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Aug. 18, 2025 - Dr. Oz Podcast
42:42
Alzheimer’s Breakthroughs You Must Know Right Now! | Dr. Oz | S9 | Ep 10 | Full Episode
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Time Text
Alzheimer's doesn't stand a chance.
The at-home tests that could detect a declining memory before the real Alzheimer's symptoms even show up.
Breaking down the latest in prevention.
What is a soda brain?
This is really unsettling news.
Judge Hatchett's family heartbreak.
They let her bleed to death.
A brand new season of Dr. Eye starts in 3, 2, 1.
Are you ready to say some lives today?
i love you When it comes to Alzheimer's prevention, there have been new headlines coming from brain research labs all around the world.
And I've enlisted some of the most respected authorities in Alzheimer's to sort through and find the biggest prevention breakthroughs you could use to protect your brain right now.
This is your Alzheimer's offense team.
Dr. Rudy Tansey is a professor of neurology at Harvard and head of the Alzheimer's Genome Project where he co-descovered the very first Alzheimer's disease gene.
Dr. Wendy Suzuki is a neuroscientist and director of the Suzuki Lab at NYU Center for Neuroscience where she's studying how physical activity impacts our memory.
Max Figueroa is a documentary who explores the effects of diet on brain health.
And the director of the Alzheimer's Prevention Clinic at New York Presbyterian, Wild Cornell, Dr. Richards Isaacson, is backstage testing some members of our audience with a new eye tracking test.
And in just a few minutes, he will show how you at home can do it right now.
Now, the headliner in all the latest Alzheimimer research is this.
One in three cases of dementia are preventable.
Think about that.
One in three cases doesn't have to happen.
Dr. Tanzy, what does this mean for everybody?
Yes, this was the biggest breakthrough headline that came out of the largest Alzheimer's meeting of the year in London this past summer, and two dozen brain experts from around the world determined, and this is astonishing to me because ten years ago I would have said no way that over one third of Alzheimer's is preventable.
So based on how you live your life, the choices you make can actually determine whether you're going to get Alzheimer's later.
And why it's so important is that the pathology in the brain that causes Alzheimer''s builds up ten years before symptoms.
So you have this window of opportunity where your lifestyle choices make a difference.
You know, the biggest risk factors obesity, smoking, no surprise there, even hearing loss, high blood pressure, and especially sedentary lifestyle.
So we have hope.
We have hope.
That's because you've spent your career, you've led the charge, teaching us about how lifestyle can make a difference in the development of Alzheimer's and dementia in general.
What are the big ideas, the big breakthroughs?
That is exactly the right question to answer.
And I'm going to boil it down to a single factor, and that is exercise.
This is the most transformative lifestyle change that you can make today because it's the only one that actually produces new brain cells in your brain.
So I really like to think about exercise like the grand slam of lifestyle changes.
Because you can do it today, it's free.
So while we're protecting our brain on one side, there are new insights that I want to cover for you all.
Some of these are shocking.
For example, one big breakthrough is that the role of personal hygiene may be pretty important in Alzheimer's.
Why?
Because new headlines are reporting that bacteria and viruses may actually cause some Alzheimer's.
I mean, this is shocking to me.
Doctor Tanzy, what kinds of bacteria and viruses are we talking about?
What kinds of activities could we engage in that could reduce the chance of getting Alzheimer just by staying cleaner?
Yeah, this is relatively new research from our lab and other labs.
So we don't know exactly which ones matter most, but the ones that have been found in the brain so far are the parodontal bacteria.
So you have to floss your teeth, keep your teeth clean.
We have bacteria from our mouth getting into our brain.
Yeah, sinus cavities connect.
Even washing your hands and not putting dirty hands in your nose.
Your nose is a gateway to the brain.
Your mom, our moms were right.
They were.
I thought that was a floss tale.
Yeah.
Also, we're looking at Lyme disease.
So I don't want to say Lyme disease causes Alzheimer's, but some of the bacteria involved in Lyme disease that come from the ticks, the deer ticks, are also found in the brain.
We're asking what is their role?
And when it comes to viruses, herpes viruses matter.
And so herpes viruses can cause cold sores.
So we would say if you get a cold sore more than let's say twice a year, given that that herpes might be present in your brain at that point, you may want to consider asking your doctor about an antiviral medication to go on.
This is really unsettling.
These are fairly straightforward infections that many of us experience.
Tactics.
Most of us touch our nose.
If we were doing the course of this show, you'll touch your nose a dozen times probably.
My mother told me not to do that too.
She was right.
So show, we have a brain mile.
Show everybody exactly what goes down with infections.
How is it possible?
Because I know if you get a bad flu, if you get an infection of your bladder, you can get a little bit of changes in how you think.
