Headline Or Hoax? with Dr Kate and Seth Kays

A medical headline about laughter curing an autoimmune spine disease sounds like the kind of internet nonsense we’re trained to ignore and that’s exactly why we put it on the whiteboard. We kick off with “Headline or Hoax,” make our guesses, and then unpack the real story behind Norman Cousins, ankylosing spondylitis, and the surprisingly practical question hiding underneath the punchline: what does laughter actually do to pain, stress, and sleep, and where does it belong alongside real medical care?

From there, we fact-check a too-good-to-be-true claim about eating chocolate before bed and “boosting IQ,” using it as a springboard into what research does suggest about dark chocolate, cocoa flavanols, and cardiovascular health. We also talk honestly about the difference between a compelling anecdote and evidence-based medicine, why older publishing norms look strange today, and how to hold hope and skepticism at the same time without sliding into cynical dismissal.

Comedian Seth Kays becomes a surgeon on the Dr Ben and Friends podcast! We head into the operating room for a surprisingly fun breakdown of surgical safety. We talk through the purpose of caps, gowns, masks, double gloves, and why orthopedic surgery adds its own hazards, including blood exposure and fluoroscopy radiation. You’ll also learn why lead aprons and thyroid shields matter, what radiation glasses are for, and how a pre-op timeout helps prevent wrong-site surgery by forcing the whole team to pause and confirm the plan.

If you like smart medicine with real laughs, subscribe, share this with a friend who loves weird health headlines, and leave us a review with your take: which “Headline or Hoax” would you have picked?

THANKS TO OUR GUESTS:

Dr Kate: orthopaedic trauma surgeon, hockey player

Seth Kays: filmmaker, writer, actor, comedian, podcast host

IG @sethkaysofficial @manmademediaco @moviewarspodcast

TT @moviewarspodcast X @MovieWarsPod FB TheMovieWarsPodcast YT @moviewarspodcast www.moviewarspodcast.com https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/movie-wars/id1560698102

Subscribe wherever you listen, share this with a friend and leave a review so more people can find honest conversations about healthcare and a little comedy along the way.

This episode was produced by Angie Debelak with post-production editing by Ben Hill Sound.

Thanks for listening to Dr Ben and Friends.  Laughter is the best medicine...unless you're treating bowel or bladder incontinence.  See you next time!

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Transcript

Headline Or Hoax Begins

Dr Ben 0:10

Alright, listener, it's time for that segment of the podcast, Headline or Hoax. Hey listeners, join in on the fun. We appreciate you listening from the car, office, home, wherever you may be, gym, operating room. Let's play Headline or Hoax with Dr. Ben. Our pro comic and healthcare hero each have a dry erase board, and they're going to guess with you. I'm going to read two medical headlines that sound like authentic headlines. And the you, the listener, and our guests here are gonna guess which one is the true headline. Are you all ready to play? Let's go.

Dr Kate and Seth Kays 0:51

Headline or host? We're ready! Let's do it.

Dr Ben 0:53

Alright, let's scrub in for this one.

Two Wild Medical Headlines

Dr Ben 0:55

Alright, headline number one is Man beats autoimmune spine disease with laughter. Man beats autoimmune spine disease with laughter. Alright, ready for headline number two? Yes. Alright, headline number two. Eating chocolate before bed increases your IQ. Headline number two, eating chocolate before bed increases your IQ. Now, guys, think about this carefully, deliberately. Let's not get this one wrong, okay? Any debate right now about your thoughts on those two? What do you think's the real headline?

Dr Kate 1:32

I just I know which one I want to be true.

Dr Ben 1:34

Okay. Please be, please be justify my.

Dr Kate 1:40

I think everybody knows which one I've chosen.

Seth Kays 1:42

I mean, neither of them started with Florida man, so there's no there's no direct clues. I love that game, there's no direct clues, so we'll see.

Dr Ben, Dr Kate, Seth Kays 1:50

All right. We're gonna go either with our gut or our brain. We've written down our answer. You've written down your answers? Yes. All right. Let's start with Dr. Kate here 321, which is the real headline. What did you pick? I went for number two. Number two? Yeah, that's what I went with as well. All right, number two. Because number one does not sound plausible at all, does it?

Seth Kays 2:10

It doesn't, but I have a feeling you're gonna you're gonna completely turn our worlds upside down.

Dr Ben, Dr Kate, Seth Kays 2:15

All right, listener, which one did you pick? All right.

