Sexual harassment in medicine is almost universally perpetrated by men, and in over half of doctor-on-doctor cases, it happens in the workplace itself, not at a conference or a staff event. That is one of the findings from a decade of research by Dr Louise Stone, who began this work in 2014 after a young intern disclosed a sexual assault to her in consultation.

Dr Travis Brown speaks with Dr Louise Stone, a professor of general practice with expertise in doctors’ health, sexual safety and professionalism, about what her research uncovered.

Dr Stone identifies two distinct groups of perpetrators: persistent predators who choose careers with access to power, and a smaller group of senior doctors, often isolated by decades of on-call work, who form inappropriate attachments without the same pattern of repeat behaviour. She explains why junior doctors on rotating three-month terms are especially vulnerable, why specialties such as surgery, psychiatry and pathology carry disproportionate risk, and why zero tolerance policies tend to drive the problem underground rather than reduce it. She also sets out what she has found does help: peer intervention from someone at the same level of seniority as the person behaving badly, and giving survivors clarity on what they actually want from a reporting process, whether that is justice, protection of others, or simply healing.

What to listen for: The early warning signs Dr Stone flags for junior doctors and medical students, and why a colleague’s discomfort is worth naming rather than dismissing.

This is the story about sexual harassment in medicine.

Our Special Guest:

Dr Louise Stone is a professor of general practice, previous lead medical educator for GP training in Australia, and author of Sexual Harassment Between Doctors: Healing Medical Cultures Around the World, available from her website: https://www.drlouisestone.com

Listen:

This Medical Life podcast is available on all podcasting services, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and Spotify. Members of the RACGP are able to log the hours as CPD (Education) that they listen to the episodes under self record via Quick log. We invite you to help support us on our donation page.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1880, a French physician described a patient having up to 200 sleep attacks a day, some triggered by nothing more than a good hand of cards or the sight of his own wine barrels. That case, and an earlier 1877 description from German psychiatrist Carl Westphal, gave the condition its name and its first clinical picture. Dr Travis Brown reads from both original case reports before turning to two guests for where narcolepsy stands today.

Di Spillaine, an Australian narcolepsy advocate and lived experience educator, describes going almost 40 years undiagnosed, mistaking her symptoms (childhood hallucinations, cataplexy triggered by laughter, sleep paralysis) for ordinary tiredness until a multiple sleep latency test finally confirmed narcolepsy. Professor Robert Adams, a respiratory and sleep physician at Flinders Medical Centre and medical director of the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health, explains the underlying orexin deficiency behind narcolepsy type 1, how it differs from everyday tiredness and other sleep disorders, and the diagnostic pathway, including the Epworth Sleepiness Scale and multiple sleep latency testing.

What to listen for: the questions Professor Adams suggests a GP ask beyond “are you tired”, and why narcolepsy sits, in his words, at the end of the queue of likely causes but should still be considered in young patients with long-standing, profound sleepiness.

This is the story of narcolepsy.

Useful Link:

Epworth sleepiness scale: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/work-hour-training-for-nurses/02/epworth.pdf

Our Special Guests:

Di Spillaine is an Australian narcolepsy advocate, lived experience educator and creator of the podcast Waking Up Tired: Narcolepsy Symptoms Explained

Professor Robert Adams is a respiratory and sleep physician at Flinders Medical Centre and medical director of the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health at Flinders University

Listen:

This Medical Life podcast is available on all podcasting services, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and Spotify. Members of the RACGP are able to log the hours as CPD (Education) that they listen to the episodes under self record via Quick log. We invite you to help support us on our donation page.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One doctor’s case from 1901 changed how we understand memory loss. Auguste Deter was 51 when her husband Carl brought her to see Dr Alois Alzheimer in Frankfurt, worried by memory lapses that had turned into paranoia and confusion. When Auguste died five years later, Alzheimer examined her brain and found two things under the microscope: amyloid plaques between nerve cells and neurofibrillary tangles within them. His 1906 presentation to a room of psychiatrists drew no questions at all. It was not until 1910, when Emil Kraepelin included the case in his Handbook of Psychiatry, that the term Alzheimer’s disease appeared in print for the first time.

Dr Liam Mulcahy, physician trainee and author of Beyond the White Coat, traces that discovery in detail, then Dr Travis Brown turns to two guests for where the disease stands in 2026.

Dr Daniel Clarke, consultant neurologist at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and director of clinical trials at Alzheimer’s Research Australia, covers how Alzheimer’s actually presents (often nothing like the stereotype), why history remains the most important diagnostic tool, and why non-pharmacological measures such as exercise and vascular risk control come before medication. He also explains why family history is often overrated, and why he does not recommend routine APOE4 gene testing.

Dr Gemma Daley, consultant chemical pathologist at Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology, explains what the new p-tau181 and p-tau217 blood tests can and cannot tell a GP, who should and should not be referred for them, and why they are adjunctive tests rather than standalone diagnostic tools.

What to listen for: the presenting features that separate Alzheimer’s from ordinary age-related forgetfulness, and what a negative or positive p-tau result actually means for a patient in front of you.

This is the story of Alzheimer’s disease.

Useful links:

Dementia Australia: https://www.dementia.org.au/

Alzheimer’s Research Australia: https://alzheimersresearch.org.au/

Our Special Guests:

Dr Liam Mulcahy is a physician trainee with an interest in neurology and author of Beyond the White Coat

Dr Daniel Clarke is a consultant neurologist and director of clinical trials at Alzheimer’s Research Australia

Dr Gemma Daley is a consultant chemical pathologist at Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology

Listen:

This Medical Life podcast is available on all podcasting services, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and Spotify. Members of the RACGP are able to log the hours as CPD (Education) that they listen to the episodes under self record via Quick log. We invite you to help support us on our donation page.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.