My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark - 349 - A Bit of Stew

Episode Date: October 20, 2022

This week, Georgia tells Karen about Dr. Max Jacobson, aka “Dr. Feelgood,” and his lethal vitamin shots.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is exactly right. We at Wondery live, breathe, and downright obsess over true crime. And now we're launching the ultimate true crime fan experience, Exhibit C. Join now by following Wondery, Exhibit C, on Facebook and listen to true crime on Wondery and Amazon Music. Exhibit C, it's truly criminal. Hello. Your arm went down, but you didn't do, you didn't start talking.

I know, I waited a beat, I don't know why. You gave me a cue. I did. A roll off, like in cheerleading. And yet somehow I think we were perfectly in sync. That's how good we are at this, at this point. I really agree. And welcome to my favorite murder.

That's Georgia Heartstar. That's Karen Kilgara. How's it going? Hey, it's all right. World Mental Health Day is this week. So I'm checking in with my World Mental Health. Nice. I just sleep through that whole day, just as a celebration.

One of the best things you can do for yourself is get a bunch of sleep. Absolutely. And water. So good for your brain. Some water, vitamins, throw maybe some vitamin E in there. Yeah, a D, a B12. Let's just get them all in there. Get some, do magnesium.

Oh. Have you ever accidentally taken too much magnesium? No, it happens. Just fucking shit your brains out. Like a baby, like a newborn baby. I didn't know, and this, I can't, I think I thought it said take two, but I was looking at, I was taking multiple bottles of vitamins. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I was assuming that one meant two, and this one also was two, when in fact it was one big one. Wow. I'm just saying if you want a new start. It's scary how easy it is to, if you want a new start, a new day. Yeah, you just want to refresh. Yeah. All right.

I'm in. I'm going to do it all for you. All right. It's also actually, it's also Indigenous Peoples Day. Yeah. In America here, which is great. That's right. That's great.

There was, I was looking at a map of that basically people are posting and saying anyone that talks about immigrants coming here, like trying to quote unquote steal our land. And it's like, here's the actual map of the United States. And it's just all the different tribes across the United States. Yeah. Who was your first fellas? For real.

Let's get this straight. Let's get it right. For once. What's going on with you? How are you? I'm good. I actually did some socializing this weekend, which talk about World Mental Health Day.

Yeah. Really makes a difference just seeing people you know and like. Yeah. Yeah. That sounds terrifying right now. It's, it's not easy. I will say that there was a lot of, here's what I love. There's definitely, when I did it last night, actually a small gathering,

the people that I saw were all the kind of people that I could talk about how weird it is when you're not good at socializing anymore. Yeah. Which is a fun thing to discuss. Yeah. It's a good topic to have a conversation about. I was, I went to CatCon to do the percast. I was Stephen Ray Morris and Sarah's guest.

Stephen Ray Morris. And I was on stage for the first time. That was new for me since you and I have toured. And I kept cursing on accident and there were children there. It's CatCon. It's not like it's a fucking PG-13 event. And I was, I apologized and was like, I haven't been this in public in so long.

I was sweating and cursing. It was so embarrassing. Sorry, Stephen. No, it was so much fun. It felt good to be, be out there again. Stephen, did you curse? I think I did. I think I did you say a fuck at one point.

Okay. Yeah. In solidarity. Thank you. That's very nice. That's, that's the good kind of support where it's just like, what, we're all doing it. Why is it, maybe the baby's wrong.

Maybe we're not wrong. Maybe the children are wrong. The baby's always wrong. Everyone knows that. If I may change the subject to a slightly, in fact, incredibly heavier topic, I don't know if you've been watching what's been happening in Iran with the young women, the women of all ages,

actually I should say women of every age rising up against the political regime. It is so unbelievably inspiring and amazing. It's all over TikTok. I just keep seeing it on TikTok and it's, I just hope the young women of America are watching that bravery because it is life or death for that, for the women of Iran.

They're standing up to the moral police, which I think is very ironic for us to be looking at that. Like, here's what this country could turn into, this morality police of these old men walking around saying, do this, don't do that. Right, telling women what they can and can't do and what is okay for their bodies and their practices and their lives.

Yeah, it is, it's harrowing. And these incredible women are standing up for themselves with the threat of death, the true threat of death and possibility. And it is, it's inspiring and it's incredible and harrowing and terrifying and it is so inspiring. It's amazing. It has to do with the death of Masa Amini.

There's protests all across the country. I mean, it's chilling and it's amazing and I just think it's so cool. So if you don't know about it, learn more about it than what I just told you. But this is a movement that's like, it's so important. We need to keep our eyes on that, that idea of standing up in the face of threat

for our rights, human rights, basic human rights. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. Their hashtag is women life freedom. Okay. Amazing. Oh, it gets me. Oh, I just really quickly saw a show on stars with a Z,

which I don't think stars get enough credit. Yeah. They put out some hits for real. They have been putting out hits lately. And they also do a lot of period pieces, which is, you know, my passion. Sure. Watching them, not producing them.

Although you never know. Yeah. But next career, there's get really into like, really involved costumes and stuff that just takes hours. There's a show on there called The Serpent Queen. Ooh. And it's about Catherine de Medici and it stars Samantha Morton,

who she was kind of an it girl in the, would you say mid to late 2000s. She was in like minority report. And she was like, you know, around a lot. And she's done some like prestige TV, but she is such a fucking unbelievably good actress. And it's in this show is like, I just think it's a fascinating Royals in the 1500s

getting up to their business. Costumes galore. Costumes galore. There's, yeah, the costumes are truly can't be beat. What are you going to be for Halloween speaking of? Vincent, I just put our Halloween decorations up today, which was really fun and almost started to fight somehow, even though it's like the most fun project.