Laughter And Bamboo Spine Story

Dr Ben 2:19

Well, folks, the uh true headline is number one. Man beats autoimmune spine disease with laughs. You're not going to stop me from eating chocolate. Can you believe that? Uh he was a journalist named Norman Cousins, 1964. He's diagnosed. Dr. Kate's probably heard of this ankylosing spondylitis. Cousins doctor father. Yeah. But he had this autoimmune disease that affects your back, and you get what's called a bamboo spine. All the inflammation starts fusing your back. And so he was diagnosed with that, and he said, you know what? I'm just gonna check into a hotel and binge watch Marx Brothers and candid camera. And uh it's funny.

Seth Kays 3:05

When I was eight years old, I played grou uh played Groucho Marks in a school uh school play. I'm not even joking, that's a true story. And how is your back? Uh apparently it's it's you know, I I did years of physical therapy, so it got better from other injuries.

Dr Ben 3:19

So and he found that laughing ten minutes uh gave him up to two hours of pain-free sleep, and then he actually went into remission from uh and he took high levels of vitamin C and laughed all the time, and so he was cured of his ankylosing spondylitis.

Seth Kays 3:36

So I wonder if tickle torture can actually cure people.

Dr Ben 3:39

It may.

Dr Ben, Dr Kate, Seth Kays 3:42

So laughter planning to torture.

Dr Ben 3:46

Whoever's got the back injuries. Laughter is a good medicine. The chiropractors probably don't want us to uh talk about laughter curing back pain. So uh for a while there I didn't know if I really believed in chiropractors, but I actually went to go see one. Now I stand corrected.

Dr Ben and Seth Kays 4:06

I stand corrected. There we go.

Dark Chocolate Health Claims Debunked

Dr Ben and Seth Kays 4:08

But uh there are health benefits to eating dark chocolate, not the milk chocolate or white chocolate, but the there are some for your cardiovascular health, even your GI and that. But uh there wasn't a study saying it will increase your IQ, but and it has to be the dark chocolate, more than 70% cocoa. Yeah. So the milk chocolate lovers, I'm sorry, that's not and everything in moderation, right? You can't just diet alone on dark chocolate.

Dr Ben, Dr Kate, Seth Kays 4:33

What? Yeah. What? No. Dietitians. Because there is sugar, dark chocolate and red wine. Come on, let's do that.

Dr Ben 4:40

Your cholesterol will be great, but all right, listener. Yes, this article about Norman Cousins curing his uh back pain, autoimmune disease um was actually published in 1976 in the New England Journal of Medicine in an article called Anatomy of an Illness. No magic, lots of interest and enthusiasm from the public. We're always hopeful for patient treatment. So keep laughing, folks. If you have back pain, laugh.

Dr Kate 5:07

I feel like the publishing standards have crept up a little bit since then.

Dr Ben 5:12

Slow news day.

Dr Kate 5:13

I was like, what data did he have in that article? He was like, I feel better, so it worked.

Anecdotes Versus Evidence In Medicine

Dr Kate 5:20

Like, okay.

Dr Ben 5:20

Not a double blind placebo controlled peer reviewed.

Seth Kays 5:24

He covered his eyes so he could be double blind. That's great.

Comedian becomes a surgeon!

Dr Ben 5:35

All right, folks. Dr. Ben here for the Dr. Ben Buzz Battle. One Ben Buzz Battle. See, tongue twister. B3, like the vitamin we never needed. We're a professional comic suits up for surgery to beat the clock and save the patient. All right, we're serious all day long. When you're with Dr. Ben and friends, you have to decompress, whether it's at my stand-up shows or on our podcast, Dr. Kate here. Uh, how do we have the comic uh dressed out here today? Why is he wearing all this garb?

Dr Kate and Seth Kays 6:13

Yeah, he looks he looks pretty good. Uh thank you. I'll take it. Very, very surgical over

What Surgical Gear Really Does

Dr Kate and Dr Ben 6:18

there. Uh so we have uh um, you know, really to protect ourselves uh during surgery. I think uh especially orthopedic surgery is one of those ones that have us to protect the surgeon. Yeah, that the uh blood can go flying sometimes. Not as bad as vascular surgery, but um, you know, kind of with everything we're using, you just gotta make sure that you protect yourself. Uh so uh, and then you know, it's also there to protect your patients. So you've got your beautiful buffont up there, the cap covering your hair keeping your hair from getting into the field. Yep. Uh some people like to use surgical caps. Uh I think people think they look way cooler in those.

Dr Ben 6:53

Which one do you wear?

Dr Kate 6:54

I use the buffont. Um the surgical caps are not great for hair. There are some uh uh female driven surgical caps out there that kind of encompass the bun and back. Okay. Um, but I do not have one. So I think.

Dr Ben 7:08

Some people wear the cloth hats.

Dr Kate 7:09

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep. So yeah. So I just go with a buffont. Okay. Um, you know, he's got his surgical gown there, uh, which is uh very stylish.

