Transcript

Will: [00:00:00] Knock,

knock, knock. Hi,

welcome everybody. To Knock-knock High with the Glock Pluckings. I am Dr. Glock Fleck, and also known as Will Flannery. And I am 

Kristin: Lady Glock Fln, also known as Kristen Flannery. 

Will: And we have a wonderful episode for you today. Uh, but before we get to our guest, uh, who also happens to be a cardiologist. That’s right.

Uh, which is something that’s been in the news lately. By the time everyone’s hearing this, uh, we actually already know the outcome of, um, DeMar Hamlin, who is the safety on the Buffalo Bills, who a, a week ago, uh, recording this based on the date we’re recording this. Um, One week ago he collapsed on the field.

Mm-hmm. in the middle of the game [00:01:00] and had about, uh, nine minutes of CPR that was done. And we just found out today, one week later, that he is being discharged from the hospital, which is 

Dr. Rohin Francis: awesome. 

Kristin: Yeah. Yes. Pretty incredible. That’s, that’s pretty quick. It’s not as quick as you, so you, you have that going 

Will: for you?

Well, yeah. Thanks. It’s, you know, it’s, uh, silver linings, I suppose, , but No, it’s, it’s, it’s such a, you know, I was watching that game. I saw him collapse and, um, and it just kind of, in my mind I was like, this, you know, he may have had just a cardiac arrest because you mm-hmm. , you know, you, you hear, especially as a medical professionals, these types of stories always get out there and, and people are talking about a lot you, you hear about young athletes who have a sudden cardiac arrest and get cpr, get defibrillated and mm-hmm.

and, um, It was, it was hard to, it was something I’d been, I’ve been thinking about just off and on most of [00:02:00] the week. Um, 

Kristin: just cause it, because for those who may not know, um, yeah. We have a personal history with this. You had a cardiac arrest, I had a cardiac in your sleep in May of 2020, and I did 10 minutes of C P R on you mm-hmm.

uh, before paramedics arrived and shocked you and took you to the hospital and all that stuff. So this was obviously kind of a triggering event Yeah. In our 

Will: house. Yeah. But there was, there were two things about it that I found, I found there were, were, you know, overall positives and one is that. This, it started some conversations, uh, in, on, on social media because this is such a public event.

This is on national tv. Uh, they were talking about CPR on the national broadcast, and the first thing is, is people talking about the difference between heart attack and cardiac arrest. Mm-hmm. . And that is something that, as I’ve talked and we’ve both talked about, what happened to me, [00:03:00] there’s, there’s.

Misconception or just really just, um, uh, maybe just a lack of knowledge of the general public of understanding what a heart attack is and what a cardiac arrest 

Kristin: is, because they, I didn’t very different things. Didn’t know when it happened to you. Yeah. And they were, they were using these terms and I was like, wait, wait, wait.

You gotta back up. So is this a heart attack or you know, like it was, Unclear. Right. Um, I think, you know, how these things are portrayed in the popular media contributes to it. It’s all just sort of used interchangeably. Okay. But it’s actually very different. 

Will: And a heart attack is when you lose blood flow to the muscle of the heart, uh, that causes damage to the heart.

Uh, and that can lead to lots of other things that can lead to death. It can lead to a cardiac arrest, uh, among other things. I’m not a cardiologist, I’m not gonna speak too much about it, but, and 

Kristin: maybe that is, is part of what contributes to the confusion is that often a cardiac arrest might follow a heart attack.

Right. Um, and just from the casual observer, [00:04:00] you don’t necessarily notice the 

Will: difference between a cardiac arrest is. Where the heart stops pumping for, uh, there’s a lot of different reasons for it. And in, in the case of, uh, DeMar Hamlin, you know, we don’t totally know the cause of it, but we do know that he had a, an abnormal heart rhythm that that required.

A shock from a defibrillator. And so regardless of what the cause of his cardiac arrest was, uh, for me it was a ventricular fibrillation. Actually, we don’t know the underlying cause, but I had an abnormal rhythm that was shockable. And so, and, and that’s really, that’s what you hope to have. You want to, well, you hope to just not have, well, you hope to happen to not have a period, but if you have a cardiac arrest, the, one of the, the, the main factors of survival is, is getting chest compressions as quickly as possible, but also having access to a defibrillator and receiving that shock.

And, and sometimes you have a rhythm that’s not shockable and sometimes you do. [00:05:00] And, uh, um, it’s my understanding that DeMar Hamlin did have one and they were able to. A normal rhythm with cpr, with, with defibrillation, and uh, a week later he’s outta the hospital. It’s just awesome. Yeah, it’s pretty incredible.

It’s great. And then the other thing, um, that was talked about a lot was the mental health side of things. Yeah. 

Kristin: I was really encouraged that that was the direction of the national conversation around it. Um, or at least of, of part of the conversation, because I talk all the time about the fact that these major medical traumas that happen for patients, they don’t just happen to the patient, they happen to the families, to the loved ones, to the witnesses and the bystanders and the people that do cpr.

Those are all also very traumatic. Experiences to have, um, when someone close to you has a medical trauma or when you witness a medical trauma, especially when it’s something that, um, that is a really scary [00:06:00] looking one, um, like a cardiac arrest is that stays with you and that does affect mental health.

So I was really, really happy to hear all the discussion around, um, the. And the coaches and you know, everybody in the stadium. And, um, hopefully we’ll see, but hopefully that can help spark discussions about what can we do to support those people. Um, cuz it’s great to, to acknowledge that and be aware of it.

That’s the first step, but it doesn’t help much if we don’t then move on and, and do something to support them. So, um, so yeah, I was, I was obviously very sad for, um, dammar and his family, but I was very happy to hear that that was the direction that this all took, because I very easily could have just kind of swept it under the rug and gotten on with the game and, you know, that’s what we would’ve expected in the past.

So I was really pleased that that is not what happened. Yeah. 

Will: And so I’m worried, I’m just so thrilled, uh, that it, it looks like, um, you know, he’s, [00:07:00] he’s going to be o okay and still with us. And so, uh, anyway. Yeah, it was, it was, uh, that was something scary. Yeah, it was. It was. And so, uh, with that, now we’re, we’re gonna be talking today with, uh, Rohan Francis, uh, who is a cardiologist and, uh, medical YouTuber.

And I, I, I love his content. He’s, he’s really, so he’s a medlife Crisis, is his YouTube channel. Uh, and does just phenomenal videos combining, uh, um, a. A lot of education around a lot of different topics regarding to cardiology and other areas of medicine, uh, and also injecting some humor in there. And that’s one of my favorite things.

I love when people do that. Um, I love people show their senses of humor and, uh, make people laugh, especially in medicine is we need more of that. And so he provides a lot of that on social media. And so it was, it was great to talk with him. 

Kristin: And he is also from the UK so it’s kind of fun to be able to talk about the differences between the UK [00:08:00] and the US 

Will: systems.

Yes. We’re got get into that a little bit. So let’s, without further ado, let’s, 

Dr. Rohin Francis: I feel like, let’s 

Will: ado it. . God, that’s how we’re gonna start this. All right, here we go. Dr. Rohan Francis.

All right. We’re here with Rohan Francis, one of, uh, my personal favorite people that I see on YouTube from time to time. Thank you for joining us. Thank 

Dr. Rohin Francis: Well thank you for the invite. Um, I’m honored to be here. 

Will: You know, I actually, I, I will tell you that, um, I just, yesterday I watched your TEDx talk on, uh, that you just posted, I think, a few weeks ago.

And, um, and it was, it was really, it was wonderful. You did a great job and it almost made me want to exercise . 

Dr. Rohin Francis: Well, you know, if it got you close, then you can do a bit of, you know, placebo exercise, maybe . 

Kristin: That’s right. Vicarious 

Will: exercising. No, it was really good. Tell me how was that, that whole [00:09:00] process, uh, was, was that, um, was, was, there was a lot of, obviously probably a lot of work went, went into it on your end, but, uh, how long did that take to get that thing going?

Dr. Rohin Francis: Well, I mean, in terms of just calendar time, it actually took sort of over two years because it was pre pandemic that it was planned and so it kept getting delayed and delayed. But, um, the subject matter is, is something that I talk about quite often. So it wasn’t too challenging, but getting. My friend to have his heart scanned on stage and everything was a little bit of a technical challenge.

