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The Cadaver's Lessons is a podcast that explores the strange, fascinating, and sometimes unsettling history of medicine. Each episode traces the origins of medical practices and rare or unusual diagnoses, examining why people believed in them, how they were used, and what they reveal about the people and societies behind them.
From early anatomy and experimental treatments to cases where medicine and crime collide, this show examines what lessons the past has left behind. Some ideas evolved into the foundations of modern healthcare. Others? Definitely should have stayed buried.
Episodes range in tone and focus: some lean heavily into medical history and science, others drift into true crime, and many sit right at the intersection of both. If you’re curious about the darker side of medicine, the origins of what doctors do today, and the stories written into human bodies, well class is in session—and the cadaver is already on the table.
| Episode | Date |
|---|---|
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Case File: The Term Breech Trial: The One to Rule Them All
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Aug 14, 2026 |
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Breech Births: Ancient Tricks to Modern Trials
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Aug 10, 2026 |
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Case File: Body Packing: The Deadly Evolution of Drug Smuggling
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Aug 07, 2026 |
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Cocaine: Euphoria, Ischemia, and Sudden Death
|
Aug 03, 2026 |
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Case File: The Hippocratic Oath: Medicine's Most Famous Promise
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Jul 31, 2026 |
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The Last Prescription: The History of Medical Aid in Dying
|
Jul 27, 2026 |
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Case File: The Birth of Intubation: How Joseph O'Dwyer Changed Medicine Forever
|
Jul 24, 2026 |
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From Tracheotomy to Intubation: The Evolution of Airway
|
Jul 20, 2026 |
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Case File: The Man Who Put Defibrillators in Ambulances: The Story of Dr. Frank Pantridge
|
Jul 17, 2026 |
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What It Takes to Stop Death: CPR
|
Jul 13, 2026 |
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Case File: The First Insulin Murder: How Forensic Science Solved the "Perfect" Crime
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Jul 10, 2026 |
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From Insulin to Acidosis – Understanding Diabetic Emergencies
|
Jul 06, 2026 |
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Case File: From Starvation to Survival
|
Jul 03, 2026 |
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From Honey Urine to Modern Medicine: Understanding Diabetes
|
Jun 29, 2026 |
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Case File: MK Ultra - CIA Mind Control
|
Jun 26, 2026 |
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LSD and the Brain: Breaking Boundaries
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Jun 22, 2026 |
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Case File: The Florida “Botox” Scandal
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Jun 19, 2026 |
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Paralysis as Therapy: Botox
|
Jun 15, 2026 |
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Case File: 8 Brutal Botulism Outbreaks
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Jun 12, 2026 |
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Paralyzed by a Bacteria: The Science of Botulism
|
Jun 08, 2026 |
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Case File: The Panama Canal - Mosquitos and Mud
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Jun 05, 2026 |
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Malaria: How a Mosquito Bite Becomes Deadly
|
Jun 01, 2026 |
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Case File: Clarissa Barton - The Angel of the Battlefield
|
May 29, 2026 |
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Cut to Save: The Brutal Truth About Amputation
|
May 25, 2026 |
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Case File: Eben Byers
|
May 22, 2026 |
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Radiation: The Cure That Can Kill
|
May 18, 2026 |
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Case File: Dr. Dhani Ram Baruah
|
May 15, 2026 |
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Xenotransplantation: When Organs Aren’t Human
|
May 11, 2026 |
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Case File: Dr. Horror
|
May 08, 2026 |
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Organ Transplants: The Science of Second Chances
|
May 04, 2026 |
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Case File: Utah State Training School
|
May 01, 2026 |
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Huntington’s Disease: When Genetics Becomes Destiny
|
Apr 27, 2026 |
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Case File: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study
|
Apr 24, 2026 |
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Syphilis: The Great Imitator
|
Apr 20, 2026 |
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Case File: Typhoid Mary
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Apr 17, 2026 |
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Before Soap: How Medicine Spread Disease
|
Apr 13, 2026 |
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Case File: The Freedom House Ambulance Service
|
Apr 10, 2026 |
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The Birth of EMS: From War Zones to City Streets
|
Apr 06, 2026 |
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Case File: Jeanna Giese
|
Apr 03, 2026 |
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If You Develop Symptoms, You Die: Rabies
|
Mar 30, 2026 |
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Case File: The Leper King
|
Mar 27, 2026 |
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Marked Untouchable: The Truth About Leprosy
|
Mar 23, 2026 |
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Case File: From Slave to Saint, St. Patrick
|
Mar 20, 2026 |
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The Bread The Caused Hallucinations, Gangrene, and Witch Trials: Ergot
|
Mar 16, 2026 |
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Case File: Vietnam, Nurses, and Flutter Valves
|
Mar 13, 2026 |
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Crack the Chest: The Evolution of Chest Tubes
|
Mar 09, 2026 |
|
Case File: King George III
|
Mar 06, 2026 |
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Porphyria: The Original Vampire Myth
|
Mar 02, 2026 |
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Case File: Blood Transfusions Turn Criminal
|
Feb 27, 2026 |
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Transfused: Experiments, Scandals, and Survival
|
Feb 23, 2026 |
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Case File: The Great Leech Craze
|
Feb 20, 2026 |
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Bad Blood: When Medicine Drained the Patient
|
Feb 16, 2026 |
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Case File: The Ray Brothers - The Children America Turned On
|
Feb 13, 2026 |
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HIV & AIDS: Activism, Accountability, and the Fight Forward (Part 2)
|
Feb 09, 2026 |
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Case File: The Tainted Blood Scandals
|
Feb 06, 2026 |
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HIV & AIDS: Medicine, Misinformation, and the Cost of Stigma
|
Feb 02, 2026 |
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Case File: Polio 1916 - A Quarantined Summer
|
Jan 30, 2026 |
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When Viruses Stole Childhood: Polio’s Medical Legacy
|
Jan 26, 2026 |
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Case File: ECT & The Nazis
|
Jan 23, 2026 |
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Charged: Inside Electroconvulsive Therapy
|
Jan 19, 2026 |
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Case File: 5 Lobotomy Horror Cases
|
Jan 16, 2026 |
|
Unwired: The Lobotomy Legacy
|
Jan 12, 2026 |
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Case File: Amanda Feilding
|
Jan 09, 2026 |
|
Trepanation: What’s a little hole in the skull?
|
Jan 05, 2026 |
|
Welcome to the Table
|
Dec 28, 2025 |