Headline Or Hoax with Dr Mike and Paula Kosienski

A headline claims a man regrew the tip of his finger with powder made from pig bladder. Another claims coffee can reduce phantom phone vibration syndrome by 23%. Both sound just believable enough to fool you, which is why we love playing Headline Or Hoax. 

With comedian Paula Kosienski and healthcare hero Dr. Mike on the mic, we put our instincts on the line and then dig into what the real story actually suggests.

After the reveal, we unpack the fingertip regrowth case in plain language, including why “miracle cure” headlines can outrun the evidence and how normal healing can get mistaken for a breakthrough. We also talk about phantom phone vibration syndrome, that weird modern moment when you feel a buzz that never happened, and why adding a neat statistic to a real condition is a classic misinformation move.

Then we pivot from weird medical news into practical safety: what to do if a finger gets cut off, when it makes sense to bring the severed part, and how clinicians decide what’s salvageable. To close, we lighten it up with Dr. Ben Buzz Battle that turns the operating room into an Operation-style challenge complete with a proper timeout, some sterile field jokes, and the all-important question of what music belongs in surgery.

If you laughed, learned, or changed your mind about a headline you would’ve shared, please subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a quick review so more people can find the show.

THANKS TO OUR GUESTS:

Dr Mike: emergency room physician, medical toxicologist, addiction medicine specialist YT/IG/TT: @toxdocx

Paula Kosienski: comedian, IG/TT/YT @paulacomedy FB: Paula Kosienski https://nateland.com/pages/paula-kosienski

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

Welcome To Headline Or Hoax

Speaker 3 0:05

Dr. Ben.

Dr Ben 0:10

Alright, folks, hey listener. Time to join in on the fun. We appreciate you listening from your car, your office, your home, wherever you may be. Let's play Headline or Hoax? with Dr. Ben. Now, we have a pro comic, Miss Paula, here, and a healthcare hero, Dr. Mike. I am going to read two headlines. One is an actual medical headline, and the other is a hoax. And we're going to have uh our two experts and guests here determine which one is real. And so they're going to write down which one they feel is real. Are you all ready to play along at home here? All right, folks. Headline or Hoax? Let's scrub in for this one. Okay.

Two Wild Health Headlines

Dr Ben 0:55

Our first headline is Man regrows severed fingertip using powder from pig bladder. Man regrows severed fingertip using powder from pig bladder. Is everybody ready for headline number two? Alright, headline number two is regular coffee drinkers have 23% lower risk of developing phantom phone vibration syndrome. Regular coffee drinkers have 23% lower risk of developing phantom phone vibration syndrome. Let's uh think about those two. And our uh guests here are gonna try to determine which one is real a real headline. They both sound kinda bizarre but plausible. Like interesting.

Paula Kosienski 1:42

I think I have mine.

Dr Ben 1:43

Okay, Miss Paula. Alright, listener, are you ready? Miss Paula's gonna give her thoughts. Which one is the real one?

Paula Kosienski 1:50

I think one.

Dr Ben 1:52

Ah, why why do you think one?

Paula Kosienski 1:54

Because I thought the second one was seemed too realistic.

Dr Ben 2:00

Okay. Seemed a little too realistic.

Paula Kosienski 2:03

Right.

Dr Ben 2:05

Okay, I like it. I like it. Uh, Dr. Mike, what was your guess?

Dr Mike and Dr Ben 2:09

I guess number two because I thought it sounded more realistic. For the same reason, he voted number two. It's a lot harder to grow a finger than it is to drink a lot of coffee.

Dr Ben 2:19

That's right.

Paula Kosienski 2:20

A tip could be like a nubbin, anyway.

Dr Ben 2:22

Right. Listener, which one did you pick? All right. Well, on the show, we've had both of our guests guess the correct one. We've had them both guess the incorrect one, and we've had split decisions here, which we have today here. So to find out who is real, listener, which one did you pick? Okay.

