Medical History Mysteries

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  He Used His Own Sperm: 94 Children, One Doctor's Secret Explored 04.10.2026 20Min.

  He Used His Own Sperm: 94 Children, One Doctor's Secret ExploredCuriosity turned into legal bewilderment: a single mail-order DNA kit in 2014 connected Jacoba Ballard to eight half-siblings in Indianapolis, all tracing back to the same fertility clinic and the same doctor - a discovery that later expanded to 94 children and revealed a practice the law had no words for. How did a trusted reproductive endocrinologist come to be the biological father of so many, and why did prosecutors say there was nothing they could charge him with?In this episode, we follow how a consumer DNA result sparked complaints, investigative reporting, and legal reviews that collided with gaps in Indiana law, and we trace the unfolding revelations from an emphatic written denial to a voicemail confession - leaving listeners with the central question: what happens when medical trust, DNA, and the law collide?Person: Donald Lee LeeDate: December 10, 1938Location: Indianapolis, IndianaEvent: Discovery of donor-conceived cluster beginning in 2014Status: Retired in 2009- Jacoba Ballard ordered a mail-order DNA kit in spring 2014 and matched to eight half-siblings in Indianapolis.- Donald Lee Lee opened his fertility clinic in 1979 at 2020 West 86th Street and retired in 2009 after nearly 30 years.- Lee earned his medical degree from Indiana University and completed an internship at Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital.- The Indiana Attorney General's office reviewed a 2015 complaint and declined to prosecute because no law existed covering the conduct.- In 2016, Lee sent a written denial saying he never used his own sample, then left a voicemail to Jacoba saying he "only donated my own sample nine or ten times."To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
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  The Doctor Who Secretly Fathered 94 Children: The Indiana Voicemail 03.10.2026 21Min.

  The Doctor Who Secretly Fathered 94 Children: The Indiana VoicemailCuriosity turned into a crisis when a 2014 consumer DNA test linked Jacoba Ballard to eight unexpected half-siblings and revealed a secret that would upend trust in an Indianapolis fertility clinic; how did one doctor become the biological father of at least 94 people over a 13-year span, and what does a private voicemail reveal about his awareness and intent?In this episode, we tell the story that begins with a cheek swab and unfolds across decades: the clinic on West 86th Street, the era of anonymous donor insemination, the discovery through DNA matches, and the legal void that left those harmed without remedy - will the voicemail change how the law sees reproductive medicine?Person: Jacoba BallardPerson: Donald Lee ClineDate: 1974-1987Location: Indianapolis, IndianaNumber: 94 confirmed biological children as of May 11, 2022- In 2014 Jacoba Ballard mailed a cheek swab to a consumer DNA company and received matches to eight half-siblings.- The confirmed insemination period tied to the clinic spans 13 years, from 1974 to 1987.- Donald Lee Cline opened his clinic at 2020 West 86th Street in Indianapolis in 1979 and practiced there for 30 years, retiring in 2009.- Cline later claimed in a private voicemail he donated his sample only nine or ten times, a claim contradicted by DNA evidence linking him to 94 people.- Jacoba Ballard brought her DNA findings to the Indiana Attorney General in 2015, but prosecutors declined to charge because no law then criminalized fertility fraud in Indiana.To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
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  He Fathered Dozens in Secret - The Doctor Who Lied to His Patients 02.10.2026 19Min.

  He Fathered Dozens in Secret - The Doctor Who Lied to His PatientsA chill of betrayal: a respected fertility doctor replaced anonymous donor sperm with his own at least ninety-four times, yet told investigators under oath he had never used his sample-then left a voicemail admitting “nine or ten” and asking for help saving his marriage. How did DNA, a voicemail, and a legal void converge to expose one man’s secret and leave nearly a hundred people scrambling for answers?In this episode, we tell the story of how at-home DNA testing connected strangers, how investigators confronted a physician with near-certain genetic proof, and how a single voicemail became the pivotal piece that challenged a sworn denial. What does the gap between “nine or ten” and ninety-four reveal about who the law protects when medicine betrays trust?Person: Donald Lee ClineEvent: Replacement of donor sperm with physician’s own sampleDate: May 11, 2022 (confirmed count)Location: Indianapolis, IndianaCase: Fertility fraud with no applicable criminal statute- At least 94 people were confirmed to be biologically fathered by Donald Lee Cline.- DNA probability of Cline’s paternity tested at 99.9997 percent.- Cline gave a sworn statement saying, “I can emphatically say that at no time did I ever use my own sample.”- Cline left a voicemail telling Jacoba Ballard he had used his own sample “nine or ten times” and asked her to help save his marriage.- Most of the confirmed offspring lived within roughly 25 miles of Indianapolis.To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
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  The Doctor Who Secretly Fathered 94 Children - How He Was Found 01.10.2026 22Min.