Any project is going to have some opinions. Yeah. We almost argued over tape and where to put it. Stay focused. Keep your eyes on the prize. We're both sweating and like bickering about tape and where it belongs and doesn't belong. The stuff of life.

Everything's fine now. I don't know. I never really think about that. Yeah. You pulled Megan Fox out real quick last year and that was pretty epic. I was Megan Fox. Frank was Michenga and Kelly.

We got it done. You did. That was just a wig. Oh, wait, what? What if I started crying when I found out it was a wig and I thought it was really your hair? When I walked in, Georgia saw me and the first thing she said was,

oh my God, you have to grow your hair out right now. And I was like, it's not going to look like this if I grow it out. So, you know, it won't have glittery tinsel in it if I grow it out. That's true. That's unfortunate. It looked great on you.

Long-ass hair. Hell yeah. Thank you. I'll try my best, but mine gets all screwed up whereas the ones from, you know, Party City, you get a nice big old long black wig. Flammable plastic wigs. Those look beautiful.

Every night, not just the one night you need them. Yeah. Every night. Why, what are you going to be? Are you thinking about it? Not nothing at all. I'm going to, we haven't even, you know what I did buy? I bought a Peggy Bundy wig just in case.

Just in case? Because I'm like, this will sell out by the time I want it. Yeah, that's a great idea. Then you get to wear a pedal pushers and like a two-top. Right, like spandex pants and a giant belt and I could smoke cigarettes all night and it's part of the costume, not weird. It's not weird.

Yep. Not any of those children can say shit to you when they come up to get their candy. Come at me, children. Try it. Come here. My wig is flammable. I get to.

I'm smoking near it. Leave me alone. I mean, it's spooky season. All of a sudden the phrase is it's spooky season. That's a new thing for this year. Yeah, it's stolen from us for sure. From us? Yeah, spooky Halloween.

Come on. Think so? Yeah, definitely. But even the people over at like Micheloblite are saying it. Yeah, stolen from us. I'm saying that thinking that we have no reach at all and I'm totally making that up. No one stole anything from us.

I just think it's weird the way there are like language trends that pop up out of nowhere and every, literally every person. It's like everyone's so afraid to be the one that isn't saying the newest thing. Right. That they just immediately start all saying it like they've always said it. Right.

It's like there's no cultural event that makes everyone go, oh, now we call it spooky season instead of Halloween. It just starts happening. We did say spooky Halloween for years because it was your thing when you were young. Like that has been said on this podcast. True. And not that I'm saying anyone from Micheloblite

or whatever listens to this podcast and took it. I'm just saying it's not fucking new to us is all I'm saying. It's not new to us. It's also not new to Halloween. It's been going on for like 200 years. I think the word spooky has been in use. I'm just saying that combination where it was like this same thing where all of a sudden social media decided like,

we love apple picking or whatever the fuck where you're like, oh, I didn't know that's suddenly that is, it's being presented as if it's a years long tradition. Yeah. Yeah. Come on. Get with it. Get with us.

Get with our spooky season. Get with us. Hey, speaking of spooky and seasons, should we do exactly right corner real quick? Absolutely. Hey, we have a podcast network and we have podcasts on the network that we think you'll like a lot handpicked just for you. We literally produce them talking about what we thought you would like.

Yeah. That is not a joke. Nope. There are meetings about us talking about you guys and how much we like you and how much we think you'll like this. Yeah. For example, this week, friend of the podcast, none other than Patton Oswalt joins Karen Kale-Gariff.

You heard of her. That's me. And Chris Fairbanks on the podcast, Do You Need A Ride? Can you believe it? I mean, get over there to the little podcast that could. Rate, review, subscribe for Do You Need A Ride. Please. I mean, we really never, we really let that one just kind of hang out

as the Chit Chat podcast. But great stuff is happening over there. If you're into it, if you feel like it. Of course you are. Now, if on the other hand, you're into more of a, what has actually happened? I'd like to go over the stuff that's not in the news because there's so much bad news in the news.

But there are people who've got their eye out. Those people are Scotty and Kurt over at the Bananas podcast. And this week, podcaster Alison Rosen is, stops by Bananas to discuss the world's wacky news. That's right. And say, say you're not into comedy. You're into true crime. We know.

We're into that too. And that's why we have a podcast called Buried Bones. It's brand new and none other than Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes host it. And they're back with episode six. This week's episode is the first of a two-part series about the disappearance of a wealthy doctor's wife in 1910's London.

Spooky. Spooky season. The 1910s were the spookiest season of all. We should actually say thank you so much for coming out and listening to Buried Bones. It is a bona fide hit. The numbers are amazing. You guys turned out for, you know,

the two true crime college professors. I don't know how else to describe them, but they're so legit. They're so legit. Even Frank is barking from the other room incessantly about it. Frank knows Buried Bones is a hit, and it's thanks to you guys, and we really appreciate it.