And I think you, I’ve never 

Will: seen something like that on a , on a TED Talk. That 

Dr. Rohin Francis: was great. Yeah. I wanted to try and offer something a bit new, but, um, I think you of all people will. , um, uh, appreciate or understand my, my pain cuz I got off stage and I realized I’d forgotten two jokes and, uh, there weren’t that many jokes in it, to be honest.

So, uh, that, that’s, that’s it’s taking the shine off. 

Will: Yeah. You know what, what really is awful is whenever like I post a video or a skit [00:10:00] and then someone in the comments chimes in with like a joke that’s just so good that I did not include and 

Dr. Rohin Francis: feel like for a future one. I mean, that’s what I do, . Oh, of 

Will: course.

Like you do that, it’s just, oh man, like how, why didn’t I think of that? It’s like, are people able to do this better than me? This is, what is this? It’s, 

Dr. Rohin Francis: it’s never a, you’re probably in the top 10% of funny people, right? So , 

Will: you know, it’s, I always tell people it’s um, you know, cause I, I do call myself a comedian, but there’s is a very clear distinction in my mind between like, You’re a person who is like straight standup comedy who just went through the ranks, going to open mics, you know, every night for years and years, uh, to, to hone their craft.

And then kind of what I do, uh, I won’t speak for you, but what I do, which is no same Yeah. Is, you know, inject comedy into this, this base of knowledge we already have in medicine. It, it kind of [00:11:00] feels like, uh, like cheating in a way, uh, to, to call myself a comedian, , 

Kristin: self-appointed 

Dr. Rohin Francis: comedian. Yeah. . Well is was it self-appointed or did somebody else start describing you like that first and then it’s kind of stuck cuz that’s how it’s happened to me.

Cuz I, I’ve always felt really uncomfortable with the label for exactly the same reasons, as you say, because all the standup nights I’ve done have been not, not medical, but they’ve been geeky, kind of sciencey themed and it. It’s a, it’s a really soft audience. You know, they’re gonna laugh at your nerdy jokes.

Um, I 

Kristin: think his first label was more like sixth grade troublemaker. I think that’s what other people have, have given him. 

Will: That was, that was a class clown to, to, to begin with. Um, 

Dr. Rohin Francis: well, so then, then the origin was the, the roots were there. 

Will: Did you, did you start doing comedy before you got into medicine? 

Dr. Rohin Francis: Um, no.

No. It was the first like proper standup gig I ever did was at medical school. Yeah. Um, but then I haven’t done too much that regularly, to be honest. It was more just kind of talks that I [00:12:00] do Yeah. For the job that I would then make funny. Um, so it wasn’t something I pursued until quite recently. 

Will: Tell me about that first, that what you did in, uh, in med.

That first time, you know, really trying to make an audience laugh on stage. Cuz I can tell you about mine and it wasn’t great. , 

Dr. Rohin Francis: I guess in retrospect, I’ve still got, actually got the recording. Um, oh, do you? Oh good. I find I tremendously difficult to watch, but, uh, all, all things considered it, it could have gone a lot worse.

It, it wasn’t, it wasn’t too bad, but it was just kind of funny stories from, you know, being a medical student and it was to medical students, so it was, it was pretty 

Will: easy there. They were primed for it. They were ready. Yeah. 

Dr. Rohin Francis: Yeah. But, uh, oh, I had plenty of, of complete bombs as well. So . Yeah, I was, 

Will: thankfully they weren’t filmed.

I would . Right. So was yours, you have an audio recording of it because I, I still have You have video? See, I, I don’t have, I have a of my very [00:13:00] first standup set somewhere. I, I think I know where they are. They’ll never see the light of day, but it was, um, it was in 2000. Probably 2004. Cause the year I graduated high school, and it was just, it was, I had like cassette tapes that was, I had like a cassette recorder, , uh, and um, I remember listening to it maybe like 10 years after the, the, the fact and, uh, it was, it was rough to listen to.

It’s, yeah. And, and it’s something I, I tell everybody, you know, uh, is, it’s just like a universal truth of anything in life. Yeah. But in particular in comedy and in medicine is the more you do it, the better you’re gonna get at it. Right. . And then, so, um, whenever I have people ask me for advice, like they, cause I’ll, I’ll get emails of people, Hey, I, I, I’m interested in comedy or doing standup, I’m in medicine, I’ll, and you know, they kind of wanna do some of this stuff.

I always tell them like, you just gotta. Jump in, you just gotta do it. You gotta write the jokes child by fire, and you gotta just try it. And either it’s gonna be funny or it’s [00:14:00] not. And you keep the stuff that works and you throw away the stuff that doesn’t and they never see the light of day. And uh, and that’s really the only way to, I think, to get better at, at comedy.

I, yeah, 

Dr. Rohin Francis: I mean, I think I’d say the same advice for sort of making videos and things that just, just go 

Will: for it. I love what you, so I, I, you know, I was, I was so thrilled to have you on because there’s not a whole lot of people out there I think, that are really trying to combine these two worlds. And what I, what I feel, and what I mean by that is medicine and comedy, but you, your take on it is, I’m so impressed by it because you really.

Do a great job of the educational aspect of it. And I think that’s, it’s really, um, uh, a, I think something that you’re doing that really not a lot of people do it to the extent that you are with your videos. First of all, the production value. Like, I look at your videos and then I look at mine , and it’s, it’s like, I’m like a [00:15:00] caveman, like trying to make these videos like with my elbows.

That’s what it feels like. So well done. On your production value, do you do all this? 

Dr. Rohin Francis: I do it all myself. Um, yeah, I, for the last, uh, few videos, I’ve, I’ve started to try and enlist and edit here, but I’m still doing most of the editing. I think I’m not very good at explaining. Um, but I can’t, I can’t let that, I mean, there’s a very kind compliment, but I can’t let it go without reciprocating because maybe not the production values in terms of the camera, 

Will: but the productivity, that’s part of my charm.

That’s part of my charm, I think. Exactly. 

Dr. Rohin Francis: It’s the TikTok, uh, aesthetic. Right. It’s authentic. Exactly. Um, but your cast of characters, you know, your, your, you’ve got whole, you know, it’s not just short form video anymore. You’ve got character arcs. You’ve got, uh, a plots and B plots, and it’s like this rich world now, which is just amazing.

Will: And how, how do you feel about my cardiologist, by the way? I’ve gotta ask you a good question. 

Dr. Rohin Francis: I mean, I can’t, you know, like the cardiologist, [00:16:00] nephrologist war is, is just, is just glorious. Um, and I can’t, um, criticize, you know, I’d, I’d love the cardiologist to be depicted as this kind of George Clooney Devi, um, heartthrob.

But, uh, but 

Kristin: you know, you gotta, I’ll do it if I could. We’re starting with this though, so that’s a tall 

Will: order. , you’re, you’re more George Clooney than I am, I’ll tell you that. No, no. 

Dr. Rohin Francis: But uh, but I can’t, I can’t, I can’t criticize any of the cardiology characteristics. They’re, they’re spot on. 

Will: Have you, have you personally ever had any, any confrontations with a nephrologist?

Dr. Rohin Francis: I, I get on fairly well with them. Uh, well, no, actually, um, we, I did have a bit of a, a run in, um, which is, which is odd. The nephrologist wanted to dialyze, uh, someone that I thought should just be allowed to, to die. Um, and intensive care had had, it was just, it was, it was, it was a complete inverse of the normal discussion when, um, uh, you know, we’d try and we have to convince Nephrologists sometimes [00:17:00] to, to give patients a spin.

So it was, it was the opposite. But that’s the only time otherwise I, uh, I think we’re, we’re very collegiate. It 

Will: didn’t come to blows at all though. 

Dr. Rohin Francis: No, no. I, I, uh, it’s, it’s not, not on that occasion. Um, but, uh, I, I have that time. I have prescribed, uh, a gram of Frusemide. What? Once? Um, a gram. A gram. And, uh, 

Will: even, even as an ophthalmologist, I know that’s a, that’s a fair amount 

Dr. Rohin Francis: with the nephrologist.

Bless. So, so that was like my, that was like, wow. See, we can, we can come together on, on something 

Will: related to that should be, I hope you wrote that case up because that’s, that’s reportable. That was the whole case. . 

Dr. Rohin Francis: That’s it. Nephrologist said I could, I did the end . 

Will: Um, well I also wanna talk about just social media in general.

Uh, so you, I guess you started on YouTube, right? This was kind of where, [00:18:00] as far as making content 

Dr. Rohin Francis: Twitter are probably, um, okay. Uh, I, I, I came to all of them quite late. I was, was not on Facebook or any of these things. And then in the UK we had, uh, it’s, it’s repeating itself now with, with our junior doctors at the moment.

