Listen: The inaugural First Opinion Podcast: Jay Baruch on writing about medicine

It’s now official. We’ve launched “The First Opinion Podcast.” In the inaugural episode, I talk with Jay Baruch, an emergency physician, professor of emergency medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and terrific storyteller.

Baruch’s first essay for STAT was “I told my emergency medicine team to ‘move on’ after a horrific patient death. That was a mistake.”

He has since shared other memorable stories about his work in the emergency department with people like Sonny D, who may or may not have been trying to scam him for an opioid prescription; his feeling abandoned by leaders during a Covid-19 surge; Cheryl and her “tornado of life”; and others. You can read them all here.

Later this year, MIT Press is publishing a collection of Baruch’s essays that probe challenging stories in medicine — situations that don’t bend to easy answers or tidy morals. The book, “Tornado of Life,” was sparked by his First Opinion essay, “Stuck in a tornado of life: a patient’s chaos narrative.” You can learn more about the author here.

Be sure to sign up for the weekly “First Opinion Podcast” on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

And if you have any feedback for us — First Opinion authors to feature on the podcast, mannerisms the host needs to jettison, kudos or darts — email us at [email protected] and please put “podcast” in the subject line.