  The Doctor Who Secretly Fathered 94 Children - How He Was FoundCuriosity turned into a reckoning when a consumer DNA kit and a single seventy-five-word voicemail exposed that a trusted fertility doctor had secretly fathered 94 children. Most of those children were raised within 25 miles of Indianapolis, classmates and neighbors unaware they shared a father-so how did one recorded message unravel four decades of deception?In this episode, we tell how a donor-conceived woman used at-home DNA testing to link eight genetic half-siblings to the same fertility clinic, how her complaint to the Indiana Attorney General in 2015 found no crime, and how a local TV report prompted the doctor to leave a self-incriminating voicemail-what did that voicemail reveal?Person: Dr. Donald Lee ClineDate: voicemail admission in 2015 after a Fox59 broadcastLocation: Indianapolis, IndianaEvent: discovery via consumer DNA testing and genetic matchesStatus: 94 confirmed biological children- The voicemail left by Dr. Cline contained the line: "I only donated my own sample nine or ten times."- Dr. Donald Lee Cline was born on December 10, 1938, and opened his practice in 1979.- The fertility clinic was located at 2020 West 86th Street in Indianapolis.- Jacoba Ballard first found eight half-siblings after sending a cheek swab to a consumer DNA testing company in 2014.- In 2015, Indiana's Attorney General Tim DeLaney's office concluded there was no applicable statute to charge Cline.To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
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  The One-in-a-Million: Who Pays When Vaccines Harm? 30.09.2026 22Min.

  The One-in-a-Million: Who Pays When Vaccines Harm?Danger and professional responsibility collide in psychiatry: a federal jury awarded $75,000 to a man never examined by the psychiatrists who diagnosed him, and that verdict led to the Goldwater Rule - an ethics annotation debated and weaponized for over fifty years. Which duty matters more: a psychiatrist's obligation to warn the public or to stay silent?In this episode, we tell how a 1964 magazine survey of 12,356 psychiatrists about Barry Goldwater became a landmark libel case, how the American Psychiatric Association responded with Section 7.3 of its ethics code, and why that narrow rule resurfaced with renewed urgency in 2016; what does the rule allow and forbid, and who decides?Person: Barry GoldwaterEvent: 1964 Fact magazine survey and 1969 libel verdictDate: 1969 (verdict) and 1973 (APA annotation)Section: 7.3 (Goldwater Rule)Respondents: 2,417 psychiatrists (1,189 said Goldwater was not fit)- $75,000 awarded in compensatory damages to Barry Goldwater by a federal jury- 12,356 psychiatrists mailed the Fact survey in 1964- 2,417 psychiatrists responded to the survey; 1,189 judged Goldwater not fit for presidency- APA published the annotation numbered 7.3 in 1973 prohibiting opinions without personal examination and consent- Verdict and AMA pressure contributed to the APA adopting the Goldwater Rule, which remained in editions through at least 2013To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
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  The Drug That Left Soldiers Mad: The Lariam Cover-Up Revealed 29.09.2026 23Min.

