Dr Ben and Friends

A man gets seizures from Sudoku? That sounds like a punchline- was it a real medical case? We kick things off with our “Headline or Hoax” game and watch how quickly all of us can get fooled by a medical headline that feels just believable enough to share. Team Dr Ben unpacks prior medical history to help to understand head injury, anoxic events, and how specific triggers like intense focus or flashing lights can tip a vulnerable brain into a seizure. We also talk about the viral “garlic in your nostrils for congestion” trend and why irritation can feel like relief while doing nothing for the underlying inflammation. If you care about evidence-based health, medical myths, and why misinformation spreads, this is the kind of conversation that helps you slow down and think before you repost. Then we switch gears into pure medical comedy: a fast-paced “Buzz Battle” where a comedian attempts a 60 second surgery challenge while two docs commentate. We close with a surprisingly relatable topic for anyone who works under pressure: operating room music, focus, and how teams stay calm and sharp. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves weird health stories, and leave a review with the wildest headline you’ve ever heard.THANKS TO OUR GUESTS:Dr Jameil: IG @drjameil, TT @bariatricbro, www.tennesseestyleweightloss.comBrinn Daniels: IG @brinn_does_comedy, www.brinndaniels.comSubscribe wherever you listen, share this with a friend and leave a review so more people can find honest conversations about weight loss, health, 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!Team Dr Ben---------------------Share a message with Dr Ben and Friends!Support the showFollow and listen for free on Dr Ben and Friends website, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio!Fan of the show? Record yourself! on Dr Ben's website and YOU could be featured on the next episode!DISCLAIMER: Dr Ben and Friends PodcastQuick heads-up folks: Dr Ben and Friends is your weekly dose of laughs and stories.  We celebrate healthcare heroes and pro comics.  This is infotainment-- think popcorn, not prescriptions or medical advice.If you're feeling funky, see your medical professional.  Your health?  That's on you.  We'll stick to the punchlines.

GLP-1s are everywhere right now and the hype is loud, the brand names are confusing, and the real tradeoffs can feel impossible to pin down. 🔴 Dr Ben and Friends We wanted a straight answer, so we brought in Dr. Jameil, a board-certified general surgeon and fellowship-trained bariatric surgeon, to explain how obesity medicine actually works when you’re sitting across from a real clinician, not an ad or a comment thread. With comedian, filmmaker, and professor Brinn Daniels in the studio, we keep it light while we get serious about what patients need to know. We break down GLP-1 and GIP medications: what they are, how they reduce appetite, why they can affect digestion, and why many people may need to stay on them long term. Then we zoom out to the bigger question people are really asking: GLP-1 vs bariatric surgery. Dr. Jameil explains who is a good candidate based on BMI and co-morbidities, how insurance criteria can differ from medical guidelines, and what smart questions to ask your surgeon, including complication rates and reversibility.From there, we walk through the main weight loss surgery options in plain language: gastric sleeve, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, and why more mal-absorptive procedures like duodenal switch or SADI are reserved for specific cases. We also talk about the full patient journey, including dietitian support, psychology clearance, the fight against liquid calories like soda and sweet tea, and what results can look like in terms of excess weight loss and health improvements like diabetes remission, sleep apnea relief, and less joint pain. We finish with the future of bariatrics: Da Vinci robotic surgery, endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG), and why the human connection still matters.THANKS TO OUR GUESTS:Dr Jameil: IG @drjameil, TT @bariatricbro, www.tennesseestyleweightloss.comBrinn Daniels: IG @brinn_does_comedy, www.brinndaniels.comSubscribe wherever you listen, share this with a friend and leave a review so more people can find honest conversations about weight loss, health, 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!Team Dr BenShare a message with Dr Ben and Friends!The Needles GroupExperience elevated coastal living in Marco Island & Naples. Connect with The Needles Group today!Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showFollow and listen for free on Dr Ben and Friends website, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio!Fan of the show? Record yourself! on Dr Ben's website and YOU could be featured on the next episode!DISCLAIMER: Dr Ben and Friends PodcastQuick heads-up folks: Dr Ben and Friends is your weekly dose of laughs and stories.  We celebrate healthcare heroes and pro comics.  This is infotainment-- think popcorn, not prescriptions or medical advice.If you're feeling funky, see your medical professional.  Your health?  That's on you.  We'll stick to the punchlines.

