Why you'll probably be misdiagnosed in your lifetime
Short Wave

Why you'll probably be misdiagnosed in your lifetime

B2Upper-intermediateSeptember 15, 202613 min
  • Interview
  • Health

Nearly every person will experience at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime. That means either a delayed diagnosis, a wrong diagnosis – or no diagnosis at all. That’s according to a report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine from 2015 on diagnostic error. Today on the show we talk to a physician who was personally affected by the crisis, and New York Times editor and author of the book The Elusive Body: Patients, Doctors and the Diagnosis Crisis. If you liked this episode, check out these other episodes: - How science is taking tripping mains...

Play episode

Opens the player: the full transcript, every word clickable, with translation and flashcards.

Try it: tap any word

Real sentences from the start of this episode. Every word is marked with its level.

Sentence 1 of 12 · 0:00

.

On This American Life, we tell stories about when things change.

Hear this sentence

Tap a word to see its meaning in your language.

Do you know these words?

8 harder words from this episode. Tap one to see what it means, then mark it.

  • B20:46
  • C13:35
  • B25:18
  • B26:36
  • B28:59
  • B211:07
  • C112:03
  • B214:09

Mark a few words and we'll tell you how this episode fits your level.

Is this episode right for you?

B2

B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 38%A2 37%B1 11%B2 11%C1 4%
  • 85% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 199 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
  • 67 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

Transcript

The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.

0:00

This is Ira Glass. On This American Life, we tell stories about when things change. Like for this guy David, his entire life took a sharp, unexpected and very unpleasant turn, and it did take me a while to realize it's basically

0:13

because the monkey pressed the button. That's right, because the monkey pressed the button. Surprising stories every week wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.

0:28

Hey, short waivers, Emily Kwong, back in the host chair for a day. I missed you all. Hi. So med school, it's all about learning the answers, so you can one day diagnose your

That was the opening. The rest of the episode (13 min) is in the player: every word clickable, with translation, saved words and flashcards.

Continue in the player

Automatically generated from the audio. May contain errors. Audio belongs to its publisher and is played from their feed. Rights holders can request removal — copyright & takedown policy