  The Drug That Left Soldiers Mad: The Lariam Cover-Up RevealedAn X scratched on a single sheet in 1900 Cuba may be one of the oldest surviving informed consent marks - but the signature-less form sits against two and a half millennia of medical practice that often kept patients in the dark. Who pressed that mark, in which language, and did they understand they were agreeing to experiments that could kill them?In this episode, we trace the paper trail from Major Walter Reed’s three surviving forms to ancient medical codes and isolated precedents, showing how that lone X became the beginning of the record rather than the beginning of practice. How did medicine move from paternalistic secrecy to the legal phrase "informed consent" only in 1957?Person: Major Walter ReedDate: 1900Location: CubaEvent: United States Army Yellow Fever Commission experimentsPeriod: earliest legal use of "informed consent" recorded in 1957- There are three surviving consent forms drafted by Major Walter Reed; two carry signatures and one carries only an X.- The forms were written in Spanish with English translations; the signer's language is not confirmed.- The oldest identified written patient acknowledgment of surgical risk in the record dates to 1539 in the Ottoman Empire.- The American Medical Association copied Thomas Percival’s Medical Ethics in its first 1847 code, which applied truth-disclosure to physicians, not patients.- The legal phrase "informed consent" did not appear in law until 1957, less than seventy years ago.To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
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  The Signal That Vanished: How One Blank Field Hid Deadly Drug Warnings 28.09.2026 22Min.

  The Signal That Vanished: How One Blank Field Hid Deadly Drug WarningsA hidden room in Silver Spring held seventeen wild‑caught macaques in 46 cm square cages with no bedding or food bowls; one monkey chewed his deafferented arm to exposed bone. How did a police raid that began as an animal‑welfare case turn into a decade‑long legal and scientific battle that reached the Supreme Court and changed stroke therapy?In this episode, we tell what unfolded after a 22‑year‑old volunteer photographed conditions, how police removed the monkeys on September 11, 1981, and why the NIH later found the facility grossly unsanitary - while the lab’s leader would go on to develop a rehabilitation therapy now used worldwide. Which truth mattered most: the welfare failures or the medical breakthroughs?Person: Edward TaubPerson: Alex PachecoDate: September 11, 1981Location: Silver Spring, MarylandStatus: NIH found animal care failed in significant ways- Seventeen monkeys were living in cages 46 centimeters square with no bedding and no food bowls.- Police found one monkey had chewed the fingers off his deafferented arm down to exposed bone.- Twelve of the seventeen animals had a total of thirty‑nine missing or deformed fingers documented by investigators.- Sixteen of the macaques were male and one, Sarah, was female and kept as an intact control subject.- Alex Pacheco, age 22, began volunteering in May 1981 and brought photographs and outside witnesses that led to the September raid.To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
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  The Man Behind "You Rang?": The Ordinary Life of Lurch 27.09.2026 25Min.

  The Man Behind "You Rang?": The Ordinary Life of LurchSleep drugs promised a clean morning: zolpidem’s half-life of two to three hours, routine dosing, and tens of millions of prescriptions. Yet documented cases show people cooking, driving, having sex and making calls while later recalling none of it-so what was governing those missing hours?In this episode, we present the history and documented incidents surrounding zolpidem from its European debut in 1988 to widespread U.S. use, the clinical reports of complex sleep behaviors, and high-profile cases that reveal gaps between pharmacology and lived effect. How could a drug designed to clear by morning leave whole episodes of life entirely absent from memory?Person: Patrick J. KennedyDate: May 2006Drug: zolpidem (brand name Ambien)Approval: FDA 1992Dispensing: ~57 million tablets annually in the U.S. by 2013- Zolpidem arrived in Europe in 1988, introduced by the French company Synthelabo.- The FDA approved zolpidem for the U.S. market in 1992 under the brand name Ambien.- Clinical design estimated zolpidem half-life at two to three hours in healthy adults.- By 2013, approximately 57 million zolpidem tablets were being dispensed each year in the United States.- Patrick J. Kennedy was cited for three infractions after a stopped car on Capitol Hill in May 2006 and reported no memory of driving after taking zolpidem and promethazine.To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
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  The Blue Dress That Unraveled a Life of Power 26.09.2026 22Min.

