420: The 1788 Doctors' Riot w/ Andy McPhee

Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast

Erik Rivenes

True Crime, History, Education

4.7 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 7 January 2026

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On April 13, 1788, outrage erupted in New York City when word spread that students from the local medical school were stealing corpses from nearby graveyards, at the direction of their instructors, for classroom dissection and study. A large mob attacked an anatomy lab and then set out in search of the students and doctors believed to be responsible for defiling the bodies of their loved ones. City leaders John Jay and Alexander Hamilton were among those who tried (and failed) to calm the crowd. The unrest ultimately led to a violent confrontation between civilians and the local militia, resulting in serious injuries and loss of life. My guest is Andy McPhee, author of the new book Doctors’ Riot of 1788: Body Snatching, Bloodletting, and Anatomy in America (out June 6). We discuss the riot itself, the history of body snatching, and the moral question at its core: could stealing bodies for medical training be justified in the name of public health? The author's website: https://andymcphee.com/ The publisher's author page: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Doctors-Riot-of-1788/Andy-McPhee/9781493088058 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:34.2	trembling hands end the Soviet Union? How did inflation kill moon bases?
0:39.8	And how did a former president decide to run for a second non-consecutive term?
0:44.7	These are among the topics we deal with on the My History Can Beat Up Your Politics Podcast.
0:49.3	We tell stories of history that relate to today's news events.
0:54.0	Give a listen. My History Can Beat up your politics wherever you get podcasts. The Welcome, everyone to another episode of the Most Notorious podcast. I'm Eric Rivenis.
1:30.7	Great to have you here with me. And I am so pleased to introduce Andy McPhee to the podcast today.
1:39.3	He is a former critical care nurse, nurse educator, and an award-winning writer. He has authored four books
1:47.4	and hundreds of news articles for young adults. He has also overseen the publication of dozens
1:54.4	of educational healthcare textbooks. His brand new book, out on Januaryth is called The Doctors Riot of 1788, body snatching,
2:07.7	bloodletting, and anatomy. Welcome to the show. Thank you for coming on. My pleasure. Thank you very
2:15.3	much for having me, Eric. Sure.
2:18.0	So you start your book with an experience you had in an operating room,
2:24.1	with a man who had suffered from a motorcycle accident.
2:28.6	Can you tell us that story?
2:31.7	Yeah, I'd be happy to tell that story.
2:33.1	I was working my way through nursing school
	...

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