Seventy-one percent of Americans trusted doctors and hospitals in January 2020. By January 2024, that number had fallen to forty percent. But the same data shows that eighty-five percent of patients still trust their own physician. Cardiologist Dr. Akshay Pendyal calls medicine the most complex social role in human history, and in this conversation with Dr. Aditi Nerurkar, he makes the case for why. Drawing on the placebo effect, the nocebo effect, the ORBITA trial, and decades of clinical practice, they examine the alchemy of the therapeutic encounter: what patients bring into the exam room, what doctors carry with them, and what the science says happens when those two forces meet.

Seventy-one percent of Americans trusted doctors and hospitals in January 2020. By January 2024, that number had fallen to forty percent. But the same data shows that eighty-five percent of patients still trust their own physician. Cardiologist Dr. Akshay Pendyal calls medicine the most complex social role in human history, and in this conversation with Dr. Aditi Nerurkar, he makes the case for why. Drawing on the placebo effect, the nocebo effect, the ORBITA trial, and decades of clinical practice, they examine the alchemy of the therapeutic encounter: what patients bring into the exam room, what doctors carry with them, and what the science says happens when those two forces meet.

Every misdiagnosis–or missed diagnosis–has a story. The Blind Spot goes looking for it. Each episode goes back to the beginning, as physicians revisit the cases that kept them up at night and patients recount the persistence it took to finally break through a diagnostic wall. The clues were often there. The question is why no one connected them.

From systemic biases where a woman's chronic pain is dismissed as "emotional," to conditions that present differently across diverse patient populations, to the incredible administrative pressures facing providers doing their best. 

The Blind Spot reveals what it takes to see what medicine almost missed — and what it costs when we aren’t seeing each other clearly across the exam room.

Every misdiagnosis&ndash;or missed diagnosis&ndash;has a story. The Blind Spot goes looking for it. Each episode goes back to the beginning, as physicians revisit the cases that kept them up at night and patients recount the persistence it took to finally break through a diagnostic wall. The clues were often there. The question is why no one connected them.
From systemic biases where a woman's chronic pain is dismissed as "emotional," to conditions that present differently across diverse patient populations, to the incredible administrative pressures facing providers doing their best.&nbsp;
The Blind Spot reveals what it takes to see what medicine almost missed &mdash; and what it costs when we aren&rsquo;t seeing each other clearly across the exam room.

The Blind Spot with Dr. Aditi Nerurkar

Be the Medicine: Dr. Akshay Pendyal on Placebo, Nocebo, and Trust

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/b01619de-3ed5-464e-9d5a-b47400026d70/transcript