  The Blue Dress That Unraveled a Life of PowerHope and doubt collide in plain numbers: 67% and 100% sit in the same archive, pointing to a possibility that expectations - not just molecules - reshape recovery. What does it mean that one trial reported 100% relief from repeated placebos while modern antidepressant sequences report 67% response?In this episode, we present the story of a researcher who retrieved unpublished FDA trial data and compared it with published results, laying out how clinical expectations and trial design might have influenced outcomes. Could the sequential structure of treatment trials and the power of expectation explain large portions of apparent drug benefit?Person: Irving KirschInstitution: Harvard Medical School; Beth Israel Deaconess Medical CenterStudy: STAR*DYear: 1957Difference reported: 67% response versus 100% placebo relief in a sequential trial- Kirsch filed Freedom of Information Act requests to obtain unpublished FDA trial data for six antidepressants.- The 1957 nausea study reported 100% of volunteers experienced complete relief after sequential placebo treatments.- STAR*D, published in 2004, reported a 67% cumulative response rate across sequential antidepressant trials.- In STAR*D, 37% of patients were helped by the first drug alone, with additional gains after subsequent treatments.- When Kirsch pooled published and unpublished trials, the drug-placebo difference remained statistically significant but was small against his threshold for clinical meaningfulness.To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
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  Broadway's Stone Woman: The Nose Surgery That Ended Marilyn Miller 25.09.2026 22Min.

  Broadway's Stone Woman: The Nose Surgery That Ended Marilyn MillerA public monument now looks down on Times Square, but the woman it immortalizes sold out theaters, inspired Jerome Kern and George Gershwin, and died after a nose operation at thirty-seven-so how did a life that rewrote Broadway end in a single surgical room? Which choices, losses, and medical failures turned Marilyn Miller from the highest-paid star of her age into a name remembered chiefly on a fourth-floor statue?In this episode, we tell the life of Marilyn Miller from her first stage at age four through her Ziegfeld years and dizzying comebacks to the nasal surgery that proved fatal, asking how stardom, personal tragedy, and one operation combined to erase her from living memory.Person: Marilyn MillerDate of birth: September 1, 1898Date of death: April 7, 1936Notable works: Sally (1920) with the song "Look for the Silver Lining"Funeral attendance: about 5,000 people- She first performed at age four in 1902 billed as "Mademoiselle Sugarlump" at Lakeside Park in Dayton, Ohio.- Sally opened in 1920 when she was twenty-two and ran for 570 performances.- She joined the Ziegfeld Follies in 1918, performing "Mine Was a Marriage of Convenience."- Frank Carter, her first husband, died in an automobile accident on May 9, 1920, less than a year after their May 24, 1919 marriage.- A nasal surgery followed by three blood transfusions preceded her death on April 7, 1936.To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
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  When Bach Went Blind: The Charlatan Who Stole a Genius' Last Pages 24.09.2026 19Min.

  When Bach Went Blind: The Charlatan Who Stole a Genius' Last PagesSilence can be a crafted disguise: in September 1964 a sealed diplomatic envelope was taped to a comedian’s leg and carried across the Soviet Union, and the man who never spoke on screen spent his last years desperate to prove he could talk-why would Harpo Marx risk everything to smuggle a message and to undo his own silence?In this episode, we trace Harpo Marx from an East Ninety-Third Street tenement to vaudeville and international travel, following the choices that made him permanently mute on stage and the sealed diplomatic pouch stitched to his skin-what did that pouch mean for a performer who had never spoken in public?Person: Adolph "Harpo" MarxDate: September 1964Birth Date: November 23, 1888Location: East Ninety-Third Street, ManhattanTeacher: Mildred Dilling- Born November 23, 1888, in a Manhattan tenement on East Ninety-Third Street.- Stopped speaking on stage around 1915 during a Tuesday afternoon performance and adopted silence as his act.- Taught himself harp by ear using a single reference note, producing an instrument tuned to the wrong tension for about three years.- In 1933 agreed to carry a sealed diplomatic envelope across the Soviet Union taped to his leg.- Hired harp teacher Mildred Dilling late in his career, who adjusted technique but could not change his core posture and tuning.To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
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  Thumb‑sized Vials, Seven Hundred Sick: The Dalles' Hidden Bioterror Plot 23.09.2026 20Min.

