There are a few men in the history of medicine as evil as Dr. William Palmer.

A mid-19th century London physician, he was a degenerate gambler who would do just about anything to pay off his loans.

He forged checks in his mother's name,

defrauded life insurance companies,

and even murdered his brother, his wife, and his friends to collect money.

His typical routine was to invite them to dinner, only to lace their cocktail with

Strick9, earning him the title, The Prince of Poisoners.

Charles Dickens once called Palmer, quote, the greatest villain that ever stood in the old Bailey.

He was finally convicted and sentenced to hanging in 1856, and as the story goes, he

walked onto the gallows platform, tapped on the floorboards, looked at the news hanging

there and the trap door underneath him, and turning to the executioner, asked him,

Are you sure this thing's safe? Hi, I'm Joffer. I'm Margot, and I'm Tamar. Welcome back to At the Bedside, the segment of Quarayam, where we try to explore experiences and

ethical issues beyond traditional algorithms of evidence-based clinical care. In today's episode we're talking about

Gallo's humor in medicine. So Gallo's humor isn't just in the life of dying

physicians. It's something that I think actually speaks to the life that we bring to the profession, a kind of levity in the face of our daily heaviness.

Anyone being honest about their experience in the hospital will tell you.

Clinicians joke about dark stuff all the time. And not just death, but also

illness, stability, catastrophes, almost any form of human tragedy, really. And oftentimes

there comes with this little twinge of guilt or cringe.

Was it okay to say that?

And whenever you have to do that, ooh, is that okay moment?

There's a voice of conscience there,

...