A lot of political issues. And so back in 2015, 16, there was talk of, uh, doctors going on strike. And so I had to try and find out what was going on. I went to the kind of usual discussion for ’em, and it, and it seemed to be dead. And I sort of asked my friends, where’s. Where’s, where’s the new? Where do I get the news?

And it was all on Twitter and Facebook. So I joined with a very specific reason in mind, but then quickly saw that it could be be this really useful educational tool and mm-hmm. , then I discovered memes and I was like, right, there’s no stopping. Now it’s, uh, . And then I quickly got very bored of the politics, to be honest.

Will: Yeah. So you just focused on the, a lot of the educational aspect of things. I’ve actually, I’ve learned some cardiology from you, so I certainly, uh, appreciate the, [00:19:00] uh, I’ve learned zero taking the time. 

Dr. Rohin Francis: Ophthalmology from you, . 

Will: That’s, that’s okay. 

Dr. Rohin Francis: You know, you don’t, don’t, don’t sleep in the context. I know that much.

Will: Yep. There you go. You know what, if that’s, if that’s the only thing you can take away from, uh, the, the years I’ve spent, uh, on my craft in ophthalmology, that’s fine. Totally. That. And not, not using Visine. I hope you’ve gotten that too. Yes, I have. And, uh, , uh, how about. How long does it take you to put together?

Because, because your videos, they’re a lot, they’re quite a bit longer. Honestly, I can’t even imagine like making like a, you know, 10, 15, sometimes 20 minute video. Um, and so I’ve got two questions for you. How long would you say start to finish? Does it take you in the writing process, the editing, everything?

Uh, and then also how do you find your topics? Because that’s a question I get asked a lot. Yeah. 

Dr. Rohin Francis: Finding topics. I, I don’t find, uh, a challenge. I’ve got a list, which is over 200 [00:20:00] of ideas. So any, you know, I, I, anything I read or just stuff at work or whatever, I’ll just jot down an idea. So I’ve got no shortage of, of things to cover, but writing is the part of the process that I enjoy most.

And I, I really like, just, I think that’s the privilege of, of kind of being a bit of a generalist. Um, and why YouTube’s quite, um, quite fun is, is I can just each month, you know, find a new thing to get really into and, and then sort of research and, and write. So writing, I’ll do over the course of maybe a week or two.

And then, uh, shooting is the bit I hate and, and it’s, it’s most, I, I can’t stand it. Uh, uh, I hate every part of it. And, um, , uh, and it’s mostly just, you know, finding a uninterrupted hour or something. Um, and then the editing I’ll, I’ll just do in evenings over maybe another two weeks. So in, I, I, ideal world, I get one out once a month, but in reality it’s a bit less frequent [00:21:00] than that.

Will: Do you feel. One thing that I, I, that really bothers me about, about being so active in creating all this content is that I hate the feeling of, of having to put something out like that. You get that, or at least for me, you know, I get the, I get homework that, that, that, um, kind of, that gnawing feeling like, oh, it’s been a little while since I’ve posted something.

Everybody’s waiting on me to put content out. It’s like you, you have that, that bug in your brain that’s just kinda like, and, and, and it’s, that’s not a fun way to, I think, to have to go about social media, but I, I think it’s, it’s just part of being a content creator is that you have that, uh, that feeling like you need to put something out for your audience.

And, and, uh, I don’t know if you’ve ever felt that or that, that kind of a, 

Dr. Rohin Francis: I I don’t think I have actually. I, I’ve kind of said to myself that I’m doing this as a hobby and I, I want to enjoy it. So if I ever get to that point where I’m feeling sort of pressure, then I’m, I’m [00:22:00] not. Necessarily enjoying it.

And I think in my case, I, my videos can come out pretty infrequently, so there’s, people forget about me often the top comments are like, oh, you’re alive and, uh, you know, . So, um, I’m not, not too worried about that, but, uh, 

Will: good, that’s a healthy, healthy way to go about it. ? Yeah, I’m the neurotic one. Okay, good.

That we’ve established that. 

Dr. Rohin Francis: Go ahead. I mean, do you think your, is it the pressure of wanting to put, or, or is it also that you are craving that little hit of uh, oh, good question. You know, putting something out, getting all the, the comments and the likes mm-hmm. It’s because it is quite addictive, 

Will: right? I mean Oh, absolutely.

Yeah. No, it’s, uh, I think it’s a, it’s a combination of the two. Like, one of one of them is, there’s certainly, uh, certainly a part of it, especially with doing shorts and things that are like one to two minutes, sometimes three minutes long that, um, that. If you don’t keep doing it, the audience is gonna forget about you cuz social media moves so quickly and your [00:23:00] con my content is so short that it’s, it’s things kind of just come and go much more rapidly than it would be if I was doing more long form content.

And so I, I certainly feel that, um, that it’s, it’s kind of a, I think it’s just like an arrogant way of thinking on my behalf. Like, oh, all, you know, I have how many, like 800,000 subscribers on YouTube. All of them are waiting for me as if they have nothing better to do with their lives. , 

Kristin: I’m glad you said it, not me.

Cause I was thinking it 

Will: and uh, and so sometimes I do have to remind myself like, okay, these people, they’re, they’re. Looking at your videos, like when they’re on the toilet , you know, like, let’s not give yourself too much credit here. Like, this isn’t Nobel prize worthy work. Like, it’s okay if they wait a few days to see a video.

So there’s that part of it, and I really don’t like that. And that’s, that’s been something that’s come up as the plat my platform [00:24:00] has grown is like I, I’ve started feeling that more. Um, and then I think that’s a self-induced pressure. Oh yeah. It’s, it’s totally like, you know, my super tentorial kind of issues.

But, um, it’s, uh, but to your point, there is the dopamine hit, right? Mm. And. I don’t know about you, like for me, because of the, cuz of the shorts and I’m posting ’em on TikTok and YouTube, getting that immediate feedback, the immediate likes and comments and people telling you you’re funny and I love this, and oh, Jonathan, whatever, like that is, like, you get into it, it is a bit of a addicting and um, you know, there’s obviously, there’s actually studies that have looked at that and the different platforms.

Mm-hmm. and TikTok is the worst offender by the way. That’s, uh, by far the most addictive platform. Yeah. So you’re, you’re smart to stay away from it. By the way, I don’t know if you post on TikTok or not, but 

Dr. Rohin Francis: I, I’ve, I think I’ve made like 12 tos in like four years or something, but I find. It, it [00:25:00] kind of, I don’t, I don’t enjoy the experience of being on TikTok, so I don’t know, I just find it too frenetic and, um, just a, kind of a bit stressful, but, but this, this, yeah, I think short form, I think you’re absolutely right.

There is a big difference between, um, and I think. We’re all prone to this kind of spotlight effect that you think everybody’s waiting for you or watching what you’re doing. Nobody cares. Nobody’s, nobody’s thinking about you. Um, 

Kristin: don’t worry. He has me to keep him in check. 

Dr. Rohin Francis: Oh, yeah, I can see that. Don’t . 

Kristin: Um, I’m curious too, if this has the difference between you has something to do with yours, specialties, because I would imagine as a cardiologist you are much more important and busy than an ophthalmologist.

I thought you working for 

Dr. Rohin Francis: in a very different direction now, , I thought you were gonna say, oh, you know, you are, you are less patient or something like that. But no, you went, you went straight for the Jaguar. 

Kristin: You have real work to be doing. Let’s, 

Will: let’s All though she does it. Yeah. Straight for the, straight for the throat there.

Uh, yeah. It’s a good, [00:26:00] it’s a good point. You know, I’m not Bob, although I, I would, I tend to disagree. I mean, who’s to say what’s more important, the eyeballs or the, or the heart? I don’t, I don’t know. It’s, uh, It’s, it’s up for debate. That’s all I’m saying. It’s, uh, they’re both are I? 

Kristin: Perhaps this is why yours 

Will: stopped.

Oh, baby. Mm-hmm. , uh, what are your thoughts, ? 

Dr. Rohin Francis: Um, I did a video where I ranked all the organs and, uh, oh boy. I did a tear list of organs. Obviously, there’s no surprise where the heart went. I mean, yes. I’m, I was just a neutral right below the brain, right. A Judi? No, no. , uh, . No. Let’s not, let’s not go there. Liver subject.

