Truth Wanted 05.37 09-16-2022 with MD Aware and Student Doctor Ben

Ehhhh what’s up Doc? This week on Truth Wanted we’ve assembled our crack medical team to dissect… ugh… Matt Walsh’s “What is a Woman?” Oh boy, this is going to be a wild ride. MD and Ben chat about quack medicine before destroying this piece of transphobic garbage.

This week’s Patron of the Week is I Heart Dogs. May you never have to explain the difference between sex and gender to Matt Walsh in a busy nightclub. Also, we at the ACA also heart dogs. And cats. And cockatiels.

Our first caller once visited a psychic eye surgeon? I didn’t see that coming! After experiencing visual anomalies due to a tricky retinal dysfunction, in desperation, Jamie reached out to a wish doctor. Our hosts discuss the preposterous charlatanry that is psychic healing, MD squeezes in a James Randi reference, and Ben reflects on the ethics of using the placebo effect in medical practice.

One-Eyed Heathen is next, they’re a reformed Reiki practitioner who’s come around to a rational approach to health care. MD tries to drill down on the actual practice of this… cough cough… technique… but the actual processes of Reiki are just as nebulous as the perceived benefits. Ben points out that human touch therapy has demonstrated benefits, and doesn’t require magic to work.

Next, we have Gerard calling in about the value of fetuses. Yes, it’s an abortion call, bear with us. MD quizzes our caller on the “ends justify the means” aspect of this ethical question, and Ben points out that even surgery is a calculated risk that can cause short-term harm for long-term benefit. We chat about subjective morality and what the word “value” really means to Gerard before moving on.

Our final caller in Canada believes that COVID misinformation comes mainly from the conservative side of the spectrum. Well, yeah, tell us something we don’t know! Poor reasoning in political views bleed into poor reasoning in other aspects of the human condition. We get into the self-declared Queen of Canada, who, to no surprise, is an anti-vaxxer before wrapping up.

That's all folks! Join us next week, and make sure to answer the survey questions for the upcoming holiday special!

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