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"So how'd that person die?"

In this episode of Causes or Cures, I’m joined by forensic pathologist Dr. Roger Byard, an internationally recognized expert who has spent decades investigating deaths that are rare, misunderstood, and often deeply unsettling.

We talk about what really happens at the edges of life and death, including:

• Fatal animal encounters involving kangaroos, roosters, cattle, and donkeys
• Whether pets truly consume their deceased owners, and what the evidence shows
• The real story behind the death of Rasputin and why the myths refuse to die
• Cannibalism, including its different forms and the true cases that shaped how we understand it
• Historical fears of being buried alive and the strange methods once used to confirm death
• The one case that has stayed with Dr. Byard long after the autopsy was finished

Dr. Byard is a repeat guest on Causes or Cures. The topic of his first episode was the forensic elements of killer selfies.

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You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.
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Topics include forensic pathology, unusual causes of death, animal attacks, Rasputin’s death, cannibalism case studies, and historical death practices.

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In this episode, Dr. Eeks talks with Joel Stanley, entrepreneur and biotech founder, about the long and often misunderstood road from plant based therapies to FDA approved medicines.

Joel shares the personal story behind building Charlotte’s Web, the company named after a young girl whose experience with severe epilepsy helped spark a global conversation about medical cannabis. He reflects on what it was like to grow a family run operation into a major force that reshaped public perception, while navigating science, regulation, and skepticism.

The conversation then turns to Joel’s current work at Ajna BioSciences, where he is pursuing FDA approval for botanical drugs, including a botanical-based drug being studied for autism, with trials to be conducted in 2 countries. Joel explains where this research currently sits in the regulatory process and why he has chosen the traditional drug approval route rather than supplements or wellness markets.

We also dig into the key differences between botanical drug development and conventional pharmaceutical development, from standardization challenges to clinical trial design, and why plant based medicines are often held to a different and sometimes contradictory standard.

Finally, Joel discusses his research into psychedelics, including psilocybin for depression, and why he believes these compounds represent more than a passing trend.

This episode is a grounded look at science, policy, and the tension between nature and modern medicine.

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You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.
Follow Eeks on Instagram here.

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Healthcare corruption doesn’t just happen in broken systems or far away countries.

It happens in hospitals with shiny floors.
In billion dollar healthcare industries.
In systems filled with rules, audits, and professionals sworn to protect patients.

It happens quietly. And it happens everywhere.

In this episode of Causes or Cures, Dr. Eeks speaks with Professor Graham Brooks, an international expert on healthcare corruption and criminal justice, to expose how fraud and corruption operate across healthcare systems around the world, from low resource settings to some of the most regulated and well funded systems on Earth.

Rather than treating corruption as something that belongs “elsewhere,” this conversation reveals the shared vulnerabilities that allow it to thrive in plain sight.

We explore:

• The hidden ways corruption shows up in both poor and wealthy healthcare systems
• Real world schemes that drained millions while patients paid the price
• How much money vanishes globally each year and why the true cost is likely far higher
• Why rules, oversight, and trained professionals often fail to stop exploitation
• How financial incentives and conflicts of interest quietly shape care and clinical decisions
• Where today’s biggest corruption hotspots exist, from billing to drug pricing to procurement
• Whether AI and data could help uncover fraud or create new risks of surveillance
• What patients and clinicians can do when the system itself feels rigged

This episode pulls back the curtain on a side of healthcare most people never see and shows why corruption isn’t a rare scandal. It’s a systemic threat hiding in plain sight.

About the Guest

Professor Graham Brooks is an international expert on corruption in healthcare and criminal justice. He has advised governments, law enforcement bodies, and international organizations on counter fraud and anti corruption efforts, and has been a keynote speaker at major conferences across Europe.

He has participated in United Kingdom Cabinet Office round table discussions on anti corruption, worked with the Royal United Services Institute on money laundering and online business risks, and currently serves as a member of the Group of Experts for the European Healthcare Fraud and Corruption Network.

Professor Brooks has published extensively with international collaborators and is the author of Healthcare Corruption: Causes, Costs, Consequences and Criminal Justice.

Work with me? Perhaps we are a good match.

You can contact Dr. Eeks at bloomingwellness.com.
Follow Eeks on Instagram here.

Follow Public Health is Weird

Or Facebook here.
Or X.
On Youtube.
Or TikTok.
SUBSCRIBE to her WEEKLY newsletter here!

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