My podcast: Medical Error Interviews

Hi all,

I've been working on this project for far longer then I thought it would take - turns out there is a lot more work involved then anticipated (while working and doing advocacy stuff and being sick) in creating a podcast.

Nevertheless, I'm happy to finally be slowly rolling out the launch.


ME is an embedded medical error

I consider ME to be an embedded medical error in our medical systems: it begins with a category mistake (that ME is psych), and that error impacts (impedes) different institutions:

- Funding Institutions: research funding is a small fraction of what it should be
- Medical Institutions: medical testing and treatment is often denied (yet we're pushed toward psych 'treatment') and we're often subjected to iatrogenic harm and trauma
- Political Institutions: are at best indifferent
- Insurance institutions: deny disease, deny benefits
etc...

But I thought a podcast only on ME would be mostly speaking to our bubble - but since medical error is the 3rd leading cause of death, that means many multiples of more people will have been affected by medical error.

I interview a wide variety of medical error incidents and diseases, but since ME is the most egregious and global medical error (imo), our stories will be a frequent topic.

But the podcast isn't just about the medical error, it is also about raising awareness and seeking solutions.



I interview 3 groups of people:

- survivors of medical error (or their surviving family)
- health care workers who have participated or witnessed medical error (I have software to disguise their voice)
- advocates and policy makers - the folks who are, or should be, making our systems safer.

I especially like interviewing people who fit 2 of those groups.

I already have about a dozen interviews recorded, but now comes the laborious task of creating show notes that are time stamped and editing the recording (it has been a steep learning curve with Final Cut Pro) and then publishing on various platforms.

Inaugural Episode of Medical Error Interviews - Jeff Wood

I am so very pleased to launch the podcast with an interview with Jeff.

Many folks on S4ME will be familiar with Jeff's incredible story and his efforts to bring awareness of how his CCI relates to his ME.

Jeff's life story is littered with medical error, stretching back to when he was a small child. As Jeff's condition worsened, he became the repeated victim of medical abuse.

Fortunately, Jeff is both resilient and smart, and using his research skills from his death/sick bed in the hospital, and in spite of much push back from the medical establishment, he was able get a diagnosis and life changing treatment.

Finding Medical Error Interviews

I am listing the podcast on multiple platforms, but the biggie is iTunes, please subscribe to the podcast there, and leave comments too (they help it get a higher rating = more awareness).

Please also share on social media so more people become aware of medical error and ME and we can make our access to health care safer...and eventually more equitable.

And if you have a compelling medical error story you would like to share - or know someone who does, PM me with a brief description and we'll take it from there.

Thanks,
Scott

 

Thank you very much @ScottTriGuy!

Excellent news. Yes, advocacy is such hard work, and being so ill is an enormous impediment for many with ME.

I hope your podcasts gain lots of attention.

Many, many thanks again!

 

Thanks @DokaGirl - with medical error so ubiquitous, many lives are impacted - and the chances for justice small as the system is set up to protect the error-maker.

 

Hi all,

I have published 3 more medical error interviews at iTunes, Spotify and Podbean.

In episode #2 I interview Gregory from the UK about his many years of trying to get a Lyme diagnosis, and the subsequent cover up by his doctors of their missed diagnosis, turns a medical error into criminal intent.

Episode #3 is with Donna from Canada. She woke up thinking her surgery was over...until she heard the surgeon say "scalpel please" and felt him cut into her abdomen.

In the 4th episode, "The Gift of Cancer", Kelly Anne shares how her doctor failed to tell her she had cancer and did a procedure that spread it to her other organs.


I would appreciate feedback to improve the podcast, or ideas for guests.

And if you like it, please share it.

 

Hey @ScottTriGuy I like the idea, do you have any links for non itunes versions?

 

Thanks @ScottTriGuy

Have subscribed and looking forward to listening.

@sb4 found the podcast on two podcatchers, Google podcatcher is probably the simplest and has no ads.

ETA Podbean mentioned above is an android podcatcher.

 

Thanks @sb4 and @Daisy

Here's the link to it on Podbean.

 

@ScottTriGuy, I've just listened to "The Gift of Cancer". I thought it might be too long but I couldn't stop listening. Kelly Anne spoke so well and with amazing acceptance. She's a great subject and an inspiration.