Seth Kays 7:18

I think this one's Gucci. Yeah.

Dr Kate 7:20

Uh I uh they all come in blue. Uh I think I uh uh I guess there are some cloth uh physical gowns.

Seth Kays 7:28

Green ones on TV before. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dr Kate 7:30

At uh Shock Trauma, they have you know the green cloth ones. Um, but uh these are disposable gowns. Uh but you look really great in blue. Thank you.

Dr Ben 7:40

Like a fashion show. Who are you wearing? Who are you wearing?

Dr Kate and Dr Ben 7:42

Yeah. And uh and someone else actually gowns you in surgery. Um so you have to gown yourself.

Dr Ben, Dr Kate, Seth Kays 7:48

Yeah, so I was just telling him, uh, I won't go into all the details because it's a little peachy 13, but I have actually witnessed one surgery uh in in my life, and I watched the doctor get scrubbed up at everything. So yeah, I've seen that surgery. So you've seen you're an expert. A little bit.

Seth Kays 8:02

Yeah. Yeah. As as much of an expert as you can be after one viewing. Yes.

Dr Ben 8:05

Similarly, do you ever watch a uh surgery on TV or something and say, that looks easy, I could do that. Kind of like okay.

Seth Kays 8:12

Never.

Dr Ben 8:13

Have you ever thought of becoming a surgeon or no?

Seth Kays 8:15

Any notion to as I'm sure we're about to find out, I think everyone is better off for me not doing this particular job. All right, yeah.

Dr Ben 8:22

And I surgeons need a mask too, right?

Dr Kate 8:24

Yeah, and and uh one other thing, especially with orthopedic surgery that we don't have in the room here today, but it's also to protect uh us, is we use a

Radiation Safety With Fluoroscopy

Dr Kate 8:32

lot of fluoroscopy in the operating room.

Dr Ben 8:33

Now, what is that fluoroscopy?

Dr Kate and Seth Kays 8:35

Uh so it's like a mini X-ray, so we can see what we're doing in surgery. I do not have x-ray vision, what! so I have to use a fluoroscopy machine. Um, but you know, that emits radiation. And so we actually wear lead gowns, um, which make uh so you have a thyroid shield. Um, some are gowns, some are in two pieces with a skirt and a vest. I have the skirt and vest option.

Seth Kays 8:58

Very fancy.

Dr Kate 8:59

Um, uh, but that just kind of reduces our radiation risk over time. I also, you don't have any on you today, uh, but you should be wearing glasses as well.

Seth Kays 9:08

Fair.

Dr Kate and Dr Ben 9:08

Uh eye protection. Yep. And I have specific radiation glasses that are actually leaded. Um, so they're pretty heavy, but they help uh protect me from cataracts.

Seth Kays 9:17

Now, if a male is wearing the surgical skirts, is it called a kilt or is it still just a skirt?

Dr Kate 9:22

It's still just a skirt, yeah. Yeah. Um, so that's we wear that underneath our our gowns. Um, and it makes for a very hot and sweaty surgery. It keeps a lot of heat in there. Yep. And then you've got your your mask there. Uh, usually the ear-looped ones are illegal. Uh you have to have them tied behind uh your head. But we'll give you a break today.

Seth Kays 9:44

For for this young man's uh life-saving surgery, we'll uh we'll make the exception. Yeah, yeah.

Dr Kate and Dr Ben 9:49

And you know, that there was so much fuss made in 2020 about everyone having to wear masks. And I think like as surgeons, we're like, okay. Another day at the office. Another day at the beautiful.

Seth Kays 9:59

Well, for me, the problem was it would just make my beard sweaty all day, is when I had one. Like that was the worst part of it. Was it just the the beard is what captures everything, not even the mask.

Dr Kate 10:09

I cannot relate. Yeah. I hear you.

Dr Ben 10:15

It got to the point where I couldn't recognize people withouth their mask. Because they're like, Who are you? Yeah. We just did a surgery together. I'm like, oh, really?

Dr Kate 10:20

Yeah. And then you you've got your gloves there, which is good. Uh in surgery, we actually wear two pairs of gloves. Okay. Um, and again, that's to protect yourself uh against needle sticks.

Dr Ben 10:31

Um they actually make Kevlar gloves, too.

unknown 10:33

Oh wow.

Dr Kate and Dr Ben 10:34

So Kevlar surgical gloves. Really? Yeah.

Dr Kate 10:37

Oh my god.

Seth Kays 10:37

So full military. Yeah.

Dr Ben 10:39

For kind of the high-risk patients. Uh you'll have actually Kevlar gloves that are sterile.

