Every year, the pharmaceutical industry spends over 20 billion dollars on charming doctors. They do so with seemingly innocuous gifts —free food and beverages, drug samples, offering payments for speeches and hosting disease “education” sessions. How much are doctors really affected by this legal bribery? Today, I am joined by Dr. Paul Lichter, who studies ethics and medical professionalism surrounding the physician-industry relationship.

From 1946 to 1948, the U.S. Public Health Service conducted STD experiments in Guatemala on several vulnerable populations — including prisoners, soldiers, and psychiatric patients — without their consent. The truth of this study was not uncovered until 2010. How did this happen? Today, I am joined by Dr. Kayte Spector-Bagdady, who was the associate director of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues under President Obama.

Coming Tuesday, October 6, Limboland is a new podcast that dives into the uncomfortable, murky, and sometimes ambiguous parts of medicine.