Out of Patients EP425: Doctor No More: MaryAnn Wilbur
Dr. MaryAnn Wilbur didn’t burn out. She walked out. She left a career she trained her whole life for because the system told her to lie to patients, ignore her conscience, and run faster on a rigged treadmill that turns doctors into data entry clerks and throughput managers. She’s a gynecologic oncologist, single mom, public health badass, and one of the rare physicians who got out with her soul intact. We talked about why she said no to robotic surgeries that cut corners, how her hospital denied her time off while her kid was sick, and how physicians are twice as likely to die by suicide as the rest of us. She stared over the edge, planned her escape, and started documenting what’s really killing doctors inside the system.
She wrote a book. She made a film. She started organizing. And she’s not interested in fixing Epic. She’s here to dismantle the conveyor belt that treats human suffering like billable inventory.
If you want to know why your doctor disappeared, this episode tells you. If you are that doctor, this conversation might save you.
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Out of Patients drops new episodes every week. We've been turning medical trauma into momentum for 17 years. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Matthew Zachary
Producer
Matthew Zachary invented healthcare podcasting before podcasting was a thing. In 2007, fresh off building Stupid Cancer, he grabbed a mic, launched The Stupid Cancer Show and started broadcasting patient stories on internet talk radio when everyone else was still writing blogs.
17 years and 400+ episodes later, Out of Patients is still the most unfiltered healthcare show anywhere.
Matthew doesn't do softball interviews. Brain cancer at 21 taught him that time is finite and bullshit is expensive. He gets guests to say things they'd never tell Congress. CEOs admit what's broken. Patients name what actually hurts. Scientists explain what industry doesn't want you to know. The conversations other shows won't touch because of sponsor concerns or political correctness.
What makes him different: He's been on both sides of the mic. Featured in documentaries, testified before Congress, keynoted hundreds of conferences.
But he's also been the guy puking from radiation, fighting insurance denials, and watching friends die from paperwork.
That dual perspective creates interviews you won't hear anywhere else. He knows which questions make power squirm because he's asked them from hospital beds and boardrooms both.
No pre-approved questions. No PR handlers. No seven-minute segments. Just real conversations with people brave enough to tell the truth about healthcare. After 17 years, Matthew's still the guy Mark Cuban reposts when he wants to understand what patients actually think. Read More
Out of Patients EP424: The Good Cancer Club Sucks with Chelsea J. Smith
