9 - Uncertainty in Medicine: Off Script
The Nocturnists
Emily Silverman
4.8 • 614 Ratings
🗓️ 29 May 2025
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today, we explore the hidden layers of communication in medicine—what gets said, what doesn't, and how uncertainty lives not just in the clinical data, but in the space between people. From a telemedicine encounter with a stubbornly independent patient in the Santa Cruz mountains, to a deeply personal story of navigating breast cancer risk, and finally to the ICU, where one physician is trying to revolutionize how teams talk about the unknown, this episode invites listeners into the gray zones of uncertainty and the doctor-patient relationship.
Find show notes, transcripts, and more at thenocturnists.org, and subscribe to our substack.
The "Uncertainty in Medicine" series is generously funded by the ABIM Foundation, by the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, and the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation.
The Nocturnists is supported by The California Medical Association and donations from listeners like you.
Host: Emily Silverman, MD
Uncertainty Correspondent: Alexa Miller
Series Illustrations by Eleni Debo
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Are you scared or anxious about the state of bodily autonomy? |
| 0:07.0 | Do you want to get involved in the fight? |
| 0:09.0 | I'm Jenny Wetter and I host the podcast Reprose Fight Back. |
| 0:13.0 | Each episode, I interview a guest about a specific topic across a wide range of issues, |
| 0:19.0 | from abortion access to birth control, to LGBTQ rights, to abortion, |
| 0:24.6 | to gender-based violence, to Project 2025, and did I mention abortion? |
| 0:29.9 | We talk about what is happening around that topic and how you can get involved and fight back. |
| 0:35.2 | If that sounds like you're a jam, make sure to check out Repros Fight Back on your favorite |
| 0:39.9 | podcast platform. |
| 0:45.5 | Support for the Nocturnist comes from the California Medical Association. |
| 0:49.9 | At the Nocturnists, we are careful to ensure that all stories comply with healthcare privacy |
| 0:53.8 | laws. Details may have been careful to ensure that all stories comply with health care privacy laws. |
| 0:54.7 | Details may have been changed to ensure patient confidentiality. |
| 0:58.1 | All views expressed are those of the person speaking and not their employer. |
| 1:02.5 | The nurse transfers the call to me, and I find myself in a video call with a delightful 80-year-old |
| 1:10.2 | patient who's had a head injury. |
| 1:13.5 | This is the nocturness. Uncertainty in medicine. |
| 1:17.3 | I ask him, I say, what were the circumstances? |
| 1:20.4 | He says, well, Doc, I've got this wound on my head. |
| 1:23.1 | I got it working in my garden. |
| 1:24.7 | I kind of tipped over, fell forward in my head on a rock, and it bled a lot. |
| 1:29.9 | Can you just send a nurse here? I say, hold on a second. Have you looked at it? What does it look |
... |
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