I had the liver equal with the, with the heart. They’re, they’re the two best. No. Interesting. But I eyes were at, so not. The very top, but I appreciate it. I appreciate that. Yeah. 

Will: I eye is amazing. The liver got up there, huh? I mean, 

Dr. Rohin Francis: liver is, ama liver is incredible. I’m very under underrated. That’s fine.

[00:27:00] underrated. 

Kristin: Yeah. Whoa. Where was the 

Will: spleen? It’s got two circulations. I mean, it’s, 

Dr. Rohin Francis: it’s got spleen I think was d d tear. Okay. That’s 

Will: you agree on? I, I would absolutely agree with that. 

Dr. Rohin Francis: I think if you can leave live a pretty normal life without an organ, then it, it can’t really be that important’s. 

Will: Yeah, absolutely.

Did you knock the kidneys down a little bit? Just because there’s two of them and you could live that one. Let’s, that’s, 

Dr. Rohin Francis: that’s, that’s why the lungs got, Really good tips, but, uh, the kidneys, I, I do rate the kidneys very highly. Yeah. I, I, I, um, I’ve got a soft spot for kidneys, but, um, oh, don’t tell 

Kristin: the nephrologist you work with

Dr. Rohin Francis: That’s right. No, we, we’re all friends. We’re all friends. . 

Will: So, uh, whenever you do, you do a lot of speaking, I’ve noticed, right? You’re kind of going around and, and, oh, only, only 

Dr. Rohin Francis: recently I, I decided, like at the end of last year, I thought I’d start saying yes to these different invites and things. Mm-hmm. . Um, so I did a few sort of science festivals and the [00:28:00] TEDx thing and some corporate gigs, which I’ve never done before, which were kind of, um, 

Will: what are you thoughts?

What do you think about those? 

Dr. Rohin Francis: Yeah, I mean, they, they pay, they pay pretty well. That’s . They 

Will: pay, they pay pretty well. Yep. Yeah, that’s, 

Dr. Rohin Francis: that’s the first I was like, oh, okay. I didn’t realize people would get that kind of stuff. Um, but, uh, they were a bit weird, uh, because they’re not. , um, it was like a, a financial company that, that invited mm-hmm.

They were kind of trying to do a talks at Google style thing. They’re a big, like investment firm and, um, very science and maths driven. So I knew the audience would be super geeky, so I tried to make the talk kind of, um, a bit. It’s tailored for them and maybe a little bit challenging. And I, it, it was fine.

It went okay. Yeah. But it was a weird vibe. And, and I, and I thought, I’m not, I dunno if I want to do much of this, it’s, it feels a bit weird. I 

Will: feel this, I feel a very similar way when I, when I go outside of the medical community, [00:29:00] uh, you know, it’s, it’s like, it’s like our home base, right? When we’re speaking, it’s like we, we know how these people think.

We know what they’re all about. They also know what we’re about. And so much of, I found with public speaking is understanding where the audience is and, and what their expectations are for you. So like, I’ll give you an example. The first couple of, when I was first, the Glock Flecking thing was kind of taken off and, um, or actually it was, this was actually before it took off the first few speaking events I did, where I was speaking as Dr.

Glock Flecking, you know, Not a whole lot of people were really familiar with my work, and I was thrown in the, in the middle of a plenary session and asked to tell jokes and, uh, it didn’t go real well because people at conferences, medical conferences, they’re, they’re really not there. They’re not expecting some.

Weird looking guy who’s all arms and legs to, they never heard of, to go up there and, and just tell jokes, [00:30:00] uh, for 10 minutes in between talks about, you know, IDO psych and, you know, just cataracts. You know, so it’s, it’s just a very strange thing. And so what I learned is to, that really when you’re speaking at like medical conferences and medical groups like that, it’s combining the education and the comedy that’s like the key because medical audience, they, they wanna learn, they, they like, they love learning things.

So if you can kind of disguise the comedy as something that’s educational, you’re gonna get a lot further with those. A. And speaking 

Kristin: of learning things, I noticed something very interesting to me. I thought, and I think a lot of medical professionals will be able to relate to this on your Twitter feed, I think it was where you shared a note from your school that you had found.

Yeah, yeah. Do you wanna tell our listeners about that? Oh, that 

was 

Will: great. [00:31:00] 

Dr. Rohin Francis: Yeah, I’ve, I’ve discovered this school report from when I was seven years old, um, a little while ago. And, uh, uh, it, it was, it was kind of just language you would never associate with a school report today cuz it was just laying into me just saying that I’m , I’m basically likable.

That’s how it started, basically. Likable, yeah. . Um, that’s, that’s rough. That’s what my wife calls me. Um, and, uh, but, but I, you know, am disruptive. I, um, never, you know, focus. I’m, I’m naughty, I’m, and uh, all these kinds of things. And of course, you know, I think now with kind of neuro divergence being much more understood and, you know, you can recognize that was sort of atypical, kind of a d h D as a kid.

Um, but it, it’s just, uh, you know, it made me laugh a lot how, how they, they absolutely, uh, taught me, taught me to pieces, but, uh, that 

Kristin: was quite funny. Well, I, until very recently, I worked in gifted education for almost a decade. And [00:32:00] so I saw that at note and I immediately knew what was going on. And then it was followed by, um, a psychological assessment that your mother took you to, and you said you were, you were about seven.

Around this time. Seven. Right. And then the assessment was saying that you were testing at the levels of, you know, a 14, 15 year old. And so, you know, my thought was, well he’s probably very bored. Yeah. Of course. In that classroom, learning about the ABCs or whatever. So I think a lot of medical professionals kind of, not all of them of course, but, but I, I bet it’s a overrepresented population of you that maybe can relate to that story as children of just kind of wanting to, to get on with it and having to go so slow in the 

Will: classroom.

And then, and then we have, uh, we, you know, are, are kind of goof off in class. Yeah. And then we all become, turn into the class clowns. We all become medical comedians. See, 

Dr. Rohin Francis: that’s, that’s just Exactly, that’s the curve. Yeah. The origin story. . [00:33:00] 

Will: Um, so tell me, did you bring, did you bring any stories for us? Uh, from, I don’t know, anything.

I’m sure you got some, some interesting, uh, experiences and either, um, I. 

Dr. Rohin Francis: Yeah, I’ve, I’ve, I’ve got, uh, I’ve got a, some, I don’t know, like some are a bit more serious than others, but there, there’s, there’s one, uh, character who I always describe that I, i, uh, think is absolute. Um, I mean, that’s what, he is a complete character.

He’s hilarious. So this is my first surgical job. So I’m an intern and I, I started wanting to be a surgeon and initially I was gonna go, I went down the cardiothoracic route to begin with. And so I was r really sort of, you know, in, into this, uh, into this job. And they were colorectal surgeons and it was a big firm, that’s the term for sort of all, all the, the consultants.

And they were all kind of old school, um, minimum age of 50, all old white men. And it was that kind of old-fashioned [00:34:00] hierarchical, um, structure. And they worked us really, really hard. But every Friday they would buy us a massive fried breakfast, and they would refuse to do any work until we’d all sat down.

And when, once they saw how much I could put away, they were like, oh, this, this kid, he’s, he’s, he’s, he’s, he’s tip for surgical, uh, surgical glory. So I, I got on really well with him, but one of them, whose name I won’t say, but he was quite senior in the British Army. Um, we just called him the colonel, and he wore a pinstripe suit all the time.

Um, and had sort of a shock of silver hair for each eyebrow. Like just, you know, halfway up his forehead. It was just like caterpillars. And, um, and clearly thought he was still on the battlefield. So, you know, he would recommend sort of battlefield medicine and, um, uh, you know, then, and then the other consultants would come along and say, Ron, don’t, don’t do that.

Just, just give them some, say line, you [00:35:00] know. And, um, uh, there were, there are three stories that, uh, I like. Um, one was when we were sitting at our fried breakfast and, uh, one of the other consultants said, um, Uh, I hear you’re going to Hellman Province. This was, you know, uh, uh, Afghanistan. And, uh, he said, isn’t that, isn’t that awfully dangerous?

And he said, Humphrey, it’s what I do. And, uh, the, the on the other two are concerning patients. So they’re, they’re slightly more, uh, crazy. But, you know, in, in general surgery, you often get people who come in with abdominal pain. They have a whole bunch of tests and you can’t find anything wrong. So one woman had had a CT scan, colonoscopy, upper GI endoscopy, all kinds of things, and, and.

and, um, you know, not, and she was extremely anxious. She was just one of these people who was just positive that something terrible was going on and, and was, was really jumpy. And we said, well, you know, we’ve done all these tests and, and, um, she’s okay. Um, and then he said, splendid, [00:36:00] splendid, splendid. Well, you can go home.