The Real Fingertip Regrowth Story

Dr Ben 2:41

Listener, are you ready? The real headline was number one. Dr.

Dr Mike and Dr Ben 2:46

Paula. I got burned.

Dr Ben 2:49

Man regrows severed fingertip using powder from pig bladder. Yes. And there actually is a uh phantom phone vibration syndrome. I don't know if you guys have.

Paula Kosienski 2:59

I think I have it.

Dr Ben and Dr Mike 3:00

Right. You think your phone's texting or vibrating, and it really isn't. And there's an actual syndrome or but uh not correlated with coffee drinking and and that. But uh yes. So, listener, there was a guy named Lee Spievack who sliced off the tip of his uh middle finger from a model plane propeller, and uh doctors offered him either amputation amputation or graft, and his brother had a biotech company and said, Hey, put a little pig bladder lining powder on it, and he did, and this magic pixie dust he regrew his finger. It's not kosher.

Paula Kosienski 3:38

Good for him.

Dr Ben 3:39

Exactly.

Paula Kosienski 3:43

Well, he just can't eat that finger, I guess.

Dr Mike and Dr Ben 3:47

Sounds really good though. Some uh hand surgeons have kind of debunked it saying that this guy would have regrown and uh fingers do heal anyway, and uh so but that did make a headline that uh a man used uh some pig lining powder. But uh listener, I don't recommend you try that at home.

Paula Kosienski 4:11

If you do, you should definitely text us a picture.

Dr Ben and Dr Mike 4:14

Right. Send the send the podcast a picture. Just not of the severed finger.

Dr Mike 4:18

Not don't use the severed finger to send

Finger Injury Advice And Finger Talk

Dr Mike 4:20

the picture.

Dr Ben and Dr Mike 4:21

Uh Dr. Mike, if someone does have like a saw accident, should they bring their finger with them if they accidentally I would bring it if there if there's any chance to to save it. To replant it. Yeah, yeah, if there's any chance of that.

Dr Ben 4:32

So don't bring a snake, but do bring the finger. Okay.

Dr Mike 4:36

I mean, some sometimes it's not salvageable, most of the time it's not salvageable. Okay. Um, but we we we can make that determination at the time of okay.

Paula Kosienski 4:43

One of my uncles doesn't have a finger. That's it.

Dr Ben 4:47

From uh traumatic? Is was he a woodworker or carpenter or anything? Or was he born that?

Paula Kosienski 4:53

I think he was born without that finger.

Dr Ben 4:55

Okay.

Paula Kosienski 4:55

He used to bring it up a lot.

Dr Ben and Dr Mike 4:57

Which finger is it? Or he didn't bring it up a lot because he can't.

Paula Kosienski 5:00

I think it was this one.

Dr Ben and Dr Mike 5:04

Okay, the ring finger. Shocking.

Dr Ben 5:06

Or maybe it was the or middle. Okay, be careful with your finger.

Paula Kosienski 5:11

I think it was this one.

Dr Ben 5:12

Okay.

Paula Kosienski 5:13

I'll let you know.

Dr Ben and Dr Mike 5:15

So st still in traffic, he can uh um express some displeasure. Can he get married ? Can he get married?

Paula Kosienski 5:21

He is married, so yeah, left ring finger.

Dr Ben 5:24

There you go.

Dr Ben and Paula Kosienski 5:24

Yeah, if you don't have to left ring finger, you have to be a little bit of your life.

Dr Ben 5:29

Wedding ring.

Paula Kosienski 5:30

Uh, I honestly I'm not like that close with him. I feel like I don't like keep up where his ring finger is. I just remember as a kid him always being like, hey, finger.

Dr Ben 5:43

Dr. Mike, which finger do you think would be the most expendable?

Dr Mike 5:48

Expendable.

Paula Kosienski and Dr Mike 5:50

By your thumb. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Dr Mike 5:54

I mean, I would defer that to my ortho guys. I would say uh four or five.