  Thumb‑sized Vials, Seven Hundred Sick: The Dalles' Hidden Bioterror PlotA single night: surgeons recorded fifty‑five pints of blood pumped into a forty‑two‑year‑old man after a seven‑and‑a‑half‑hour operation on May 17, 1961 - more than four times the normal human blood volume - and it still was not enough. How did a back injury on a film set in the Philippine jungle turn into a fatal cascade of care and error that few remember today?In this episode, we tell the life and final months of Ira Grossel, better known as Jeff Chandler, tracing his rise from a Brooklyn childhood and a $18‑a‑week layout job to an Academy Award nomination and a seven‑year studio contract, and we follow the chain of events from a routine injury to the Culver City operating table to ask: who was responsible for the decisions that cost him his life?Person: Ira Grossel (Jeff Chandler)Date: May 17, 1961Age: 42Event: Seven-and-a-half-hour surgery with 55 pints of blood transfusedFilm: Broken Arrow (role of Cochise)- Surgeons recorded 55 pints of blood transfused during the operation on May 17, 1961.- Chandler was 42 years old at the time of the surgery.- Six weeks before the operation he played baseball in the Philippine jungle with U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers on a film set.- Chandler was born December 15, 1918, in Brooklyn and served four years in the Aleutian Islands during the war.- Universal Pictures signed him to a seven‑year contract in February 1949 after his radio success on Our Miss Brooks.To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
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  When Milk Became Poison: China's Silent Melamine Cover-Up Revealed 22.09.2026 23Min.

  When Milk Became Poison: China's Silent Melamine Cover-Up RevealedA town of 25 reported attacks, a folded white cloth tested “clean,” and no one ever charged-yet residents experienced sudden paralysis, burning throats, and a sweet odor. How did Mattoon, Illinois, in September 1944 become convinced a gasser prowled its streets, and why do the forensic, eyewitness, and official accounts still contradict each other?In this episode, we tell the story of the Mattoon incidents of 1944, presenting the sequence of reported symptoms, the newspaper headlines that shaped public belief, and the conflicting findings from investigators and officials-asking which pieces of the case can be trusted.Person: Aline KearneyPerson: Beulah CordesEvent: Series of reported gasser attacksDate: September 1-roughly two weeks later, 1944Location: Mattoon, Coles County, Illinois- 25 incidents reported in Mattoon over roughly two weeks.- White cloth found on Beulah Cordes’s porch on the night of September 5, 1944, tested clean with no chemicals detected.- Aline Kearney became partially paralyzed around 11:00 PM on September 1 after smelling a “sweet, almost floral” odor.- Bert Kearney reported seeing a tall, thin man in dark clothing around 12:30 AM after police had already checked the scene.- No deaths, no arrests, and the FBI opened a file but the attacks stopped as suddenly as they began.To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
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  The Night Needles Appeared: How Strawberries Shattered Trust in 2018 21.09.2026 21Min.

  The Night Needles Appeared: How Strawberries Shattered Trust in 2018A single sewing needle hidden inside a perfect strawberry sparked a national panic in 2018, shutting down farms, costing hundreds of jobs and burning half a million plants - yet no criminal answer ever emerged. Who pushed the first needle in, and why did it take three days for any official warning to reach the public?In this episode, we trace how a punnet bought at a Woolworths in Strathpine Centre ended up on a Moreton Bay emergency-room tray and then on Facebook, how retailers and regulators responded, and how that response left consumers exposed - could a social-media post become the most effective public-health alert in the country?Person: My Ut TrinhDate: 9 September 2018Location: Strathpine Centre, QueenslandBrand: Berry ObsessionEvent: Needle contamination incident- A man swallowed part of a sewing needle from strawberries on the evening of 9 September 2018.- The punnet was purchased at a Woolworths supermarket in Strathpine Centre on a Sunday.- No public warning was issued for three days after the first hospital photograph was posted on Facebook.- On 17 September 2018, authorities issued a trade recall rather than a consumer-level product recall.- One Queensland farm burned 500,000 strawberry plants after the contamination crisis.To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
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  The Hidden Cloud: How Ground Zero's Air Became a Silent Execution 20.09.2026 21Min.