And then she said, oh, I feel like I’ve wasted everybody’s time. And he said, nonsense. Nonsense. Turned away and then came back, strangled her around the neck and went off with her head. and then just walked off and, uh, what, what, uh, and, and so our job a lot of the time was just calming things down afterwards.

Like just dealing with , the aftermath, you know, patients in Yeah. And you had a sort of designated karma. Oh my goodness. But that, the worst one, uh, was when, um, the, the sort of, uh, resident and, and I had done an appendicectomy, um, on a young girl who’d come in sort of 20 years old. Uh, and she was fine. We didn’t, you know, we didn’t need any senior input.

In, in those days it was a bit different. And so two days later we’re presenting to the, to the boss and saying, this young woman had a appendicectomy uncomplicated. She’s ready to go. And he’s saying, oh, excellent. [00:37:00] Jolly good. Now you gotta bear in mind, this is a young woman with like about 20 men standing around her, and she’s like, just had an abdomen exam.

So she’s already feeling incredibly nervous and very uncomfortable. And then, you know, he turns away again and we’re like, oh. And then he, he, he, uh, said, you know, my name is up there on the wall above your bed, but, but I’ve never touched you once. And so she’s still there with her top, you know, with her abdomen.

Uh, reveal News went. And poked his fingers. My right, my God. Into her belly button, and just, and just walked off . 

Will: Did he He made that sound. 

Dr. Rohin Francis: Yeah, he made it blue raspberry. Yeah. He blew the raspberry. Yeah. Okay. , uh, an odd duck. Yes. Among other things. Yes. . 

Will: Oh my God. 

Dr. Rohin Francis: It was a different time. A 

Will: different, yeah.

What, what year are we talking here? 

Dr. Rohin Francis: 2008 or? Yeah. [00:38:00] 

Will: Different time. It’s not that long. . Uh, but one of the takeaways that I, I, I gather from, from those stories, uh, is that the, the measure of how effective someone will be in a surgical field is how much you can eat. Yes. Yeah. That’s, that was like a defining characteristic.

Dr. Rohin Francis: They would have long discussions with us about how they’ve had their gastric band loosened because they just weren’t enjoying life to the full, full anymore. And, uh, All the vascular surgeons would have the fry up and then go outside and, and have a smoke. They’re all cliches to a tea, so Oh 

Will: my gosh.

We’re talking These are fried breakfast. You said fried. What is a fried breakfast in actually like consist of 

Dr. Rohin Francis: bacon, fried egg sausages, baked beans, hash browns. The whole thing. And the whole thing. Yeah. 

Will: Well, that’ll keep you going during a 12 surgery as close. You have to just be, if that’s the one meal you have for a whole day, you need your stamina operating all day.

I guess you need it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, [00:39:00] so, uh, I, I can’t imagine what turned you off from surgery. , . 

Dr. Rohin Francis: Well, those, those, those were the, I Yes, you’re, you’re right. Basically, there are some very interesting characters in 

Will: surgery. How did you decide on, uh, so you decide, you, so cardiothoracic, you were kind interested in it.

You’re like, uh, maybe, uh, you know, the blowing raspberries in a patient’s belly is not, um, is not quite 

Dr. Rohin Francis: that, that was a colorectal surgeon. 

Will: Oh. Oh, that was, that was a color. Okay. All right. We don’t wanna, yeah, I 

Kristin: don’t wanna talk about cardiothoracic 

Dr. Rohin Francis: surgeons. Don’t worry. They’re not listening. . They’re too busy.

That’s the problem. That’s right. That’s program. 

Will: That’s right. That’s true. Hopefully they’re not putting this on in the middle of the operating room. Um, and so, uh, yeah, so you, but you were interested in Korney cardiothoracic surgery and then eventually decided, no, I’m gonna stick with the, yeah. Cardio was mostly 

Dr. Rohin Francis: not too surgery for kind of lifestyle reasons.

Um, and, you know, cardiology’s still busy, but, but Cardiothoracics really just [00:40:00] felt like all consuming kind of career. And also, um, it, it kind of felt like the direction of travel was. Cardiology was taking more work from cardiothoracic, you know, fewer bypasses, more stents and things that, that has to an extent maybe, um, plateaued.

But, uh, no, but I’m, I’m definitely pleased. 

Will: I think you ended up in the right place for you because you, and now you get to do all this, you get to explore all these other, you know, avenues and, and with comedy and medicine, 

Dr. Rohin Francis: I mean, I was gonna ask you actually, do, do you, like, has since the social media side of things taken off, have you left your hours unchanged?

Have you reduced how much clinical work you do or, because I would love to, yeah. I Are you 

Will: still, are you working five days a 

Dr. Rohin Francis: week? Yeah. Yeah. Full-time, but full-time. I don’t know if you, you have heard any of the kind of British news, but the, the, the health services fallen into pieces. So if I brought that up at work now, I think I’d, I’d [00:41:00] 

Kristin: someone went strangled.

Yeah, yeah. Say off 

Will: with your head. They would not take kindly to that. Well, I, you know, it’s, it’s, um, I. The only way I can do the things I’m doing outside of medicine. So even like this podcast making all the videos, the only way I can do it is because I have the work schedule I have. So I am an a, a part owner in the practice I’m in, in private practice, and I work four days a week.

So I’m very fortunate that I, I have that extra time that I could devote to outside interests. And, um, if I was in, if I was a cardiothoracic surgeon, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t have time to do all these types of things. And it’s just, it’s just what 

Dr. Rohin Francis: I’m saying. But then again, doc, Dr. Oz, you know, is in many ways a cardiothoracic comedian.

Um, 

Kristin: that’s, I wasn’t sure where that was way to go, but I like that. 

Dr. Rohin Francis: That’s true. That’s absolutely true. He was a, he was a legit surgeon. He really was. He was. Yeah. It’s, it’s, so, it’s so. [00:42:00] 

Will: And then, um, you never know where, what direction, uh, life is going to take you. I guess. Oprah comes calling and all of a sudden, that’s it.

You’re, uh, a cardiothoracic comedian, . Um, let’s take a quick break. All right? And then we’re gonna come back with, uh, Rohan Francis, and we’re gonna, uh, play a little game here in a second. So we’ll be right back. A big thank you to all of our listeners. This is a new show. Spread the love, share with everyone.

Leave a rating and review. Tell us what you think. Be honest. We want to hear from you later today. We’re gonna share some of your favorite medical stories. Share yours, knock, knock high@human-content.com. We also have a Patreon. Come hang out with other members of the Knock-knock high community. Hang out with us.

Yep, we’re over there. We’re there, we’re doing stuff. It’s, it’s great. We love it over there. Uh, and early episode access. Bonus episodes, including a whole monthly [00:43:00] show with Kristen and I where, I don’t know who else it would be, but, uh, uh, called the Monthly Eye Exam, uh, where we react to medical shows and movies and stuff.

We have a, a new monthly eye exam episode available now on Patreon. And this is, you tell us what we want to watch, what what we’re gonna react to, what 

Kristin: we’re gonna, yeah. We wanna hear from you guys of what you wanna see us watch. He’s, he’s let us a doctor. I’m not though. I’m very squeamish, so please be easy 

Will: on me.

The gross are the thing, the better in my opinion, and I’m sure Kristen would agree. All right. Sign up for Patreon, check it out.

All right. We are back, uh, with Dr. Francis here. And um, so we are going to do something, um, play a little game called US Healthcare Guests. The numbers. Oh, you’re, you know, one of our first guests from the UK and, uh, and so I thought this would be a good opportunity to just, well talk about some of the differences [00:44:00] between the, the medical, you already mentioned, the, the, uh, national health services a bit in shambles.

I’ll, I’ll be honest, I’m not real familiar with, uh, what things are happening over there. Um, can you give me like a two sentence summary? Uh, 

Dr. Rohin Francis: if you imagine a spectrum and the USA is at one end of just how to do things badly, um, we are doing things equally badly just in the complete opposite way. Oh, okay.

So, does that make any sense? Um, China, you know, your system is very much, uh, you know, priv privatized to the extent where money really rules everything and insurance companies have so much power, whereas ours is, uh, publicly funded, but funded in the worst possible way. So it’s, it’s just completely underfunded and Gotcha.