Dr Ben 5:57

Four or five. Fourth or fifth. Yeah. Depending on if you want to be married or not. Yeah.

Paula Kosienski 6:02

You want your pinky if you want to be classy, right?

Dr Ben 6:05

For tea. For high tea.

Paula Kosienski 6:07

If you want to be married, you need this one. If you want to be a jerk, you need this one. Right. What about if you want to point if you want to be a teacher, you need this one.

Dr Ben 6:15

To point.

Paula Kosienski 6:16

To point.

Dr Ben 6:17

So I think it depends on your occupation.

Paula Kosienski 6:18

Yeah, it depends on what you want to do with your life.

Dr Mike 6:20

If you want to express that things are good, you need your thumbs.

Paula Kosienski 6:23

Yeah.

Dr Ben 6:24

The Fonz. Hey! You want to give thumbs down. All right, listener, how'd you do?

Ben Buzz Battle Surgery Game Setup

Dr Ben 6:41

All right, folks. Are you ready for Dr. Ben Buzz Battle? Ben Buzz Battle. B3, like the vitamin we never needed. I don't think there is a vitamin B3, is there, Dr. Mike? We're a professional comic suits up for surgery. We have Dr. Paula. She's gonna try to beat the clock and save the patient. We're serious all day long. When you're with Dr. Ben and Friends, you have to decompress. Whether it's at one of my stand-up shows or on our podcast, Dr. Mike, how about we have that comic take over as surgeon today? I'm scared.

Paula Kosienski 7:16

She's already broke her surgeon. The first thing that I'm gonna do as a surgeon is I'm gonna tell everybody that I think I'm better than them.

Dr Ben and Dr Mike 7:24

Well, she's got that down. Well, she's already broke her sterile field with her jewelry.

Dr Ben 7:28

Right. So you have to be very egocentric. The world revolves around you, Dr. Paula. Exactly. Have you ever thought of being a surgeon?

Paula Kosienski 7:35

Um, no. Because nobody has ever asked me.

Dr Mike 7:42

How good are you at this motion?

Paula Kosienski 7:44

This motion?

Dr Mike 7:45

Yeah, this motion. What does that do? That's how you knock everything off the table. There you go.

Dr Ben 7:49

Clear the table.

Dr Mike 7:50

Clear the table.

Paula Kosienski 7:52

I also think I would be a good surgeon because I would get mad at everybody else for my patient canceling.

Dr Ben 8:01

All right, Dr. Mike, what uh what equipment does Dr. Paula have on today getting her ready for surgery?

Dr Mike 8:07

Well, today she's uh donning her her uh local scrub attire with a nice buffont cap.

Dr Ben and Dr Mike 8:14

Ah, to keep the hair out of the exactly and then surgical field and a properly placed uh and worn mask to keep everything sterile as well.

Dr Mike 8:22

She has her surgical uh gown on that's tied, and she had to do her little dance to get that on. And then, of course, and today she's only gonna be single gloved, but normally we would have her double gloved with these are non-sterile, but we typically use sterile . He's clean, he's clean. But are you? That's the question. It's not so much about the patient, it's about you. You don't want to contaminate the field.

Dr Ben 8:45

All right, listener. Dr. Paula here is gonna have 60 seconds to remove as many ailments from our patient today in 60 seconds. There are 12 ailments. We'll see how many she has, and she's playing the classic Hasbro game where if she touches the side with her instrument, it will buzz, and she'll need to move on to the next one, and we'll see how many she can uh remove. And I won't tell you the record yet for a comedian surgeon. All right. All right. Well, just like in surgery, we have to do what's called a timeout where we need to confirm that we have the correct patient and what the procedure is. Uh Dr. Paula, if you'll pick uh a name here, we'll uh make sure we have the correct patient.

Paula Kosienski 9:26

This is uh This is patient Willie. Willie. Nelson, Nelson, Nelson Hall of Fame.