I thought letting her speak almost without interruption worked well because she certainly was able to tell her story very fluently.

I'm looking forward to listening to another one.

Congratulations and thanks.

 

Thanks @oldtimer

I'm still trying to wrap my head (and heart) around how Kelly Anne is able to forgive the doctor that will cause her early death. "Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself" sounds easier said than done.

I originally worried about the length of some interviews, but soon realized that - just like with counselling clients - having space and time to tell our stories is far more important than forcing them into a rather arbitrary time frame (like the 50 minute 'hour').

When potential guests ask how long the interview will be, I tell them that I'm not concerned with how much time it takes to share their experience, it will be what it will be.

I also think that story telling of our experiences has been a common element in our social evolution - whether in the shade of a tree or by the light of the fire, story telling has always been a way to share and learn from others' experiences. So I wonder if we are sort of 'pre-programmed' to become immersed in the (compelling, well told) experiences of others.

 

I have just published an interview with author and psychologist @Brian Hughes about his book "Psychology in Crisis" where we talk about the infamous PACE Trial.

I contend that bad psychological science / scientists like PACE / Wessely are responsible for embedding a medical error in health care systems world wide causing harm to people living with the biological illness ME.

You can hear our conversation on iTunes, Spotify etc and also at Podbean.

 

I was going to do a screenshot of this to share. Can you fix the typo, please. It’s “Wessely”

 

there is a large duplicated chunk of audio at the end that you might want to edit out(?)
also it's quite difficult to hear Brian at the very beginning (audio not so good) particularly with the music in the background.
hopefully constructive criticisms

 

ah, thanks for catching that.

 

Thanks much, I'll look into that right now.

 

In this episode of Medical Error Interviews, I chat with lawyer Lisa Alioto - who once summited Mt Kilimanjaro - where 50% who attempt, fail and have to turn back.

But years later Lisa had an even bigger challenge: ME - with no turning back possible.

She experienced debilitating symptoms like black outs and vision loss, compounded by a medical system seemingly willfully blind to her physical symptoms, and a series of medical errors by uneducated and careless physicians.

Fortunately, Lisa relied on her own research skills - and determined grit - to navigate through the medical ignorance and errors to regain some quality of life.

Lisa starts by telling how - in retrospect - physically climbing Mt Kilimanjaro would later prepare her mentally for her disabling symptoms and a health care system with its own blind spots…

https://medicalerrorinterviews.podbean.com/mf/play/fu5fht/Lisa_Alioto_interview_audio_.mp3

Lisa at the summit of Mt Kili - she's 3rd from the right:

 

My interview with Paul Smith - who was also given an ME diagnosis along his journey to finding his actual illness - Paul believes others with either of these diagnosis may also have neurotoxins flooding their bodies...

https://medicalerrorinterviews.podbean.com/mf/play/r24r7e/Paul_Smith_interview_audio_.mp3

 

Show notes on this page

 

Very interesting. My symptoms all disappeared when I took erythromycin. I've been on several courses of it now and my gut bugs appear to be developing more and more resistance to it, unfortunately, and as a result the effect is getting weaker and weaker. The other problem with erythromycin is that it doesn't actually kill bugs. It restricts their growth. As a result it is vital to prescribe courses which are high enough in dose and go on long enough to allow the body to kill it off, but this hasn't happened for me - I'm at my doctor's mercy.

Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythromycin#Pharmacology

Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteriostatic_agent

 

I just watched the interview with Conrad and am appalled at the litany of poor medical treatment. What a tragedy.

I've seen the shocking but fortunately temporary effects of antidepressants on two close family members, however I wasn't aware that they could cause permanent brain damage.

A few years ago I questioned my GP who wanted to prescribe an anti-depressant for mild anxiety during a family crisis and she mumbled that depression and anxiety were two sides of the same coin. It seems they are prescribed for anything that ails you.

I think Conrad is right that doctors treat a lot of diseases very well but "just don't know what drugs do" because they depend on pharmaceutical companies for their education about them. Hopefully a class action somewhere will put a stop to the willy-nilly prescribing of antidepressants.

 

Andrea Vedeler: The Norwegian Dilemma: Let ‘rehab’ make her even sicker for disability support, or have no income?
August 30, 2019

is this who I think it is?