Dr Kate 10:45

I would imagine I couldn't feel anything in those things, so I just I'll take the risk, I guess.

Dr Ben 10:50

Yeah, that lead is uh gets pretty hot in there.

Dr Kate 10:53

Yeah.

Seth Kays 10:53

Yeah, I can imagine. I mean, if Indiana Jones can survive a nuclear explosion in a lead-lined fridge, I can only imagine what it what it's like wearing a gown.

Dr Ben 11:01

And it gets really bad on Taco Tuesdays for those afternoon cases. I'll just leave it at that. All right, let's uh put the uh mask on, Dr. Seth, here. We're gonna give him 60 seconds. Um, cavity Sam here has 12

Timeouts That Prevent Wrong Site Surgery

Dr Ben 11:15

ailments that uh Dr. Seth is gonna try to cure him of in 60 seconds. Now, uh Dr. Kate, do you want to explain what a timeout is before surgery? We should probably do a timeout.

Dr Kate 11:26

Yeah, we definitely should. So it's a uh moment after the uh patient has been uh prepped and draped and everyone uh uh just stops moving, stops talking. So everybody is paying attention to the circulator. Um, and you are confirming that you have the correct patient for orthopedics, that you're operating on the correct extremity and that you are performing the correct procedure. Um, and that we also have images, at least for me, I make sure we have images uh that are the correct images uh in the operating room to confirm uh what we're planning to do. Um, and it's a time when you're able to communicate with your circulator, with your scrub, with your anesthesia team specifically about antibiotics, about any other medications that you might require uh during surgery. So it's just uh kind of a uh a pause to make sure that everybody's on the same page.

Dr Ben 12:17

They kind of frown upon wrong site surgeries.

Seth Kays 12:20

So to confirm, we have we have Rudolph, the red-nosed surgery patient here today.

Dr Ben 12:25

Timeout, yep.

Seth Kays 12:26

Along along with Theodore Winters, the teddy bear. Yes. Okay, and he's doing full body surgery.

Operation Game As Dexterity Test

Dr Ben, Dr Kate, Seth Kays 12:32

Right. You didn't have to mark it in the stomach. All right, gonna cure him of a lot of different ailments here. And we're gonna start the clock here. Don't start yet. If you hear a buzz, you can move on to the next one. We're gonna see how many uh ailments you can cure our patient in 60 seconds of his 12 ailments. So when you hear the buzzer, uh oh, hang on, wait for the okay. We have uh Dr. Seth here performing his 12 ailments.

Dr Kate 12:58

Wow, really great, really good start.

Dr Ben 12:59

There's a dexterity of a surgeon here.

Dr Kate 13:02

I just say he's left-handed, which is throwing me off a little bit.

Dr Ben 13:05

Um maybe he's using his non-dominant hand. Look at him. He has the precision of a surgeon here.

Dr Kate 13:13

Yeah, I did t tell him he's at a bit of disadvantage. Oh.

Dr Ben 13:17

Okay.

Dr Kate 13:17

His first bit of disadvantage, those surgical forceps.

Dr Ben 13:22

I don't know if we can count that one.

Dr Kate 13:23

The surgical forc eps are just not as uh precise as what we use in the operating room, but uh he's he's really making good progress regardless.

Dr Ben 13:30

Listener, Dr. Seth here is playing the classic Hasbro game of uh removing. Wow, he has some good dexterity here.

Dr Kate and Dr Ben 13:38

He could probably make it as a I feel like he's blocking out the clock. I'm sure some people that would make their heart race, but he's being cool, calm, and collected.

Dr Ben 13:47

Without any music. Okay. Oh right. Let's count them up here. I think one of them bumped.

Seth Kays 13:53

We'll say all but five. One was stuck in the in the in the needle, so it came out.

Dr Ben 13:58

All right. So how many how many did you have?

Seth Kays 14:01

All but five.

Dr Ben 14:02

Okay, but uh, how many did you cure him of there?

Most surgical saves so far, 7!

Seth Kays 14:05

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Wow. Wow.

Dr Ben and Seth Kays 14:08

I think that's an all-time record, listener. Seven, y'all. Dr.

Seth Kays 14:11

Did I beat Datoy?

Dr Ben 14:12

Dr. Seth, all-time record here.

Seth Kays 14:14

I'm coming for you, John.

Dr Ben and Seth Kays 14:17

We're gonna have to have a uh surgery face off. Surgery off. Yeah, surgery off. Between. All right, listener. Let's uh thank you, Dr. Seth. You cured our patient.

Dr Kate 14:29

Yeah, I'd let you operate on me.

unknown 14:30

Okay, yeah. All right, high praise. Um I'm I'm sorry for you, but yeah.