  The Hidden Cloud: How Ground Zero's Air Became a Silent ExecutionBreath that killed: more than five thousand deaths and 48,579 cancer diagnoses have been confirmed by the World Trade Center Health Program from illnesses tied to the dust and smoke after September 11, 2001 - but officials told the public the air was safe only six days after the towers fell. Who knew the true hazards in the cloud and why was a written warning buried while people kept working?In this episode, we tell the story of the toxic cloud over Lower Manhattan, the conflicting official statements, and the men and women who inhaled what they were told was safe; what did written warnings say, and how did public reassurances change the fate of responders and volunteers?Person: Frank MacriDate: September 11, 2001Location: Lower ManhattanEvent: South Tower collapse and resulting toxic cloudStatus: More than 5,000 deaths confirmed by the World Trade Center Health Program- 6 days between a CDC memo advising against rapid return (September 12, 2001) and the EPA statement saying the air was safe- 5,000+ deaths confirmed from illnesses directly linked to Ground Zero as recorded by the World Trade Center Health Program- 48,579 cancer diagnoses recorded under the World Trade Center Health Program as of September 2025- Frank Macri was 35 on September 11, 2001, diagnosed with stage four cancer one year later, and died at age 41 on September 3, 2007- Thomas Cahill described sampled dust as "wildly toxic" and Dr. Michael Crane called it a "witch's brew"To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
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  The Doctor Who Challenged Death: Jack Kevorkian's Fatal Choice 19.09.2026 22Min.

  The Doctor Who Challenged Death: Jack Kevorkian's Fatal ChoiceFear and moral outrage: between 1946 and 1948 more than 1,300 Guatemalans-many psychiatric patients, prisoners, soldiers, sex workers, orphans and leprosy patients-were deliberately infected with syphilis by U.S.-funded researchers who never obtained informed consent; how did a $1,500 payment and routine paperwork open the doors to experiments even as Nuremberg trials condemned similar abuses?In this episode, we lay out the facts as recorded in the recovered files: who ran the programs, how subjects were selected, the role of U.S. institutions, and the medical methods used-asking how such a program could proceed under the auspices of public health and what that reveals about consent, power, and accountability.Person: John Charles CharlesPerson: John F. MahoneyLocation: Asilo de Alienados, Guatemala CityDate: 1946-1948Funding: National Institutes of Health and United States Public Health Service- 1,308 people were affected by the Guatemala syphilis program between 1946 and 1948.- $1,500 was redirected to secure access to the psychiatric hospital for the experiments.- Subjects’ ages ranged from 10 to 72 years old.- John F. Mahoney received the Lasker Award in 1946 for his work on penicillin and syphilis treatment.- Consent for soldiers was documented as given by officers or physicians; psychiatric patients had no consent process.To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
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  The Man Who Sold Italy Its Medicines: Inside Poggiolini's Hidden Fortune 18.09.2026 22Min.

  The Man Who Sold Italy Its Medicines: Inside Poggiolini's Hidden FortuneCorruption hid in plain sight: a man who decided which drugs Italy would buy amassed at least 15 billion lire in a Swiss account and enough gold, jewels and rare coins to fill an apartment - all discovered in a 12‑hour search. How did a physician‑bureaucrat turn pharmaceutical approvals into a hidden personal fortune, and who paid the unseen price?In this episode, we tell the chronology of Duilio Poggiolini’s rise from a medical graduate in 1954 to the heart of Italy’s drug approval system, the mechanisms of his influence, and the collapse of his scheme after his arrest in Lausanne; what follows asks how institutional trust was converted into private wealth.Person: Duilio PoggioliniDate: 20 September 1993 (arrest in Lausanne)Location: Naples apartment and Swiss bank account in LausanneStatus: Arrested and returned to Italy; imprisoned at Poggioreale for seven monthsAmount seized: More than 15 billion lire in a Swiss account registered to his wife- Investigators spent 12 hours cataloguing the contents of Poggiolini’s Naples apartment.- More than 15 billion lire were seized from a Swiss bank account registered to his wife.- Gold ingots were hidden inside sofa cushions in his home.- Coins bearing the face of Tsar Nicholas II were pressed into mattress linings.- Poggiolini held roles including Inspector General at the Ministry of Health (by 1972), represented Italy at WHO in 1981, and presided over the EEC pharmaceuticals harmonization commission by 1991.To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
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  Body Bags on the Gate: Argentina's 70 Hidden Vaccine Privileges 17.09.2026 21Min.