A single medical word can hide a whole anatomy lesson, and it gets even better when someone tries to guess the definition first. We play a fast, funny round of What The Heck? with comedian Drew Davis and Dr. Steve, turning intimidating oral and maxillofacial surgery vocabulary into plain-English takeaways you can actually remember.We dig into cleft lip repair and why it’s done early, not just for appearance, but for nursing, speech development, and restoring healthy function. From there we get into LeFort fractures and the LeFort osteotomy, translating what “midface classification” really means when trauma hits, and how controlled surgical cuts can reposition the jaw to correct a dental facial deformity and improve bite alignment.Then we break down sagittal split osteotomy for the lower jaw and the surprisingly intuitive goal behind it: moving the dentition segment so teeth meet the way they’re supposed to. We also cover distraction osteogenesis, the slow, deliberate process of growing new bone, often used for pediatric patients with tiny jaws that can’t support the airway. To wrap it up, we explain the sphenozygomatic suture, not stitches, but a bone junction that helps surgeons confirm the cheekbone sits in the right place during facial reconstruction.If you like learning through stories, quick laughs, and real clinical insight, subscribe, share this with a friend who loves weird science, and leave a review. Which term should we decode next?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!Team Dr BenShare a message with Dr Ben and Friends!The Needles GroupExperience elevated coastal living in Marco Island & Naples. Connect with The Needles Group today!Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showFollow and listen for free on Dr Ben and Friends website, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio!Fan of the show? Record yourself! on Dr Ben's website and YOU could be featured on the next episode!DISCLAIMER: Dr Ben and Friends PodcastQuick heads-up folks: Dr Ben and Friends is your weekly dose of laughs and stories.  We celebrate healthcare heroes and pro comics.  This is infotainment-- think popcorn, not prescriptions or medical advice.If you're feeling funky, see your medical professional.  Your health?  That's on you.  We'll stick to the punchlines.

A surgeon opens a chest with a Swiss Army knife he also uses to cut lunch. Sit with that for a second, then press play, because we turn it into a game where your job is to spot the real headline before we reveal just how strange the truth can be. Our “Headline Or Hoax” round pits two surgical stories against each other, and the debate quickly gets into what the operating room is supposed to look like: sterile markers, proper instruments, and the basic safety rules patients assume are non-negotiable. Once the real headline drops, we dig into the uncomfortable questions hiding under the laughs. If this happened in a modern hospital, how does it happen at all? What does it say about systems, shortcuts, and the way medical stories get told after the fact? We keep it light, but we don’t dodge the core issue: improvisation can be lifesaving in rare moments, and it can also be reckless when the right tools should be a few steps away. If you like medical humor with a side of surgical ethics and “wait, seriously?” news, this one’s for you. Then we shift gears to pure chaos and decompression with the Ben Buzz Battle, our spin on the classic Operation-style challenge. A guest has 60 seconds to remove as many “ailments” as possible before the buzzer punishes every shaky move, and the play-by-play spirals into laughs, nerves, and surprisingly relatable pressure. We wrap by comparing surgeons and comedians, because the world is much more comfortable with a surgeon doing jokes than a comedian doing surgery, for obvious reasons. If you enjoyed the mix of healthcare commentary, headline games, and stress-relief laughs, subscribe, share this with a friend who loves weird true stories, and leave a quick review with the headline that fooled you most.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!Team Dr BenShare a message with Dr Ben and Friends!The Needles GroupExperience elevated coastal living in Marco Island & Naples. Connect with The Needles Group today!Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showFollow and listen for free on Dr Ben and Friends website, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio!Fan of the show? Record yourself! on Dr Ben's website and YOU could be featured on the next episode!DISCLAIMER: Dr Ben and Friends PodcastQuick heads-up folks: Dr Ben and Friends is your weekly dose of laughs and stories.  We celebrate healthcare heroes and pro comics.  This is infotainment-- think popcorn, not prescriptions or medical advice.If you're feeling funky, see your medical professional.  Your health?  That's on you.  We'll stick to the punchlines.

If you’ve ever wondered how surgeons put faces back together after devastating injuries, this conversation gets surprisingly specific, surprisingly human, and occasionally ridiculous. 🔴 Dr Ben and Friends We sit down with HEALTHCARE HERO, DR.STEVE, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon who focuses on facial trauma, to explain how modern technology is reshaping facial reconstruction. Listener, join PRO COMIC DREW DAVIS as we explore these technical topics and try to understand the adventure and compassion of healthcare and comedy.We get into CT imaging, 3D surgical planning, and custom titanium plates that can be milled or 3D-printed to match a patient’s unique anatomy, because the truth is your face is not actually symmetrical and that matters in the OR.We also talk about what patients and families need when everything feels uncertain. Dr. Steve breaks down how clear communication, realistic expectations, and visual tools like 3D models can prevent misunderstandings and help people feel grounded on the worst day of their life. Then we take a hard turn into stress relief and work-life balance: how surgeons decompress, why leaving work at work is a skill, and how a hospital chili legend ends up with a backyard wood-fired pizza oven and strong opinions about dough hydration, proofing time, and topping discipline.Finally, we tell the story of how Dr. Steve helped nudge Dr. Ben into stand-up comedy, what it’s like walking into a brutal open mic, and how clean comedian Drew Davis thinks about staying composed when your brain blanks on stage. If you like medical innovation, facial trauma surgery, surgeon life, and clean comedy, hit play, then subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.THANKS TO OUR GUESTS:Dr Steve: no social media- he's at the hospital if you need him!Drew Davis: IG/TT/FB @drewdaviscomedy, www.drewdaviscomedy.com, www.cleancomedycollective.com, IG @clean_comedy_collectiveThis 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!Team Dr BenShare a message with Dr Ben and Friends!The Needles GroupExperience elevated coastal living in Marco Island & Naples. Connect with The Needles Group today!Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showFollow and listen for free on Dr Ben and Friends website, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio!Fan of the show? Record yourself! on Dr Ben's website and YOU could be featured on the next episode!DISCLAIMER: Dr Ben and Friends PodcastQuick heads-up folks: Dr Ben and Friends is your weekly dose of laughs and stories.  We celebrate healthcare heroes and pro comics.  This is infotainment-- think popcorn, not prescriptions or medical advice.If you're feeling funky, see your medical professional.  Your health?  That's on you.  We'll stick to the punchlines.

