Headline or Hoax? with Dr Justin and John Datoy

One is a  medical HEADLINE. The other is a HOAX. Can you tell the difference?  We put a healthcare hero and a pro comic head to head and make our guests decide: is “procrastination may extend lifespan” real science, or is the real story the Alabama woman who received a pig kidney transplant? The guesses are confident, the reveal is chaotic, and the lesson sticks: the health news that feels the most believable is not always the most true.

After the twist, we zoom out into why medical misinformation spreads so easily, especially when a claim flatters our habits or promises an easy win. We also talk through the real world implications behind that pig kidney transplant headline, touching on xenotransplantation, organ transplant innovation, and the kind of monitoring and risk questions that naturally come up when medicine pushes into new territory.

Then we swap headlines for hardware and run the Dr. Ben Buzz Battle.  Dr Ben challenges a pro comic to a 60 second surgery.  It's a fast, funny spin on the classic game from Hasbro complete with a surgical time out. The debrief turns surprisingly real as we compare the buzz of a mistake to the buzz of stage fright and explore how performers and clinicians both have to read the room, reset, and keep moving.

If you like medical humor with a skeptical edge, hit play, share this with a friend who always reposts “latest study” headlines, and leave a review so more people can find the show. Which headline would you have believed first?

This episode was produced by Angie Debelak.  Post production editing by Ben Hill Sound.

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Transcript

Two Headlines-One Is Fake

0:10

All right, guests of the Dr. Ben and Friends podcast. Let's grab this dry erase board. I am going to explain a game to you and listeners, enjoy this fun game. I am going to read two headlines. One's an actual medical headline, and the other is a hoax. And so I want my guests here to determine which one's a headline, which one's a hoax. My inbox for emails is flooded with uh spam mails, particularly medical headlines. I don't know if yours is the latest studies and all that. And so I would like to uh highlight one of these that I received in my email. So I also get a lot of emails from the Hormail Food Company about canned meat. I think it's spam. But okay. All right, let's scrub in for this one, folks. Two headlines. One's real, one's a hoax. Study reveals that procrastination may actually extend lifespan by delaying stress-related diseases. Study reveals that procrastination may actually extend lifespan by delaying stress-related diseases. Headline number two.

Guests Make Their Picks

1:24

Alabama woman receives pig kidney transplant. I'll give you a few seconds to write down your answers here and the folks at home be thinking of your answer. Which one do you think is real? I think I'll let our guests go first. Okay, we're letting Dr. Justin go first. Are you ready, Dr. Justin? I am, yeah. Number one, I believe that is a headline. At least I hope. Study reveals about procrastination. You know, I'm really good at procrastinating. Uh let yep, let's uh show the audience. Procrastination is the headline. Number two, I believe, is a hoax. About the Alabama woman received. I went to medical school in Alabama. Oh it wasn't that backwards. Almost. All right, and Dr. Justin has his answer in John. Are you ready? Yep. I also think it is the why did I write kidney? Anyways, I wrote Pig as the headline or the hoax? Is the hoax. The hoax? Yeah. I just uh I feel like I've seen my mom post or repost the the procrastination thing. And I'm like, yeah, you would. And it kind of makes yeah, it makes sense that maybe I was gonna die today, but I think I'm gonna put it off in their life space. Can you send me that article? Maybe tomorrow. Yes, maybe I'll send it tomorrow. Hey, hey. That's very funny. All right. Drum roll, please. Ready for the big reveal? Yes, I am. All right.

True Headline Revealed

2:52

Well, uh, actually, the real headline is Alabama woman receives pig kidney transplants. Really? Yes, an Alabama woman received a pig kidney transplant. Yeah. Kudos to the person who came up with that idea. Like, how does even one come up with that idea? I mean, they must have been really desperate. And get it uh approved. I can't imagine the medical study behind that. Yeah. Yes. Um, and then it went on to say she was the first person from Alabama to call the hogs. So when she woke up from anesthesia, she pig, suey, razorbacks. So but that's the actual headline. And I think she also only speaks now in pig Latin. Ah. So this is starting to feel like an SEC podcast. Uh, but she's doing well, actually, and uh she was ill recently. Doctors are monitoring her for swine flu and uh signs of Porkinson's disease. That's pretty that's unfortunate. But that is an actual headline. A woman received a shout out to Burfo. That's what I imagine her name isn't. So where does that stop, though? Can I get the eyes of a hawk or what what else are we gonna transfer? There was all kinds of animal parts I would tell out here. Like some large talons. The heart of a lion. Oh, yeah. The heart of a lion. All right.