Dr Ben and Paula Kosienski 9:34

Willie Hall of Fame Broadway. Alright. And what uh pick an ailment here, and you're gonna try to do 12, but this is uh one that we're gonna try to This is what the patient came in most complaining.

Paula Kosienski 9:48

Extra spicy hot chicken challenge.

Dr Mike 9:52

That sounds like almost tox. That's like a toxic. I like it.

Paula Kosienski 9:56

Little We probably should be double gloved for that.

Dr Ben 9:58

Too much.

Dr Mike 10:00

Correct. Correct.

Dr Mike and Dr Ben 10:01

Don't touch your mucous membranes. Are you ready, Dr. Paula?

Paula Kosienski 10:11

I'm ready.

Dr Ben and Dr Mike 10:12

Get your uh forceps ready. You're gonna start and I'm gonna start the clock here when you hear the clock start. You're gonna have 60 seconds. Did she mark the side? Yes. Mark all 12 ailments. And here we go in three, two, one.

Sixty Seconds To Fix Ailments

Dr Ben and Dr Mike 10:27

Alright, you have sixty seconds. We're gonna give a little play-by-play. All right. Now, Miss Dr. Paula is removing things like frog in the throat, butterflies in the stomach. Just 60 seconds. Wow. The dexterity of a surgeon. Yeah, that was that was pretty good. I feel like she needs to be yelling more.

Dr Mike 10:47

Well, not just that, and also like putting in an actual, like, you know, use the correct bag or put it, you know, to the side. She's just letting things go everywhere. It's like an ER doctor doing things in the in the trampoline, just things go everywhere. We'll clean it up later.

Paula Kosienski 10:59

I have low respect for my surgical texts.

Dr Ben 11:06

It buzzed. She touched the side. She's trying to remove butterflies from the stomach. You ever get butterflies in your stomach during comedy?

Paula Kosienski 11:11

Uh, every time.

Dr Ben and Dr Mike 11:12

Okay, don't we get me uh frog in your throat? Remember, don't lick toads, don't lick toads. That'd be a good way to get a frog in your throat.

Paula Kosienski and Dr Mike 11:21

Yeah, exactly. I think I'm a bit of a heartbreaker over here.

Paula Kosienski 11:24

That doesn't count.

Dr Ben 11:25

Doesn't count, give her a little extra time.

Scorecard And Operating Room Playlist

Dr Ben 11:28

Alright, folks.

Paula Kosienski 11:29

I blame my technician.

Dr Ben 11:31

Blame anesthesia.

Dr Mike 11:32

Blame anesthesia. It's always anesthesia's focus.

Dr Ben 11:36

She's correctly uh cured of how many ailments?

Paula Kosienski 11:39

One. The rubber band is two, three, four. Wow. Four.

Dr Ben and Dr Mike 11:44

Well done, Dr. Paula.

Paula Kosienski 11:45

Thank you.

Dr Ben 11:46

How do you think you did, Dr. Paula?

Paula Kosienski 11:47

I think I did below average.

Dr Ben and Dr Mike 11:50

You did well. I think you did above average. And we didn't even have any music playing in the operating room. What would you have as your as your music playing? Yeah, what kind of music would you like to?

Paula Kosienski 12:00

I would like to listen to Taylor Swift.

Dr Ben 12:03

Oh, Swifty.

Paula Kosienski 12:04

Yep. I would like to. If I'm having a bad day, I'll listen to sad songs.

Dr Mike 12:08

Okay.

Paula Kosienski 12:08

If I'm having a good day, I'll listen to happy songs.

Dr Ben 12:10

Like Taylor Swift.

Paula Kosienski 12:12

Yep. She's got all of them. All the songs.

Dr Ben and Dr Mike 12:14

Right. That's a very local thing. I love it.

Paula Kosienski 12:17

Oh, yeah, very local. Nah. Well, if I think the patient is a good looking person, maybe I will sing Red.

Dr Mike and Dr Ben 12:24

Oh, good one. I love it.

Speaker 3 12:36

Dr Ben and Friends!