Make sure you rate, review, and subscribe, and listen. And just as a quick reminder over in the My Favorite Murder store, one of our favorite Murderino designs is now available on water bottles and tank tops. So go look for that really cute, colorful, Murderino design,

and you can also shop the full collection over at www.myfavoritmurder.com. I love that Murderino design. I'm not one for wearing your own band merch unless it's something you really love, and I really love this Murderino design. Looking for a better cooking routine? With meal planning, shopping, and prepping handled,

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Are they born to kill, or are they made to kill? I'm Candace DeLong, and on my new podcast, Killer Psyche Daily, I share a quick 10-minute rundown every weekday on the motivations and behaviors of the criminal masterminds,

psychopaths, and cold-blooded killers you hear about in the news. I have decades of experience as a psychiatric nurse, FBI agent, and criminal profiler. On Killer Psyche Daily, I'll give you insight into cases like Ryan Grantham and the

newly-arrested Stockton Serial Killer. I'll also bring on expert guests to dive deeper into the details, share what it's like to work with a behavioral assessment unit at Quantico, answer some killer trivia, and even host virtual Q&As where I'll answer your

burning questions. Hey Prime members, listen to the Amazon Music Exclusive Podcast, Killer Psyche Daily, in the Amazon Music app. Download the app today. Okay Karen, well this week it's my turn to go.

So today, we're going to talk about drugs. Yay! More specifically, I'm going to tell you about Dr. Max Jacobson, the physician who was nicknamed Dr. Feel Good thanks to his lethal quote, vitamin shots. Is this from the 70s?

60s, 50s, 60s. You know this guy? I knew the later version, but I don't know any details. Okay. I've just heard that name. Okay, well we're going to talk about him. It's all kinds of fucked up. The sources I used in today's episodes are the website AmericanAddictionCenters.org,

two New York Times articles, one by Boyce Rensberger, the other by Jane E. Brody, a history net article by Peter Carlson, a New York magazine article by Peter Keating, etc. etc. You can find all my sources in the show notes. Here we go.

All right, so Max Jacobson, Dr. Max Jacobson, he's born, not a doctor, in Germany on July 3rd, 1900. After working in hospitals during World War I, he studies medicine at the Frederick Wilhelm University in Berlin. He graduates

as a doctor. He begins experimenting with tinctures and is interested in studying the positive health effects of early forms of psychotropic drugs. Weren't we all in high school, right? Yeah. Psychotropic, those ones that, what, change your brain chemistry?

Yeah. Yeah. So Dr. Jacobson, he's living his life, he's fucking doing his career, however, he's Jewish. And so by the mid-1930s, of course, antisemitism is sweeping Germany. So in 1936, he flees the country and moves to New York City

where he opens his own consulting rooms on the Upper East Side. In 1946, he marries and the couple live in an apartment on East 86th Street. In the 1950s, he starts experimenting with intravenous drug treatments. His specialty is called

a, quote, miracle tissue regenerator, a vitamin energy cocktail, or an IV special. That tells you nothing about what's in it, right? Like, I'll have an IV special.

I don't know what that, what's in that bag, but I want you to shoot it straight into my veins, doctor. Into my veins with a needle. He prescribes this for all manner of ailments. Patients come to his office where he injects them in either the hip, neck, jaw,

abdomen, or knees. Pick one. Jaw? No! Oh, my God! Oh, sorry, I thought you meant pick the worst one you could possibly imagine. No, then that's right. I mean, I was just kidding.

I just said the first thing that you said, the last thing I heard you say, but what needle, like, you have to be so short to go in your jaw, wouldn't you? I don't know. I wonder if it's like, they mean, like, not in the jaw bone, but in the tissue.

Straight into the jugular. I also wonder if part of these are like, where are you in pain? I can, like, if you have a tooth abscess or something, maybe he does it in the jaw for that reason. Georgia, I know this is your story, and we just started, and I don't know anything

about it, but this man is not a dentist. He sounds like he's a pain specialist, so he's like, you don't even have to go to the dentist. Let me help you with that pain. Open your eyes. I've got a new place to get a shot. Stop. Oh, my God, I can't. That's one thing I can't handle is I think.

Okay, sorry. Spread out your fingers and let's see the webs between them. I've got a new place to get a shot. Stephen, please edit that from my brain forever. Okay. He then provides them with vials and this is a homemade concoction that he's created

and disposable syringes so they can administer it to themselves at home. So goodbye. Good luck. Okay. Dr. Jacobson doesn't tell his patients what's in the shots, but people trust him because he tells him he's involved in cutting-edge clinical research. That's all it takes. He reserves

one day a week to solely treat patients with multiple sclerosis, and initially he treats European immigrants and their quality of life improves and their feedback is all glowing. They have more energy. They aren't as fatigued. Just a real quick aside, his appearance

is described in the HistoryNet.com article as wearing, quote, a white coat that is frequently splattered with blood. His fingernails were filthy, stained by chemicals he used to concoct his magic elixirs. He wore thick glasses and

spoke in a thick German accent. His office was messy, chaotic, crowded with patients who sometimes waited hours to see him. So he was a very popular doctor. Okay. Word of Dr. Jacobson's innovative treatment spread amongst New York show business circles, and

soon he has a star-setted list of influential celebrity patients. Many from the entertainment world, including Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, and Truman Capote. So he is becoming this famous doctor because who God knows

what's in his fucking elixirs. But they're making people feel real good. Real good. Doctor, feel good. Dr. Jacobson isn't the only doctor in New York using, quote, mood-boosting shots as a treatment, but among the A-list, he's the most well-known. He also treats

sports stars with baseball legend Mickey Mannell, probably his most famous. In late September 1961, 29-year-old Mickey is playing for the New York Yankees, but he's suffering from injuries. And when he comes down with a bad case of the flu and an eye infection,

he's introduced to Dr. Jacobson who administers his treatment. But when he injects Mickey in the hip, the needle accidentally hits bone. Wait. He's a, he is a doctor though, right? Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. I mean, all the way back in the fucking tens. Long time ago in Berlin. I don't know what the difference is, but yeah. So like quote doctor, I'm sure it was so much easier to be a doctor back then, right? And then like, then you're a doctor of everything

probably. You can kind of do whatever you want, I would think. You mean practice anything you want? Yeah. Oh, I don't know. Kind of. That'd be interesting to know. I definitely know, I feel like we've heard enough stories where that was back when, if you were a doctor, you had kind of like say over everyone's life.

