuroscience of Placebo Effects, Nature Reviews (paywall), Wager and Atlas https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn3976
• The Early History of the Placebo, Jutte (paywall) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965229912000866
• Attempts to Revive Antient Medical Doctrines, by Alex Sutherland (Google Books), https://www.google.com/books/edition/Attempts_to_Revive_Antient_Medical_Doctr/AntbAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PP26&printsec=frontcover
• Placebo etymology, https://www.etymonline.com/word/placebo
• Podcast: Skeptics with a K -Episode #386

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This episode was brought to you by our main source, the excellent book on the topic by Matthew C. Ehrlich entitled, The Krebiozan Hoax: How a mysterious Cancer Drug Shook Organized Medicine. Check it out via that link and show the author some love. It's a great addition to your medical history library.

This is the story of how a 22-year elaborate hoax was delivered to the American public of the 1940's-1960's in the form of a purported cancer cure. Preying on the hope of those suffering from terminal cancer, one unscrupulous doctor tricked so many others into pushing a fake cure for the disease. We'll dive into the story to figure out if, in fact, Krebiozen, the medication in question, really did exist.

Additional Sources:

-https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/what-is-cancer

-https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cancer-death-rate-who-mdb

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krebiozen

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creatine

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TGjm7wIyUk&t=62s&ab_channel=WilliamKronick

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This episode is a blend of true crime and criminal ineptitude. We'll walk through the story of how a gaggle of NYC barflys in the early 20th century U.S. Prohibition Era conspired (very badly) to murder an Irish immigrant who would later be nicknamed "The Irish Rasputin" for his incredible survival of multiple attempts on his life. How did this all transpire, medically speaking? Let's find out.

Sources: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Malloy

https://medium.com/the-crime-historian/meet-the-man-who-survived-5-murder-attempts-to-the-frustration-of-his-killers-6469d0c1f7b

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanol_toxicity

https://wikem.org/wiki/Methanol_toxicity

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6527027/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacology_of_ethanol

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-man-who-wouldnt-die-89417903/

https://gizmodo.com/the-legend-of-mike-the-durable-malloy-historys-most-st-5918834

https://www.nydailynews.com/2007/10/14/the-durable-mike-malloy/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_lighting

https://www.mussenhealth.us/carbon-monoxide/autopsy-findings.html

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Death_record_of_Mike_Malloy_alias_Nicolas_Mellory.jpg/220px-Death_record_of_Mike_Malloy_alias_Nicolas_Mellory.jpg

https://www.unfortunatehistory.com/podcast/17-mike-the-durable-malloy-he-just-wont-die/

https://thisiscriminal.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Episode-151-The-Many-Lives-of-Michael-Malloy.pdf

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This is one of those episodes where we're happy to have Alba's perspective. We'll explore the history of breast surgery, it's various early procedures, and a host of things done to change women's chests for a variety of reasons.

References: 

• https://citylights.com/topographies/cleavage-man-made-breasts/ Cleavage book, Nora Jacobson, 2000 (MAIN SOURCE)
• Squeezing saline bag story, https://www.chron.com/local/history/innovators-inventions/article/Local-invention-made-Houston-international-hub-9122371.php 
• Angelina Jolie Harvard Study on testing, https://hms.harvard.edu/news/angelina-jolie-effect
• The history and development of breast implants, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7450417/
• Angelina Jolie’s NYT Column https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/opinion/my-medical-choice.html?_r=1&

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History does have a way of repeating itself--at least in broad strokes. In this episode we'll discuss the first opiate crisis the U.S. ever suffered and do a bit of comparison to modern times. From opium, to morphine, to heroin, these substances have been a part of civilization for much longer than most realize.

If you or someone you know may be struggling with opiates or other addictive substances, SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) has a confidential 24/7, 365 hotline to call to start finding help: 
1–800–662–HELP (4357)

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Sources:

Thomas DeQuincy

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/the-man-who-invented-the-drug-memoir

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_De_Quincey

Confessions of an English Opium Eater Book

https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/DeQuincey_Confessions_and_Suspiria_1850.pdf

Successful Treatment of Opium Eaters. The New England journal of medicine. 1853;48:77-77.

https://go.exlibris.link/MQmYF19P

Other:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/inside-story-americas-19th-century-opiate-addiction-180967673/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Narcotics_Tax_Act

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/002204267500500201?journalCode=joda

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium

https://www.dea.gov/factsheets

https://www.ohsu.edu/historical-collections-archives/theres-cure-historic-medicines-and-cure-alls-america

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_den

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperance_movement

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/heroin/etc/history.html

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It's probably popular knowledge that alcohol as a substance of use--and potential misuse--has been with humankind since our earliest days. In this episode, Dr. Mike explores the earliest references to alcohol and takes us through a tour of it's evolution alongside various cultures and eventual recognition as a poison that is capable of great harm. This includes an overview of early addiction treatment and some discussion of how alcohol affects human physiology. 

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If you or someone you know may be struggling with alcohol, see the below references to start a search for treatment options.

SAMHSA's Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator: 1–800–662–HELP (4357)

Find treatment: https://findtreatment.gov/

Types of treatment available: https://alcoholtreatment.niaaa.nih.gov/what-to-know/types-of-alcohol-treatment

Self-assessment questionnaire: https://auditscreen.org/check-your-drinking

About Alcohol Use Disorder and Symptoms: https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/understanding-alcohol-use-disorder

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References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short-term_effects_of_alcohol_consumption

https://247wallst.com/special-report/2019/09/10/how-much-beer-did-the-average-person-drink-in-every-state/

https://academic.oup.com/alcalc/article/35/1/10/142396?login=false

https://recovery.org/alcohol-addiction/history/

https://daily.jstor.org/a-brief-history-of-drinking-alcohol/

https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-alcohol-a-timeline-170889

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Thanks to a fan suggestion, we went ahead and gave this TV series about an ER doctor turned concierge physician for the rich and famous a try.

It had its moments.

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