Surgery has a way of turning everyday people into instant experts on medical vocabulary. Someone says “propofol” or “intubation,” and suddenly you are nodding along while silently thinking, what does that actually mean? We keep it simple and honest by playing a quick game of “What the Heck?” where we challenge a pro comic to pronounce the term and tell us what the heck it means! We start with PROPOFOL, the fast-acting anesthetic many people recognize by its “milk of amnesia” nickname, then move into the practical reality of INTUBATION and airway management. We break down what a breathing tube does, why it matters, and why the rule about not eating before surgery is about preventing aspiration, not just checking a box. We also talk about emergency situations and rapid sequence induction, when anesthesiologists have to secure the airway quickly and safely.Then we tackle EPIDERALS, spinal anesthesia, and the confusing “spinal tap” label, including what the dura is, how medication is delivered, and why you should mention prior back surgery. To round it out, we explain the LARYNGOSCOPE and video laryngoscope, plus SUCCINYLCHOLINE, a paralytic drug that sounds scary until you understand how it helps intubation when used correctly with sedation and monitoring.If you have ever wanted a clear, low-stress guide to common anesthesia drugs and procedures, this one is for you! Subscribe, share with a friend who has surgery coming up, and leave a review, then tell us which term you want us to decode next.This episode was produced by Angie Debelak.  Post production editing by Ben Hill Sound.Share a message with Dr Ben and Friends!The Needles GroupExperience elevated coastal living in Marco Island & Naples. Connect with The Needles Group today!Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showFollow and listen for free on Dr Ben and Friends website, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio!Fan of the show? Record yourself! on Dr Ben's website and YOU could be featured on the next episode!DISCLAIMER: Dr Ben and Friends PodcastQuick heads-up folks: Dr Ben and Friends is your weekly dose of laughs and stories.  We celebrate healthcare heroes and pro comics.  This is infotainment-- think popcorn, not prescriptions or medical advice.If you're feeling funky, see your medical professional.  Your health?  That's on you.  We'll stick to the punchlines.

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.Share a message with Dr Ben and Friends!The Needles GroupExperience elevated coastal living in Marco Island & Naples. Connect with The Needles Group today!Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showFollow and listen for free on Dr Ben and Friends website, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio!Fan of the show? Record yourself! on Dr Ben's website and YOU could be featured on the next episode!DISCLAIMER: Dr Ben and Friends PodcastQuick heads-up folks: Dr Ben and Friends is your weekly dose of laughs and stories.  We celebrate healthcare heroes and pro comics.  This is infotainment-- think popcorn, not prescriptions or medical advice.If you're feeling funky, see your medical professional.  Your health?  That's on you.  We'll stick to the punchlines.

Meet the doc who keeps you safely knocked out--and the comedians who keep you laughing! Dr Ben hangs with anesthesiologist Dr Justin and comedian John Datoy.  Dive into anesthesia secrets and comedy stories. Laugh, learn, and CELEBRATE THE GAS MAN!  🔴 Dr Ben and Friends Ep1-AJoin us for Nashville's premier episode of Dr Ben and Friends, where Dr Ben a board-certified orthopaedic surgeon and standup comedian CELEBRATES HEALTHCARE HEROES and PRO COMICS!  Each week, Dr Ben rotates the guests...putting the MED in COMEDY!If you like this interview episode join Team Dr Ben for the mini-game episodes (Headline or Hoax? and What the Heck?) later in the week!A special thanks to our sponsor The Needles Group, Marco Island's hometown real estate experts.  Dr Ben knows a good NEEDLE when he sees one!  If you're buying or selling, let The Needles Group INJECT some serious VALUE into your property game. www.theneedlesgroup.comTHANKS TO OUR GUESTS:Dr Justin: no social media- he's at the hospital!John Datoy: IG/TT @johndatoy, FB/YT JohnDatoy Linktree at linktr.ee/johndatoy. Catch some of his champion-level yo-yo skills!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!Team Dr BenShare a message with Dr Ben and Friends!The Needles GroupExperience elevated coastal living in Marco Island & Naples. Connect with The Needles Group today!Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showFollow and listen for free on Dr Ben and Friends website, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio!Fan of the show? Record yourself! on Dr Ben's website and YOU could be featured on the next episode!DISCLAIMER: Dr Ben and Friends PodcastQuick heads-up folks: Dr Ben and Friends is your weekly dose of laughs and stories.  We celebrate healthcare heroes and pro comics.  This is infotainment-- think popcorn, not prescriptions or medical advice.If you're feeling funky, see your medical professional.  Your health?  That's on you.  We'll stick to the punchlines.