Comic Invited to be an Honorary Surgeon!

4:23

Now, John, tell me, have you ever thought about being a surgeon? I'm pretty good with my hands with the yo-yo, but it has not crossed my mind in a very serious matter. No, but I feel like we're about to dive in. All right, this portion of the podcast

Dr. Ben Buzz Battle Begins

4:39

is the Dr. Ben Buzz Battle. We are taking a spin on the classic Hasbro game. And this patient has several ailments, 12 to be exact, things like injuring his funny bone and a frog in his throat and a foot fungus. So we're gonna make you uh honorary doctor today, Dr. John. All right. Well, I hope I don't let you both down. And in 60 seconds, we are going to see how many ailments you can help this gentleman. And if you can, I mean Dr. Ben is in a funny bone session. And if it buzzes, then just go on to the next one and we'll see how many out of the 12 in 60 seconds. Now, before any surgery, this is a real, we have to do a timeout to make sure we're have the right patient, the correct procedure, the correct surgeon. So, timeout, everybody. This is Cavity Sam. He's here for 12 ailments with Dr. John DeToy. And we have anesthesia here. Did that patient receive antibiotics? Uh yes. Okay. All right, we are ready. The clock will start, and you'll have 60 seconds to remove as many of the 12 ailments that buzzes. Move on to the next one. Okay, start the timer. Here we go. Oh, Dr. John. He's got some good technique. Yes. Do we need any music? Some doctors like music in the operating room, and some like it completely quiet. Dr. John is working methodically here. I think it would feel a lot more realistic if we had some rock music in the background. Yes, I like that. Yes, I uh don't like it to sound like a Oh, okay. That's okay. We're coming. Anesthesia, anesthesia. We need it over here. No, don't get flustered. It's okay, he's doing great. Look at Dr. John. I'm breaking a sweat. Man. Wow. Usually anesthesia's kind of heckling. But uh oh. Hurry up! Yeah. Looking over the drape. All right, time's up, 60 seconds. All right, very good. Dr. John. Let's count him up, folks. One, two, three, four, five ailments. He said a high bar, high standard there, folks. Dr. John. Nice job, man. That was awesome. That was great. There was a lot of complications during

Post Op Debrief And Press Conference

7:14

that. So yeah, if we had like a post-operation uh press conference interview, uh, Dr. John, how do you think it went in there today? Uh first I put on sunglasses, and I'd be like, it was a very valiant effort today. I could feel my phone going off during this. But honestly, we we made it about halfway there, and then uh I had to call on Dr. Justin for some consultation. And uh we took care of most of the ailments, but we're gonna have to do some evals, I think. I think so. It felt like it was a little touch and go there for a while. It really was. I I got flustered and uh, you know, yeah, I I just I heard your voice in the back of my head, Dr. Ben, being like in your Adam Sandler impression, be like, this is that's gonna carry me through the rest of this. So it's gonna be great job, great job. Bubba Doctors they always have good news and bad news. So what do you think uh you'd tell the family, the good news and the bad news with this uh operation? Well, the good news is we got the frog out of the throat. Um yeah. It's gonna be very coherent speech going forward. Bad news is they're still gonna have some butterflies in their stomach, so that first date's gonna be pretty

Stage Nerves And Reading The Room

8:23

rough. So do you ever get butterflies in your stomach uh for stand-up comedy? I do. I uh I still and I that's why I love still about stand-up. I do it almost I get it before every time I go on stage. How about you? Uh yes, it used to be very terrifying to almost where I needed Dr. Justin for my panic attacks. I'm like, why am I doing this? It's a little less terrifying, but certainly but I that's a good thing. The butterflies, I think. I think it helps the people that we have on their shows too. It's kind of like having the nurses, I imagine, around you be like, you know, we got this. It's gonna be a good show. Yeah, you know, it's gonna be a good thing. I think if you didn't get them, it'd be kind of like, well, you're at that point where you don't care anymore. Yeah, I've had I think it's a good thing. I've had personal shows where I'm like, this is the boat is leaking, and let's just get to shore. So throw your boat ashore. Yeah, exactly. So that's gonna be one of the hard things. Similar to surgery, like I kind of respond to what the patient does and kind of you know, give and take. And I'm sure you kind of have to like interact with the audience. Like if they're just not biting the bait, yeah, you gotta kind of switch gears and I sometimes have as an MC, sometimes I'll have like a moment where I'll lean against the wall, be like, all right, guys, let's get real for five seconds. Okay, you're you're not laughing. I get that I'm not Dr. Ben, but he will be out here if you are polite for the next 20 minutes. So Dr. Ben and Fred.