So it, it, it, you know, to make a serious point, it, it is frustrating how, uh, the discussion about your healthcare [00:45:00] service and ours tends to use the other one as an example of why things won’t work if we do it differently, but they ignore all the other countries where they have a much better health service than both of us.

You know, so there’s, you, you can’t, you can’t, there’s better options out there. 

Will: Exactly. Yeah. Ex yeah. Uh, totally with you. And so, uh, how, how familiar, I guess you’re, you’re, you seem fairly familiar with the way we do things here in the us. Uh, and so what I’m gonna do is just bring up a few. Points, a few statements, and I might ask you to pick, you know, higher or lower, more or less, or have you guessed a number, and then we’ll just kind of go through this, see how, how well you can do.

Now. I have no expectations of you because okay, that’s good. Live in this country. And so, um, uh, it’s, um, if you guess some of these correctly, I’ll, I’ll be shocked and very impressed by you, . Uh, all right. So we’re gonna start just, uh, with some basics here. First of all, are you familiar with, um, you’re familiar with like the, kind of the [00:46:00] basic structure of having health insurance in the US is having a premium and a, and a deductible.

Now, I find that a lot of people are kind of confused by the deductible aspect of things. Are you familiar with the deductibles and 

Dr. Rohin Francis: Yeah, I think that that’s what we’d call an excess. So you’ve got your okay, flat fee that you pay, and then if you have, that’s the premium. A claim. Yep, the premium. And then if you have a claim, you have to contribute a part of it.

Yes. 

Will: Yes. That’s, that’s, that’s kind of more or less, you know, what, what it is, there’s different terms for it because, you know, the health insurance companies wanna make it us, confusing us. Have ways of, of really trying to complicate They 

don’t, 

Dr. Rohin Francis: they don’t, yeah. They don’t want, you 

Kristin: understand. They 

Will: don’t want you figuring it out.

So the average premium, all right, per month for an individual. What do you think it is over here? Oh, actually 

Dr. Rohin Francis: I’ve never looked, I’ve never looked this up. Um, average, average premium. Everyone who, everyone who is insured, they’re, they’re 

Will: average. Mm-hmm. . Yep. What do you think they’re paying per month? Month?

Just to have a, a health insurance [00:47:00] card that they can check there. Um, doctor’s office, obviously 80. Do $80. Yeah. Um, it is $680. I, 

Dr. Rohin Francis: I think the sound cut out when I said 600. Six . 

Will: $680. Okay. So for the year, for an individual, about $7,900 for premium. Wow. For a family. For a family, $1,871 per month. Now this is based on, I think, 2021 data.

Uh, and so for a family, a family plan about $22,000 for the year. Quite a lot. Quite a lot. Yeah. That’s, that’s, that’s just getting your foot in the door for insurance. What, what’s the 

Dr. Rohin Francis: average, um, income in the, in the us Is it, is it, I think 

Kristin: median income’s somewhere like 45, 50. No. Median. 

Will: Median income is 70.

70,000. So really median. Yeah. Okay. Median income. And so, uh, it’s, it’s a [00:48:00] significant, having insurance is a significant percentage of the total income. Yeah, totally. And that’s, and that’s part of the problem, uh, because obviously this disproportionately affects lower income people, right? They’re paying much higher percentage, uh, of their, now there are some government programs.

We have Medicaid, we have, you know, uh, things that for people who are, uh, below a certain level of income that can, they can have to, to actually have insurance but not have to pay as much. But for a lot of people, they don’t qualify for that. And so they’re forced to go with private insurance. And so that’s where you’re getting those numbers for private insurance.

All right. That was a good start. You almost, you all, you again, the sound cut out, but you pretty, you essentially got it. All right. Are you familiar with prior authorizations? 

Dr. Rohin Francis: I mean, only via you. Okay. . 

Will: Well, that’s, that’s not good. So, and I ask you this first because I, I once gave a talk to a group of, um, Canadian physicians and I mentioned prior authorizations off the cuff, and I got [00:49:00] a lot of confused looks.

So this is, I think this is a more or less uniquely American thing, uh mm-hmm. . And basically for the, for people who aren’t aware, prior authorizations are when, uh, the insurance companies, uh, they say basically you send a claim, you’re like, I want this for my patient. And they say, no, you have to, to, we have to get some kind of documentation, some form, a phone call, peer-to-peer review, whatever, for us to be able to, uh, to approve that.

So basically it’s extra work, uh, to prove that you as the doctor are. Are ordering something that’s necessary. All right, so 

Kristin: purportedly for the patient’s 

Will: protection, right? And, and uhhuh and for, for controlling healthcare costs, right? There’s all kinds of reasons that these, these insurance companies, oh, in the end, what it comes down to is being able to delay payment as long as possible.

Because the longer you delay payment, the [00:50:00] longer you get to hold on to that money, right? As the insurance company, right? Yeah. Yeah. And so I think that’s, that’s ultimately what the purpose is. Um, it probably didn’t start out that way because there are ways that, or reasons I would say that maybe prior authorization could be necessary, but not to the extent that it is now.

Um, and so here comes, now here’s, here’s my statement here. What do you think is the average number of prior authorizations performed by a physician in the US per week? This is in 2022. So, so 

Dr. Rohin Francis: this is how often a physician will have to have to ask permission to 

Will: do something mm-hmm. Yes. Before they do it, um, 

Dr. Rohin Francis: let’s say per week, I mean, let’s say two, two a day.

So like 10. Okay. 

Will: 40. 40 prior authorizations per week. Wow. And what you would find is that medical [00:51:00] offices actually will hire people. If they can, they will hire people just to do this. And it’s a surprise, huge administrative burden. It’s, it’s, it’s crazy. And, uh, uh, and it also, you know, it, it falls on pretty much every part of medicine as well.

And so it’s a, that’s a big problem. So 40 40, that’s from a survey by the ama, uh, in 2022. Okay. What is the average number of interns that cardiologists made cry in 2022. 

Dr. Rohin Francis: What do you think? All of them, every single one that rotated through, if they their 

Will: song, yes, correct. You got it. You got it right. The answer is all of them

Dr. Rohin Francis: Yes. You can’t call yourself a cardiologist if you, if you don’t make the intense cry 

Kristin: straight from the horse’s 

Will: mouth. That’s right. All right. All right. I just had to throw that one in there. Okay. What is the percentage of people in the US that have medical debt right now? What do you think? Percentage of people in the US with medical debt, if you had to 

Dr. Rohin Francis: guess.

Okay. I think I’ve been low balling [00:52:00] everything, haven’t I? So let’s, let’s . Um, it’s okay. 30, 30%. 

Will: Thank God you’re way too high. Uh, it’s 17%. Okay. So 17% of people, uh, right now have medical debt and the average is $2,400. I’m honestly 

Kristin: surprised that those numbers are not a little higher. I would’ve guessed they were higher too.

Will: I tried my best to find accurate information. I’m not doubting you. I’m just saying that’s if it’s wrong, please, if you’re listen, listening this and I’m way off, let me know. But these are the numbers that I read for 2021. I think that one was about 17% of people with medical debt. I mean, there’s all kinds of debt, but medical debt.

Sure. And, uh, and that’s a lot. $2,400 per Okay. But 

Dr. Rohin Francis: is that the biggest cause of debt in the us? 

Kristin: Ooh, good question. Student loan debt, um, I doubt is a big one. Is it? But yeah, medical debt might be bigger because everyone eventually needs Yeah. Medical 

Will: care. 17%, that’s like one in, I mean, one in five people have medical care.

Yeah. And [00:53:00] that, that probably also that number and would include I am assuming like children too. So if you’re Yeah. If you’re, you know, separating out into, you know, um, into a family generation, older, older people, then you probably get a much higher percentage. Mm-hmm. . Um, okay. During calls with Blue Cross Blue Shield customer service, so Blue Cross Blue Shield is a, one of our big insurance companies during calls with Blue Cross Blue Shield customer service.

What is the average amount of time that passes before somebody says an expletive?

Dr. Rohin Francis: Um, One minute. 

Will: Oh, close. Very good. So the answer is 56 minutes, but that includes hold time, which is 55 minutes . So you got it. It’s right. One minute. You’re, you’re crushing this my friend . Um, well done. Okay, I’ve got just a couple more here. In the last 10 years, how much money have private equity firms? [00:54:00] So first of all, let me, uh, so are you familiar with the private equity thing that’s happening here?