Because everyone was like, well, he's the smartest person. Totally. Yeah. Doctor says so. Let's do it. Yeah. So the baseball stars condition deteriorate so badly he's admitted to the hospital where there's a septic infection and serious abscess in the injection site.

So already there's some shady shit going on and it rules Mickey Mannell out of the both the 1961 World Series and competing for Babe Ruth single season home run record. So it kind of fucks him over completely. Yes. And so there's already issues. But Dr. Jacobson's role

in Mickey's hospitalization isn't investigated or even questioned by anyone. And even after his discharge from the hospital, Mickey Mannell keeps seeing Dr. Jacobson. That's how good his miracle cure is. Uh-oh. Two of Dr. Jacobson's most high-profile

patients are President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jackie Oh. Jackie Oh. Jackie Oh. Dr. Jacobson meets JFK through an existing patient in September 1960 while Kennedy is still a senator and at a critical time in his campaign

for the presidency. So JFK, as you know, we all know has debilitating back pain and he also lives- Wait, why did you say it? We all know. I don't know. We know that though, right? I did not know that. You know why? It's because I talked to my mom ten minutes before recording

and told her, hey, I'm doing this story. Do you know him? And she told her a little about it and she goes, well, JFK had debilitating back pain, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, I know. So I don't know why. I was just like, we all know. You, everyone in the heart start going. I've never heard

it, but I mean, like, it makes perfect sense. Yeah, I knew he was ill. But that's really hilarious. As we all know. I don't know why I said that. I guess I didn't want to be, like, condescending. But I knew he was sick because he also had chronic Addison's disease. Oh. And there's a lot of videos of him with a

cane and he looks really thin and emaciated. Oh, okay. And I think he broke his back, like, maybe in World War II when he was fighting. Oh, I'm not making that part up, but I'm speculating, speculating severely with a very unsure look on your face as you do it.

Yeah, that's right. Yeah. And Addison's disease affects the endocrine system and reduces the body's ability to react to infections. So he can get sick really easily. By 1960, Senator Kennedy comes to rely on Dr. Jacobson's shots to help manage his pain

and give him the energy to maintain the balance and pressure of the campaign trail. So he kind of can thank his presidency for Dr. Jacobson in some ways. I'm thinking, you know, because I'm going to want to make a real good guess on what's in these things.

But it feels like speed to me, right? It does, doesn't it? We'll get there. Okay. So then he becomes president. He even invites Dr. Jacobson to the inauguration. That's how much he's like, thanks, bro. Couldn't have done it without you. There's my guy. There's my hookup.

Fist bump. What's up? Dirty needles, maybe. I don't know. Do you have a light? At the same time, Jackie is experiencing postpartum depression following the birth of John Jr. So Dr. Jacobson's like, gotcha, I got this, starts to give her

shots to, quote, boost her mood. And the Secret Service starts calling Dr. Jacobson Miracle Max or Dr. Feel Good. So in 1961, Dr. Jacobson treats the president again after Kennedy injures his back

in a tree planting ceremony. Can you imagine being the president of the United fucking states and you're just like tree planting ceremony fucked my back up? Also, it's, as we know, I mean, not that I've like

watched an entire tree planting ceremony, but I imagine just by the context clues that it's really ceremonial. And the people that did the real tree planting work were there three hours before and he was probably just supposed to like push something into something.

Right. Put scoop a thing out of the earth. Yes. Just like here, I'll just take the shovel and scoot this over. But he got in there and who in the fuck knows? It's so annoying when your body betrays you. And I guess especially when you get older, but he was pretty young. But when you're like,

I'm only 42 and I slept funny the rest of the week. It's like, but I'm also the president of the United States. Yeah. That's got to be annoying. I know it was hard for me when I had my slip and fall into a death drop that knocked my toenail off. That really was.

That's right. Scared the cat by grabbing my papers so hard gasping at how gross it is. The toenail doesn't look good. Luckily, we're moving into the temperature is actually dropping in Los Angeles and we must wear covered shoes.

And so it's, I don't have to worry about it anymore. Thank God. Okay. We've been holding our breaths collectively. I will only talk about my kicked off toenail three more times during your story. I wish she would. Death drop.

Karen in a death drop is is hilarious. Okay. So, in May 1961, Dr. Jacobson treats the president again and enters his back in a tree planting ceremony. We've all heard it. Dr. Jacobson then accompanies JFK

to the president's first summit meeting in Vienna for a crucial meeting with the leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev. So this is a big fucking deal. This is a very big deal. We're in this you know, cold war. He needs to look good.

And relations between the two countries are at the height of the cold war. They're so volatile. The president has to be at the top of his game for this meeting. His back is hurting. He's in pain. And so he gets Dr. Jacobson to come and give him these shots

before he goes on to meet Nikita Khrushchev. So unfortunately, the summit doesn't go well for the U.S. and some historians suggest Dr. Jacobson shots hinder the president's concentration. And this is where you saying is this fucking speed comes in. It seems like Khrushchev, to me,

wants to engage JFK to debate about war. And ideally, if he was on his game, JFK would no sell him and not engage with him and not have a back and forth, which will inevitably make us look weak, right? But if he's on speed, let's say,

what do you do when you're on speed? You fucking debate war. That's what you do. You have all kinds of big ideas. I can tell you from 1996 to 1997, I had all kinds of big ideas. You just think you're right.

