Episodios

  • The Children Whose Teeth Were Destroyed
    Jul 29 2024

    In The Human Subject, Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Julia Shaw investigate the threads connecting modern day medicine to its often brutal origins. With every episode they explore some of that dark history and ask - is our present day knowledge worth the suffering it took to get us here?

    This is the story of the more than 600 patients at Vipeholm Hospital in Sweden who, in 1946, were enrolled in a set of unexpectedly dark studies now known as the ‘sugar experiments’.

    They were devised and run by the Board of Medicine - without government knowledge or approval - and led to immeasurable pain for all those who took part, all in the name of public health.

    Presenters: Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Julia Shaw Producer: Simona Rata Assistant Producer: Mansi Vithlani Executive Producer: Jo Meek Sound Design: Craig Edmondson Commissioner: Dan Clarke

    An Audio Always production for BBC Radio 4

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    29 m
  • The prisoners used for their skin
    Jul 21 2024

    Humanity’s journey to understanding the body has been a gory one, littered with unethical experiments, unintended consequences and unimaginable endurance.

    In The Human Subject, Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Julia Shaw investigate the threads connecting modern day medicine to its often brutal origins. With every episode they explore some of that dark history and ask - is our present day knowledge worth the suffering it took to get us here?

    The year is 1964 and 20 year old Edward Anthony is being checked into Philadelphia’s Holmesburg prison, also known as ‘The Terrordome’, about to serve a 23-month sentence for dealing marijuana.

    Only two weeks into being at the prison he agrees to the first of many medical experiments run by Dr Albert Kligman and the University of Pennsylvania dermatology department. This first experiment, a 'bubble bath test', leaves him feeling like his back is on fire. To his cellmates he yells, ‘It’s killing me’. This is the story of Edward and hundreds of other prisoners who were exploited in this Philadelphia prison. in the pursuit of knowledge and for financial gain.

    Presenters: Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Julia Shaw Series Producer: Simona Rata Assistant Producer: Mansi Vithlani Executive Producer: Jo Meek Sound Design: Craig Edmondson Commissioner: Dan Clarke

    An Audio Always production for BBC Radio 4

    Más Menos
    28 m
  • The Man with a Hole in His Stomach
    Jul 14 2024

    Humanity’s journey to understanding the body has been a gory one; littered with unethical experiments, unintended consequences and unimaginable endurance. It’s the story of catastrophic failures, at great human cost - but also successes which made history and saved countless lives.

    In The Human Subject, Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Julia Shaw investigate the threads connecting modern day medicine to its often brutal origins. With every episode they explore some of that dark history and ask - is our present day knowledge worth the suffering it took to get us here?

    This is the story of 18-year-old Alexis St Martin who is accidentally shot in the stomach outside an American Fur Company store. The year is 1822, and the French-Canadian fur trapper’s chances of survival aren’t high, but he defies the odds and lives.

    Alexis heals in the most unusual way. His wound turns into a gastric fistula, a permanent hole in the side of his body - a hole that cannot be closed and one that leads straight into his stomach. The doctor who saves his life, William Beaumont, finds in the young man’s misfortune an opportunity.

    Presenters: Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Julia Shaw Producer: Simona Rata Assistant Producer: Mansi Vithlani Executive Producer: Jo Meek Sound Design: Craig Edmondson Commissioner Editor: Dan Clarke

    An Audio Always production for BBC Radio 4

    Más Menos
    28 m
  • Introducing The Human Subject
    Jul 5 2024

    Dr Adam Rutherford & Dr Julia Shaw investigate humanity’s journey to understand the body, revealing stories that are littered with unethical experiments and unimaginable endurance

    Más Menos
    4 m