So basically over the last 10, really 20 years, um, there’s been a, a, a lot of of money from private equity firms. So there are these, you know, I I, I’m not gonna pretend like I know a lot about private equity firms, but they’re like these financial firms that just have a lot of investors and they, they raise all this money and they invest in different things.

There’s been a huge push over the last decade to buy up medical practices. And hospitals and basically just getting into the medical, um, uh, field. Uh, which is not a good thing. I mean, we’re talking, these are, these are the most for-profit types of ventures that are now kind of buying hospitals, which, uh, is, um, uh, you know, with all kinds of potential issues.

Mm-hmm. . Uh, so in the last 10 years, how much money have private equity firms spent on healthcare acquisitions? 

Dr. Rohin Francis: What do [00:55:00] you think? Are we, are we talking over a billion? Oh, yes. Oh yes. Oh yes. I mean, I don’t know, a hundred billion. 

Will: A shade under 1 trillion. What? A shade under 1 trillion has been spent on healthcare acquisitions, uh, since 2010.

And so that comes out to 11% of nursing homes nationwide are owned by private equity. Astonishing, uh, 4% of hospitals at this point. That’s from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. So 11% of nursing homes, 4% of hospitals nationwide owned by private equity. So you got these financial guys that are, that are running things.

It’s uh, they just, yeah, they’re 

Dr. Rohin Francis: gonna prioritize 

Will: profit, I guess. Yeah. And then my last, my last question for you. Okay. What was my blood pressure? At my most recent checkup with my doctor ? 

Kristin: Can you tell just 

Will: by looking at him off the top of a , [00:56:00] what was my blood pressure at my most 

Kristin: ophthalmologist? 

Will: What do you think?

You, you have to guess. You have 

Dr. Rohin Francis: to guess. 1, 6, 5 systolic . 

Will: Wow. Man. He really doesn’t think much of my ability to con to, to, 

Kristin: he did say you almost exercised at the beginning about this. 

Will: Okay. First, the, and the only reason I’m asking you this is because, because it was a stress median. It was one 19 over 71.

Okay. . Well, can’t you 

Dr. Rohin Francis: just, it’s meant to be 

Will: a humble Craig Cat. Really? Yes, exactly. Uh, hi. You’re practicing 

Dr. Rohin Francis: your mindfulness. 

Will: I’m the epitome of. And yes, I say that knowing that I had a cardiac arrest three years ago. Okay. But otherwise, yes, I am Thea, epitome of health. You can’t even get it out of your mouth’s a’s a, here we go.

I have a note from one of our producers. Home mortgage debt is the largest debt in the us. Makes sense. There you go. That makes, that makes, I didn’t even think about that. [00:57:00] All right. 

Dr. Rohin Francis: That’s, I’d put that in a slightly different category though. I think 

Will: it is a little bit, uh, I feel like a little bit different.

It’s an 

Kristin: investment as well. Still debt 

Will: it, you know, anyway. Um, Yeah. One night. Are you? That’s good. Good blood. You, are you proud of me? I just wanted, that’s good. I just want everyone to know it’s, I am, I’m very healthy. I’m doing, I’m doing great. I’m doing great. , what was your last blood pressure? Yeah, I’m sure you check your own.

You probably check your own. Oh, do you have one at home? Ju vein 

Kristin: check it every morning 

Dr. Rohin Francis: and Yeah, every morning with my, my JVP time. Yeah, exactly. . . Just . You got a good A waves. That, that was, that was the, that was the fiesta resistance in that skit. That was just so good. . All 

Will: right. Awesome. Uh, well, um, do you have any projects going on?

Like where do, where can people find you? What are, tell us what you’re doing. What 

Dr. Rohin Francis: am I doing? I, I, these days I’ve mostly just being, uh, uh, I’ve moved out of London, um, uh, in the last year or so, so I’m, I’m settling [00:58:00] into more quieter life, growing vegetables, barbecuing and all the kind of middle-aged dad stuff, doing lots of DIY , but that’s awesome.

Uh, I don’t want people to find me doing those things. So if people, so if, if, if people want to find me, then, uh, yeah, YouTube’s my main kind of hangout. I’m spending less time on, um, Twitter these days. Uh, I think that’s, that’s, uh, a lot of people are feeling that, not necessarily in reaction to anything specific.

I just feel like I get more satisfaction from making stuff on YouTube. Um, and I’ve got a few exciting projects. I’m, I’m looking forward to this year. Um, so, uh, I’m trying to push that production value. Even higher. Good to, um, to try and try and, uh, leave. Maybe you can give him some 

Kristin: tips. 

Dr. Rohin Francis: I 

Will: could learn a bit 

Dr. Rohin Francis: from you.

Well, he doesn’t need any tips. Are you at a million yet on YouTube? I, not yet. Half a million? 

Will: Not yet. It’s about 800, 850, 800 

Dr. Rohin Francis: 50,000, something like that. Oh, 850. [00:59:00] 

Will: It’s, it’s good. It’s, I’m, I’m, I’m happy. I mean, I think it’s, it’s easier whenever you’re doing shorts, like the, what I’ve found is that the YouTube shorts, cause you know, they, they just unrolled the YouTube shorts, which are 

Dr. Rohin Francis: gonna be monetized 

Will: from April.

They are, they’re gonna be monetized. Um, they’re, it’s easier to, to build up a subscriber base if you’re doing a lot of shorter videos. And so, uh, you know, I I, I just don’t want you to feel bad about your 500,000. That’s you to say. That’s quite, that’s, that’s a huge accomplishment. Uh, but really, honestly, everyone should check out Rohan.

Uh, uh, what, what’s the handle? It’s medlife, uh, crisis Medlife. Crisis Medlife Crisis on YouTube. See, there’s a good medical pun. I love it. I, that’s, no, you hate punts. Well, no, that’s fine. Yeah, I don’t like one. That’s a really good one. Like saying puns, I’m not like a, like, think of puns off the top of my head kind of guy.

But I love a good pun. I’d please. My name is Dr. Glock Flecking. I’d, I can’t be criticizing anybody’s name at this point. Uh, but, you know, check out medlife Crisis on YouTube. Uh, great [01:00:00] videos, keep up the awesome work manage. It’s really, um, I’m impressed with, with what you’re doing and all the educational aspects and the comedy.

I love the rye, the, the, the kind of the very dry sense of humor. It’s great. Uh, so keep up the great work, man. 

Dr. Rohin Francis: Well, thanks so much. It’s been a real privilege, uh, to talk to you both and, uh, yeah, it’s great to, to sort of, uh, yeah. After, after chatting a little online to to, to talk face to face. Yes, that’s right.

As close, close as we. 

Will: That’s right. Well, thanks again and, uh, we will be back in a few minutes with your, um, a few minutes. What am I talking about? It was like right after this. Yeah, it’s like a few minutes. So quick. One minute, two minute. I don’t know. We’ll be back with your listener stories. All right.

Thanks, Dr. Francis. Bye.

All right. Let’s take a look at some of our favorite medical stories sent in by you. The listeners got a couple, uh, pretty funny ones today. Okay. All right. Let’s hear it. I didn’t say we got a couple good ones cuz I always say we got a couple good ones. [01:01:00] Yeah, well they are always good. I need to start saying something different.

I gotta like, like mix thing up. It’s hard to be smart. Okay. All right. Uh, so our first one, anonymous. This is, they’re both anonymous today. Uh, so I was a fairly stupid teenager, or weren’t we all? Yeah. And I was very heavily influenced by video games, . Okay. When I was 14, I poorly welded some scrap metal together and made a not so nice sword.

I was thrilled. Oh boy. You know where this is going? I was throwing it into the air, like the vic What, why, like, the victory of my favorite game at the time. Okay. And something made a sound distracting me a little. I caught it, but a little further up. Than the handle. I could see bone and some connective tissues.

Ah, . So it absolutely required stitches, . We got to the ER and we told the nurse that I got sliced on some sheet metal in the shop. . 

Kristin: Well, I’m not 

Will: entirely [01:02:00] wrong. A little white lie. It’s okay. The doctor said, all right, level with me. What really happened, , I love it. Doctors know. And I told him the full story.

He said, it’s not as bad as a patient I had years ago. Didn’t have a good mall. So he threw the logs against a tree and wouldn’t you know it. Murphy’s Law took effect and sent one of the logs right back at him. 13 stitches. to the forehead. Oh my gosh. Made me feel a little bit better. But I knew I was still dumb.