Right. You just think it's a good idea and there's really no question. You lose that kind of sense of what you, I think, would really need as the president in that situation, which is your full faculties and, yeah,

awarenesses. There's no such thing as backing down when you're on uppers. There's no backing down. There's no being stoic. And we're assuming for now that that's what he's on. So it goes really poorly.

But Kennedy keeps seeing Dr. Jacobson and they develop a code when the doctors' services are required. The White House will call Dr. Jacobson's office and say, Mrs. Dunne requires treatment, whatever that means. By May of 1962,

Dr. Jacobson visits the White House on 34 occasions to treat the president in Hyannisport or Palm Beach. So he's, like, part of the circle now, inner circle. He doesn't charge the president, but instead he files expense accounts.

So that's kind of shady, too. So he's kind of just got, like, this doctor who has his own credit card. He was, like, a AMX White House card. I think he's just like, here's how much it cost me to take an Uber to the White House or Hyannisport.

Whoop, just pay me. That's called a drug dealer. That's right. Hey, you want to come in and hang out for a minute? Just hang out for a while? Yeah. Those close to JFK want the background on these miracle shots

that give the president his much-shaded energy and pain relief, because Kennedy's doctors have no idea what's, his real doctors for his actual ailments have no idea what's exactly in the mystery shots. But Robert Kennedy and the Secret Service are super suspicious.

So in June 1962, Bobby sends a sample of a vial to the FBI for testing. Smart. The shots consist of multivitamins, great, painkillers, steroids, bone marrow, animal hormones,

enzymes, and human placenta. Uh-oh. But, already, no, thank you. But they also contain an unauthorized combination of liquid amphetamines and steroids. Holy shit.

Amphetamine, I'm going to tell you real quick, Karen, just to catch you up, is a stimulant which affects the central nervous system. It provides a burst of energy, increased focus, and confidence. And it's legal at the time. Dr. Jacobson admits he sometimes includes amphetamines in the shots,

but he's adamant that as long as the patients follow his instructions, which, you know, amphetamine addictions and other chemicals, the amount of drug is so negligible there's no way it could provide anyone with a high, let alone cause death. But he won't, like, prove it.

Well, and also, what it can do, it might not get you like, high, old-school style, but what it's going to do is make you want to keep calling Dr. Jacobson. Right. I mean, that's the thing of it. It's like, it's that enough of an addiction

to be like, this guy's crucial to life and well-being. Totally, totally. There are different types of amphetamines. Doctors initially legitimately prescribe the drug to treat nasal congestion. Did you know that? Well, that's what meth is made out of.

That's why you can't get pseudofed off the counter in certain areas. It's also used to treat hyperactivity and narcolepsy, which is like the opposite of things, so I don't understand how that works. But it becomes more widely used for housewives for weight loss

back in that time. It's even used by the U.S. Air Force to keep pilots alert during the Korean War. So, you know, we all know what meth is like. It's pretty intense. We all lived through the 90s. Despite the clinical benefits

of prescription amphetamine use, the documented side effects are very serious. They include insomnia, hyperactivity, increased heart rate and blood pressure, impaired judgment, anxiety, aggression, addiction and psychosis. Depending on the dose and variant of the drug, effects can last up to six fucking

long ass mother fucking hours. Mm-hmm. If amphetamines are used in large doses for an extended period, apparently it can become so bad, it's similar to that experienced with schizophrenia. Wow. And an overdose can be fatal,

and amphetamines are highly addictive. Yeah. So, despite there being mixed reports that are expected in the sample or not, Kennedy's doctors warned the president to stop taking the shots. Kennedy's orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Hans Kraus, comments, quote,

no president with his finger on the red button has any business taking stuff like that. So, this is his, like, actual doctor, and he's like, if you're taking shit like this and you're the leader of the free fucking world, we've got a big problem here. Yeah. I agree with that doctor, for sure.

Yeah, but the president doesn't. He's dismissive, and he says, I don't care if it's horse piss, it works. That's a quote. I don't know if it's real, but that's a quote. That's pretty amazing. Well, and it's true in a way. It's like, it works,

but we're also not talking about what it does to you afterwards. Right, right. I mean, we've all, you know, for anyone who's had chronic pain, I feel like being that dismissive makes sense because chronic pain makes you not

able to function in the world, in your little world. Like, when I had sciatica and I had to just have a podcast, it was impossible. But to be the president of the United States and have chronic pain seems like a nightmare. So, to be like, fuck it, I don't give a shit

what's in it, it's fucking working. Right, because he has to keep going. Right. And it is that thing of, like, right, there's no, the job that I have going in has a hand in the stress that I'm feeling that's probably adding to my physical ailments.

But, like, there's no stopping now. Yeah. But there's always someone out there who's willing to take advantage of that need for relief, so. So, eventually JFK's medical team does fire Dr. Jacobson in an effort to treat the president's pain

ethically and responsibly. Things seem to start going well for the president following Dr. Jacobson's departure. He diplomatically navigates the Cuban Missile Crisis, which strengthens his reputation, and he forges ahead with progressive social reform. Meanwhile, at his office,

Dr. Jacobson has a whole team of nurses and technicians working hard at a makeshift lab off the consultation room. But the whole place is in disarray. Anyone visiting the doctor at night catches glimpses of concoctions bubbling away in beakers

totally sanitary. He uses fluorescent stones as essential ingredients for their, quote, energy properties. So this is some fucking mercury and retrograde shit right here. Oh, no. Which he tests using magnets.