  Body Bags on the Gate: Argentina's 70 Hidden Vaccine PrivilegesPower felt like a vaccine in February 2021: Argentina had early Sputnik V doses while hospitals ran out, and someone tied real-name body bags to the Casa Rosada gate to force a confession. How did phone calls and old friendships allegedly move at least 70 people ahead of frontline workers and the elderly?In this episode, we tell the sequence of events that began with a radio admission and grew into federal complaints, resignations, and a public outcry, asking who was protected by the system and who was left waiting.Person: Ginés González GarcíaPerson: Horacio VerbitskyDate: February 19, 2021Event: Resignation accepted on February 20, 2021Case: At least 70 people vaccinated outside priority order- On February 27, 2021, body bags labeled with real names were tied to the Casa Rosada gate as a protest.- Horacio Verbitsky publicly said he called Ginés González García and a vaccine team was sent to vaccinate him despite not being on any priority list.- Federal prosecutors received 15 separate legal filings within days after Verbitsky's admission.- Reporting by La Nación circulated that González García had reportedly reserved as many as 3,000 doses for a network of political figures, allies, and personal connections.- President Alberto Fernández accepted Ginés González García’s resignation on February 20, 2021.To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
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  When Medicine Branded Freedom a Disease: The Drapetomania Case 16.09.2026 23Min.

  When Medicine Branded Freedom a Disease: The Drapetomania CaseFreedom was labeled a mental disorder in 1851: a respected Southern physician named a condition drapetomania and prescribed whipping as prevention - and his paper was printed for planters as well as doctors. How did clinical language, scripture, and commerce combine to turn escape into pathology?In this episode, we present the publication history, content, and implications of Samuel A. Cartwright’s May 1851 paper, showing how it moved from a medical journal to a widely read commercial review and asking what it means that institutions gave such arguments authority.Person: Samuel A. CartwrightDate: May 1851Location: Presented to the Medical Association of Louisiana; published in New Orleans Medical and Surgical JournalEvent: Reprint in De Bow's ReviewTopic: Drapetomania and dysaesthesia aethiopica- Cartwright presented "Report on the Diseases and Physical Peculiarities of the Negro Race" in May 1851 to the Medical Association of Louisiana.- The paper was published the same month in the New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal.- Within weeks it was reprinted in De Bow's Review, an agricultural and commercial journal with wide Southern circulation.- Cartwright coined drapetomania from Greek roots meaning "fugitive" and "madness" and defined the symptom as an enslaved person attempting to flee.- He recommended whipping as preventive treatment and cited both clinical notes and the Bible in the same passages.To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
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  The Cotton-Candy Skull: How Horror Borrowed Real Medical Atrocities 15.09.2026 19Min.

  The Cotton-Candy Skull: How Horror Borrowed Real Medical AtrocitiesSweetness was literally packed inside a hollow skull on the set of the 1999 House on Haunted Hill - spun sugar designed to dissolve under acetone - juxtaposing confectionery fragility with a film built around documented institutional violence. Why would a remake that borrows real cases of psychiatric experimentation and designs its hospital on Albert Speer’s monolithic architecture choose a prop that vanishes like a lie?In this episode, we trace the chain from the 1958 original to the 1999 remake, following rights sold to fund a college education, production design choices that modeled a hospital on totalitarian architecture, and the reuse of an eighteen-year-old creature by legendary makeup artist Dick Smith - all to ask what the film was trying to make visible about real medical atrocities.Person: Terry CastleDate: 1958Date: 1999Location: Ennis House (inspiration) / Vanacutt Institute (fictional)Author: Dick Smith (early screenplay draft)- A prop skull was packed with spun sugar and engineered to dissolve when doused with acetone.- Terry Castle bought the rights to House on Haunted Hill and sold them to pay for her college tuition.- The 1999 remake’s hospital set was deliberately designed to evoke Albert Speer’s architecture with wide corridors and oppressive ceilings.- The Vanacutt Institute backstory included documented-based psychiatric experiments and institutional violence against patients.- A creature built by Dick Smith in 1981 for Ghost Story was stored for 18 years and later repurposed in the 1999 production.To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].