Kristin: I have a story that’s very, there’s similar 

Will: to that, there’s, there’s always someone that did something dumber. That’s, that’s, yeah. I always remember that. If you think you did something dumb is always something that happened that was a little bit dumber. That’s 

Kristin: right. Yeah. I was, I, when I was a gymnast back in the day, I, um, accidentally kicked myself in the face once and gave myself a black eye with my foot

Will: That doesn’t surprise me. Cause that was embarrassing to explain. You’re an extremely clumsy person. It’s true. So it’s, uh, I’m just, you [01:03:00] know, I don’t, I’m glad you haven’t done it since. Yeah. Just the one time. Okay. Uh, well, once, once is enough. All right. Our second story. Uh, so far, comes from, uh, an anonymous listener.

Hi there. My story happened a few years back. Somehow I got infected with bacteria called staphylococcus aureus. So when you hear like, Mesa doesn’t sound good, like Mesa is Staph aureus. Mm-hmm. Hmm. . I had very painful pimples in certain areas, like on my thighs and unfortunately around my intimate area. So I went to the doctor and they helped with the situation around my thighs.

I didn’t know how to ask them to help with the pimples elsewhere. Eventually I mumbled something about it and they checked and there was. No pimples, nothing totally normal. Both male nurses were looking at each other in silence. Basically. I came across as a quotes pervert female trying to get some weird action[01:04:00] 

I promised you that is, that was not a big deal to your medical team. All right. There’s, that’s just something, I mean, I feel 

Kristin: like that’s when you call, like, you know, the professional for help and then by the time they get there, it’s like the problem just magically resolved. Oh, it happens all 

Will: the time.

Yeah. Like I, I mean fortunately, I, I don’t like look in that area of the body. I don’t think anybody wants an ophthalmologist. That’d be weird. Mm-hmm. . But it does happen with eyeballs. Like people will say, oh, they’re having these symptoms. You finally, you get the appointment, you come in and it’s gone.

Mm-hmm. . Yeah. And then you go home and boom, it’s back. So trust me, no matter what kind of thing you think you have anywhere on your body, We don’t care. We’ll, we’ll help you. We’ll check it out. We’ll see. I mean, I say we as like medical professionals as a whole, uh, not your eye doctor. Um, but, uh, yeah, so don’t worry about that anonymous.

Send us your stories at knock knock high human content.com. We’d love to hear ’em. We’d love, I love reading through these stories every week. This is so good. This is great.[01:05:00] 

That’s it for our show. We had a, um, an awesome guest, Dr. Rohan Francis Medlife, crisis on YouTube. I’ve been wanting to talk with him for a while because I, I, I just, I love people who are trying to bring comedy into the medical field and a such a good job of, of really the writing of his videos. Mm-hmm.

I’m really impressed with. It’s, it, it all flows. It’s, it’s very, Great dry sense of humor. You 

Kristin: guys are kindred spirits. Yeah. Yeah. Except he’s better at communicating. 

Will: Uh, is he is a and and that’s why uh, I think he’s better at the educational aspect than me, for sure. Um, and, and so I, I always, I try to encourage, like I, we, we need more people more.

Cuz there’s a lot, a lot of, you’re very funny. I, I’ve read, I’ve read, I’ve read your comments on social media. Like you guys routinely make me laugh, uh, especially like on the, the YouTube comments. And so, um, uh, we need more people in medicine telling jokes [01:06:00] and, and showing that side of themselves. So I love it.

Yeah, I think it’s great. And we got to talk about, uh, our wonderful health, uh, systems. Mm-hmm. , US healthcare and, and the UK as well. And, uh, that’s always a trip. Now, I, I can tell, I know that I, I pulled a lot of those stats today. Uh, from what I, what I, I tried to find the most reputable sources, but if I got anything wrong, please, like, let me know.

Uh, and I will, uh, issue a correction. The point is, everything’s very expensive here. . That’s, that’s really the point. Expensive. And so time consuming and, and it’s, uh, it’s just, it’s just bad. The one thing I didn’t get to mm-hmm. , which I, I, I always wanna say real quick, because I was very proud of this, I didn’t get to this one.

Um, I was gonna ask him, which of these is higher, so I’m gonna ask you. Okay. Which of these is higher? The United Healthcare? Fourth quarter revenue? 

Kristin: Fourth quarter. Fourth. Fourth. Just fourth quarter, 

Will: 2022. Or [01:07:00] the revenue for Google in all of 2022. 

Kristin: Ooh. Well, I am a very good test taker, and so I know that because you phrased it that way, that the fourth quarter revenue is gonna be higher.

I tricked you. 

Will: No, that’s not, 

Kristin: I’m not a good 

Will: test taker. Yeah. Y’all, you know, talk. You better, you better find out if you got the right answer for you. Talking up your test taking skills. It’s close though. Uh, UnitedHealthcare fourth quarter revenue in 2022 was 62 billion. Mm-hmm. , that’s billion with a B.

Fourth quarter UnitedHealthcare, 62 billion. Okay. Google all of 2260 9 billion. 

Kristin: Okay. See the point still stands . Okay. The reasoning 

Will: was solid UnitedHealthcare’s, uh, revenue for all of 20 22, 320 4 billion. That is just 

Kristin: stupid. It’s a lot of money. Who needs of money? Who needs that much money? 

Will: Um, I guess they do.

I don’t know. Um, anyway, let’s, I just wanna get that [01:08:00] little last little tidbit. You know, anytime I, any chance I get to kind of throw a little barb in there to UnitedHealthcare, I love to do it. Um, there’s lots of ways to reach out to us. We want to hear your stories. Tell us what you think. Uh, you can email us, knock dot high human content.com.

We’re on social media. Uh, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter. Uh, you can also hang out with us in our human podcast, human Content, our human podcast, our Human Content podcast family on Instagram and TikTok at Human Content Pods. Thank you to all the great listeners leaving wonderful feedback. Thank you for the reviews.

If you subscribe and comment on your favorite podcasting app or on YouTube, we can give you a shout out. All right, so we have Alice w on Patreon said superb first episode. It was the most enjoyable to hear from Dr. S. And the hiking trip was hilarious. Mm-hmm. 

Kristin: was, yeah. Have you recovered from that by the way?

We did adventure diagnosis. Did all 

Will: of your rashes go away? All my rashes are now gone. Okay. Good. Fortunate, all the, at least the ones that you would normally be able to see. [01:09:00] Uh, YouTube. We are releasing episodes every week on my YouTube channel at d Glock Flecking. Uh, also we’re on Patreon. Lots of cool perks on our Patreon bonus episodes where we react to medical shows and movies.

We have a community there. We’re building a community. Yeah. Active. It’s a actively building. We have a community. Uh, come join us. Come join and help us build it a minute. Uh, you get early ad free episode access, interactive q and a livestream events, a lot more coming. Uh, patreon.com/glock flein, or go to glock flein.com.

Speaking of Patreon, community Perks, we have, uh, new members. Let’s shout out the new members. Lori, April s Eleanor F Sachs. Daddy. Ooh, sax Daddy is here. Alyssa L Thank you all. Uh, and also shout out to, of course, the Jonathans out there, uh, big, uh, silent, uh, head nod to all of you. Patrick Lucia. C. Joy in Sharon, s Omer, Edward, [01:10:00] K Abby, H Steven G Robox.

Jonathan F Marian. W W Mr. Granddaddy Caitlin, C Brianna, L Thank you all and Patreon Roulette. That’s my roulette sound. Oh, okay. Is it, is that it? That was terrible. I, I, I just did that off the cuff. I didn’t plan that. Shout out to Leah. S. Leah s for being a Patreon. Thanks to all of you. Appreciate it. Thanks for listening.

We’re your hosts Will and Kristen Flannery, aka the Glock Flecks. Special thanks to our guest, Dr. Rohan Francis. Our executive producers are Will Flannery, Kristin Flannery, Aron Korney, Rob Goldman, and Ashanti Brooke. Our editor and engineer is uh, Jason Porto. Our music is by Omer Ben-Zvi. To learn about our Knock-Knock highs program, disclaimer and ethics policy submission verification, licensing terms, and HIPAA release terms, you can go to doc glam flecking.com or reach out to us.

Knock-knock high@human-content.com with any questions, concerns, or if you have to fund medical puns. [01:11:00] Knock, knock high is a human content production. Knock,

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