And he also starts mixing his own blood into the preparations before administering it to patients. So this is just off the motherfucking you've been, you're high in your own supply. Yeah, you know he's testing that stuff out.

And also that thing where, because there's I've been listening to podcasts recently about doctors who, you know, metal and do things like that. It's just such a creepy other thing that is separate from, like, it's like,

it's one thing, oh, you're giving people amphetamines and you're not telling them about it, but it's for their own good and you're being the vitamin doctor or whatever. Tell me, how do you justify your blood being shot into someone else's body

without them knowing? Yeah, there's no way around that being okay. That's a boundary issue. It really is. That's a hippo violation right there. That is an actual hippo violation. That is why there's roles

and regulations right there. During this time, Dr. Jacobson doesn't describe the shots only to his patient. He also administers them to himself and that actually gives his patients reassurance and confidence his treatments are safe when he's like, hey, look at me right now, I'm doing it to myself.

That means you're fine too. Don't believe everything doctors say back in the 60s, okay? In this situation. Listen, if you get a beer time traveler, but in May 1964,

your old wife Nina passes away under what some believe are suspicious circumstances, believing Dr. Jacobson may have administered her an accidental overdose, but no one asks any questions. Things become concerning by the late 1960s. Oh, those heavy

late 1960s. A lot of concerning elements of that time. That's right. So he works 24 hours a day. That's another thing is like, don't trust people who work 24 hours a day. Don't trust people who are like, I just I can't stop working.

Yeah, he can't stop working because he's too high to sleep. Like that's what it's like on speed. You'd never want to sleep. Yeah, that's right. Sometimes he sees as many as 30 patients a day. Too many. But his business is booming, but his behavior is increasingly erratic,

shockingly, needle marks on his arms make it clear he's not only sampling his own product, but is likely in the grip of an addiction as he relies on a means to deal with his heavy workload. Patients are in his office day and night waiting to see him for hours with some visiting as frequently as every day

and other doctors on the floor. Their businesses started getting broken into because his patients would think it was his office breaking in the middle of the night to try to find his medication and kind of find it. So it's just pandemonium. I mean, yeah.

Yeah, that's most people don't do that for vitamins. No. Yeah, right. They're like, vitamin C. I know magnesium. Maybe in magnesium. But that's about it. In 1967, Dr. Jacobson comes to the attention of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics

and Dangerous Drugs. What a cool name. Over the next few years, the agency periodically scrutinizes Dr. Jacobson's purchase of amphetamines, but the only infringement the Bureau finds during this time is record keeping violations resulting in a compliance order

in March of 1968. So, they don't find anything wrong, but the laws are clearly very different back then. Then on January 26, 1969, one of Jacobson's patients, 47-year-old former Kennedy presidential photographer, Mark

Shaw, dies suddenly at his apartment in Kipps Bay. There's the beautiful portraits of them at Hyanna's Port of the Kennedy family. Those are his exclusive photos of the family. He's their photographer. He dies at

47-years-old, and Dr. Jacobson tells the medical examiner that Mark had a history of heart disease and suffered a fatal heart attack. He's one of Dr. Jacobson's patients. But at Mark's autopsy, there's no signs of heart disease. Instead, his system is full of amphetamine

residue. And his body shows signs of frequent drug injection. The cause of death is acute and chronic intravenous amphetamine poisoning. Dr. Jacobson changes his story and claims Mark died from asphyxiation due to vomiting after hitting

his head and vomiting and falling unconscious. How many tries does he get? That's a good question. Investigators want to know how and why Mark would be injected with such a high amount of amphetamine that it kills him.

They interview Dr. Jacobson's practice staff who claim they purchased 80 grams of amphetamines a month. Listen, I'm not great at math so I'm just saying it sounds like a lot, but I don't know. I mean, if you want to do metric like

that, then I am out of the conversation. Me? No, no. If medical people are going to only talk about it in grams, to me, that doesn't sound like that much. Grams always seem small. I'm going to say it like it's a big number. This is administered to patients

in high doses. 80 grams makes around 100 strong daily doses of 25 milligrams. So that makes more sense. I do get that. It's a lot. Despite him saying

there might be traced doses, traced amounts of amphetamines in my drugs, but not a lot. This all blows it out the window because that's not true. Dr. Jacobson completely rejects the idea that amphetamines are addictive. Oh. In October 1969,

the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs sees as all controlled drugs Dr. Jacobson has in his possession. He launches a civil suit against the Bureau and the Federal District Court. So then in September 1970, an inquiry is initiated into Dr. Jacobson's

activities. And then, meanwhile, the New York Times is investigating and Truman Capote tells the newspaper that he stopped seeing Dr. Jacobson after being hospitalized on one occasion and is sure he's given amphetamines without his consent. He explains, quote,

you feel like Superman. You're flying. Ideas come at you at the speed of light. You go 72 hours straight without so much as a coffee break. You don't need sleep. You don't need nourishment. Then you crash. It's like falling down a well. And then he says about Dr. Jacobson,

you're looking for the German mosquito, the insect with a magic pinprick. It brings you and all at once you're soaring again. So he's very poetic about it being fucking amphetamines. So former patient and prominent fashion photographer

Bob Richardson has a psychotic episode after Jacobson injects him with the tranquilizer Thorazine. He's admitted to a psychiatric hospital where he's diagnosed with amphetamine poisoning and stays there for the next two fucking years. Can you imagine having a breakdown

when you get yourself away for two years? And also like the amount they must have been taking to get like poisoning level horrifying. It's just like such the 60s and 70s to me in my mind. It's like they weren't just drinking. They were like fucking just doing

a massive amounts of legal drugs that were just totally fucking with them. Yeah. And just that the experimentation you know all the like LSD stuff that people were doing at the time became very common without anyone knowing anything about it. Right.

So there were the level of experimentation and risk people were taking, but it was like all they needed was one person in a white coat with blood spatter on it to tell them this is okay. Yes, it's a doctor. Like they don't talk about the consequences because the doctor gave it to you.

Yeah. Yeah. So after the New York Time publishes it's like negative investigation of Dr. Jacobson more former patients and their families speak out about the difficulties they're having and trying to get the authorities to do something about Dr. Jacobson. Despite alerting hospital administrators

other doctors and medical societies they keep hitting brick walls. So no one wants to fucking listen to them. Dr. Jacobson responds saying that patients who stop seeing him do so because either they have a mental illness or they consume alcohol, which is one of his like you're not allowed to consume alcohol

while this is happening. So yeah, it's totally their fault for giving them tons of amphetamines. Yeah. And his own blood. And his own blood and some what was it, chicken bouillon? Like there was stuff and there was like a little a bit of stew.

His leftovers from that afternoon. Oh no. Crazy. We all want just a simple solution to life's hardest problems. Wouldn't it be nice if just a doctor in a white coat with blood spatter

could just come to your house and be like, here, this is all you need. V12, a little magnesium some of my blood and problem solved. We all just want to go, yeah, I want it to be that easy. I mean, the other day I had a couple sips of a fucking

Red Bull and my life was better but I know that I can't do that. You know what I mean? That's how I guess that's how much smarter we are now to just drink fucking energy drinks all the time and think that you're going to be fine from it.

But God, they fucking help and wouldn't my life be better if I could just have a couple sips of an energy drink and be like, fine. I'm asking you if I can essentially right now. I don't want to be there at the downfall part because isn't there a real like

once you fall off the any kind of energy drink cliff, I think there's like the energy you run out of energy at some point and then you're just kind of lost. Yeah, it's called adrenal fatigue, guys. They seize the remainder of his supply.

He claims that not all patients receive amphetamines. However, he refuses to disclose which patients he administers the drug to. They don't all get it, but I'm not telling you anything. He doesn't know, right? Because everyone fucking gets it probably. Also,

he doesn't keep any of Kennedy's records. He destroys them all after Kennedy dies so nobody really knows what the truth is about how much she was getting. How much JFK was getting, which is really interesting. But there's like certain little whistleblowers out there

who have been writing memoirs about that's how we know about all of this. The New York Medical Board opens an investigation into Dr. Jacobson. It discovers that in the previous five years he's purchased at least 29.7 pounds of amphetamines. Sounds like a lot.

Which works out to be enough for more than 100,000 doses a year for one person. Too many. By early 1973, his practice is going through an average of 1,200 needles and more than 650 syringes per week.

And this was back before they recycled stuff like that. They threw them out a side window and into the East River. It does tell you a lot that there were 650 syringes and 1,200 needles. Which means they probably

doubled up on syringes. Or people were getting two shots each. Yeah. Total, which is fucked up. You just know that something was being adjusted incorrectly or without the right thing in mind.

Because it wasn't just what was in the IV. It was then the way it was administered. Okay, here's the grossest part. When the authorities test the samples they're found to contain so they test what they had he had been giving people. Filthy, putrid, and or decomposed

substances. What? That's what was in the fucking syringes. Filthy, putrid, and or decomposed substances. You wouldn't even refrigerate that shit. He doesn't seem to be taking care

in any meaningful way. Precautions, none of them. I will repeat, is a hip of violation. The New York State Department of Education and the Attorney General's office alleged 11 charges of professional conduct and fraud against Dr. Jacobson.

This includes failing to account for the drugs seized, illegal possession of amphetamines and the distribution of misbranded and mislabeled drugs. Altogether, authorities seized enough amphetamines for 44,000 doses at 15 milligrams per dose and a gallon of the sedative

in a barbitol, around 800 doses. So like, what's up? Everyone's like, hey, we love your drug. I can't sleep. Here's some feed in a barbitol or whatever. Good night. It's just uppers and downers. They were doing that to Judy Garland since she was

like 12 years old. She's on the list of patients, which isn't surprising to people at all. So bad. This all makes me want to go vegan for some reason. It makes me want to do drugs. I mean, vegans still do drugs, right?

Oh, do they? Oh, that's true. By this time, Dr. Jacobson has remarried to a woman named Ruth and their daughter is born in 1974. In April 1975, the state revokes Dr. Jacobson's medical license finally and bans him from practicing.

He tries to get his license back in 1979 but the medical board refuses. They're like, this isn't the 60s anymore, friend. Yeah. We're at the presidential inauguration, but enough of that. Jimmy Carter's in town and things are getting serious.

On December 17th of that year, 79-year-old Dr. Jacobson dies leaving behind his widow Ruth and their daughter in a questionable medical legacy. And actually, Dr. Jacobson was the inspiration for a one-off character on the show Mad Men. He comes, this doctor comes

into the ad agency to give everyone energy shots when they're working on a deadline for a big account and I totally remember that and it's based on a real character. It's not crazy. It's amazing. One thing to come out of the publicity around Dr. Jacobson's unethical,

dangerous and addictive treatments is the controlled substances act. This federal law is enacted by Congress in 1970 and goes on to be enforced by the Drug Enforcement Agency which is established in 1973. So part of the reason drugs have laws around them is because Dr. Jacobson

and doctors like him who were willy-nilly and free nilly with drugs. Both willy and free nilly. Free nilly. This is what I say. My favorite movie.

The new law is designed to protect the public and ensure compliance of medical professionals by regulating the manufacturing, importation, possession and use and distribution of certain substances and that is all partly thanks to Dr. Feelgood,

Dr. Max Jacobson and his lethal vitamin shots. Wow. I didn't realize it was kind of down to I mean I'm sure it was like a trend that other doctors picked up on stuff but I didn't realize there was one main guy

that kind of was like the hookup for this super elite. Totally. I bet there's so many other doctors like that we can think. We're all employed by the studio system from like the dawn of show business. If you're a drug historian,

ooh, is that a job? Are there drug historians? That'd be fun. Comment and tell us what we got right and what I got right and wrong about that and like who else is there that we should look into? Well the first thing people are going to

let us know is that we're misusing the phrase hip of isolation. That's going to happen for sure. I don't think we are. You know what? That telling us that we are is a hip of violation and I just want to say that. That's our hip of violation. You're violating our

by that kind of feedback. That idea that like introducing like amphetamines without people knowing it into their lives. So you're getting, it is a little bit like inducing like a mental condition

because you're up up up then you're down down down like the whole cycle and to not at least make people aware of like you don't just feel good because of vitamin B12 and zinc or whatever. I mean that feeling that feeling you get when you're up up up

is so addictive. That's exactly what it is and so of course people are going to want to continue doing that to their own detriment. That's the whole fucking point of drugs and what they do and then to be getting them from what's supposed to be a trusted source

is like just dark and fucked up. It's horrible and also because it's like for many people I'm sure it was like I lost all this weight without even thinking about it. It's all that kind of thing of like the glamour but it's so the other side of that.

We say it all the time on this podcast there's no such thing as a free lunch. So if you're losing a bunch of weight that something else is going to have to decide to things. So rarely is anything clean on the deal and it's like just because a doctor says it doesn't mean

second opinions. Yes, other doctors. Go find an angry doctor who has something contrary to say about it. Jovial doctors, they'll tell you anything you want to fucking hear. Get a nice old cranky doctor that knows this stuff and thinks it's

bullshit. I had the best cranky doctor for a long time who would just sit there and tell me why I was wrong about something I wanted. I was just like, I like you, you're right. If you just like had said yes to me about getting Xanax I would have not trusted you anymore. So the fact that you're lecturing me about why I can't have Xanax makes me like you more.

Absolutely, that's the oath they take. I'm pretty sure they take an oath about that. It's called a HIPAA oath. It's a HIPAA violation oath where they promise to never violate your HIPAA and really just keep an eye out. Get your hands off my HIPAA. Get out of here.

All right, should we do a couple of fucking her a's just to end this beauty? Sure. You want to go first? You want me to go first? I'll go first. You just talked for 40 minutes. Thank you so much. I appreciate you. Let me. This is very sweet. It just says

my husband and I set up my cousin and one of our good friends a couple years ago and today October 1st 2022 we officiated their wedding. Cheers to the newlyweds and shout out to the bride she knows who she is if she ever catches up to this episode

and then there's no name. So I guess whoever you are that got married on October 1st 2022 and you were set up by your cousin and one of your good friends congratulations. Congratulations. That's beautiful.

Okay, this one says, yeah. Hello MFM fam. Long time listener, first time writer. I'll keep it short and sweet. I'm a undocumented American three as a resident alien and thousands of dollars in applications, translations and other shit.

I finally have my citizenship test and interview on October 25th. Fuckin' hooray. Much love. Val, she, her. Wow, that's big. Congratulations, Val. I didn't realize it took. It takes so much. That's really great.

It's so much bigger than anyone realizes here so I think that's incredible and what a fighter. It's awesome. Okay, this one it says, my sister is a veterinarian so too busy and too humble to share the story.

At her clinic a dog was brought in having an anaphylactic allergic reaction thus life threatening breathing problems. The dog needed to be transported to an emergency clinic and wouldn't survive the trip. So one of the vet techs and then it says grab your tissues

from her oxygen tank to the dog for the trip. The vet tech at the time was going through chemo and was using an oxygen tank from time to time but needed it with her in case of emergencies. So an emergency occurred and she saved the dog's life.

Good humans do exist. Stay sexy and I don't know fuck cancer and save dogs. Jess. Oh my god. Isn't that amazing? That's beautiful. Oh, giving. Incredible.

Alright, my last one. Hello my favorite people. This weekend as a 31 year old I came out as gay for the first time to my first person. I told my cousin who was also gay and she welcomed me with the most open arms into my new life,

aka the life I've been desperately wanting to live for all of time. I have many more people to inform and that prospect terrifies me about fucking hooray for being who you were meant to be. Love and appreciate you for everything. Kate.

Congratulations, Kate. Congratulations, Kate. What a beautiful thing and how lucky Kate you are to have a cousin to go to. That's right. That's beautiful. Good luck and congratulations. I love that all of our fucking hoorayers

are people who are like, here's the strongest thing I've ever done in my life for real. There's so many great ones. Thanks, you guys, for sending them in. And thanks for listening this week. Georgia did all the work. I just got to riff and talk about, you know, HIPAA laws, which is my passion.

But we really appreciate you being here with us and you know, stay sexy. And don't get murdered. Goodbye. Elvis, do you want a cookie? Ahhhh. Goodbye. Listen, follow, leave us a review

on Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey Prime members, did you know that you can listen to my favorite murder early and ad free on Amazon Music? Download the Amazon Music app today. You can support my favorite murder by filling out a survey at Wondery.com slash survey.