When it comes to Alzheimer's, we think about the pathology called plaques.
So there were these plaques that accumulate in the brain.
I can show you.
So the main area we want to think about is the middle of the brain here, where the short-term memory is.
This is right here.
And what happens is you get information coming in and you have to remember what someone said a minute ago or take your sensors coming in.
All that information is first stored there.
Now what will happen is on Alzheimer's you get these little things called plaques.
It's like little gunky debris.
Actually, it might look a little like that, even though it's Platon.
And they start to accumulate around the short term memory area and then they start to spread throughout the brain and then they start to gunk up more and more, right?
So eventually the brain can be covered with this plaque, especially where learning and memory takes place.
My goodness.
So what we've learned is now we've always thought this stuff is just junk.
Yeah.
It's just a byproduct.
What we've learned is that actually it plays a role in the brain, it's protecting the brain against infection.
You're kidding.
So the plaque that we think is causing Alzheimer's was originally put there to protect the brain against infections.
So it's good early on.
So when you get a virus activated in the brain or a bacteria gets in, instantly, this stuff accumulates around the little pathogen and traps it.
So the plaque is like a gel that traps the infection so it can't affect the nerve cells.
So originally, it's protecting the brain, but then it causes all the rest of the pathology, the inflammation, the tangles, the nerve cell death, and then now you're on the path to Alzheimer's.
How long does it take for that to occur?
Well, this is the most amazing thing, right?
Is that we used to think that it took years for plaques to form, but it turns out that in studies we've done, one single bacteria, right, or virus can trigger a plaque overnight.
Overnight?
Overnight.
So you might have a low grade infection and overnight you get a whole set of plaques in that part of the brain and that's going to start triggering Alzheimer's pathology in that area.
So this is a whole shift in our thinking.
I mean, it's unbelievable.
So I could actually be a little less thoughtful, a little less insightful tomorrow than today because I got an infection in my brain that caused plaque.
Right, and because the plaque leads to the cell death that causes inflammation and eventually goes down the slippery slope.
Okay, so it's scary, but at least it's something you can do.
These are all good news items by the way, because you can prevent these.
If I said it's all in your genes, you can't change it, go home and have a cigarette, it'd be different.
That's right.
Speaking of prevention, soda brain, which is an idea that has gotten a lot of taco in the last month or two.
Alzheimer's research has discovered something that Max is going to talk about.
What is soda brain?
Yeah, so researchers out of Boston University found that people that tended to drink more soda also were more likely to have shrinkage of their brain.
Total brain volume was less, meaning the brain actually got smaller, but then they also lost volume in that precious memory center in the brain, which is called the hippocampus.
And on top of that, their memories didn't function as well.
So they found that actually people that drank one to two sodas per day had brains that appeared to display accelerated aging by 1.6 years.
And people that drank more than two sodas a day had brains that had accelerated aging that looked like it had sped up the clock by two years.
So this is really unsettling news.
And the way it works is that higher levels of blood sugar actually damage.
It creates inflammation and it damages all of these precious blood vessels that you could see on the brain model.
right there in front of you.
So I get the blood sugar connection, but there's part of these studies that I'm still not sure about.
Because doctors generally will tell you all, listen, don't drinkink the soda.
At least try diet soda instead.
But in these research programs that you know, it wasn't such good.
There was bad news also for diet soda consumers.
It turns out that people who drank diet soda habitually, meaning that regular diet soda addiction, also seem to increase the consumer's risk of stroke and dementia by threefold.
So what it all comes down to, Dr. Oz, is that by consuming sweet beverages, whether they have sugar or artificial sweeteners, it seems to really step on the gas in terms of aging.
And nobody likes to age.
I'll take notes on this, right?
So another reason, if you didn't have a bunch already about sweet sodas, we have insights about activity and shocking insights about hygiene, like flossing your teeth and not ignoring basic infections that keep recurring.
So I'm going to go back with Dr. Isaacson.
Now he's backstage giving some members of the audience a simple five-minute test.
This is an at-home test that could detect a declining memory before the real Alzheimer symptoms even show up.
So Dr. Isaacson, you've been at the forefront of this.
Please work us through it.
This is a super exciting test.
It's really a breakthrough test that anyone can do at home right now by using their computer or tablet.
That little camera, the little webcam right at the top of the screen, that's simple.
It can track eye movements.
We know about the senses.
Dr. Raz, on this show, we've done a smell test.
Well now we're going to do an eye test and an eye tracking test can detect changes in the brain years before the first symptom of memory loss and this is going to be a way that anyone at home right now can check how their memory is working.
They're going to follow different images.
You're going to look at the excitement or the lack of excitement of different pictures and based on that this test can actually determine whether or not you may develop memory loss in the future.
Anyone right now can take this test.
Just go to alzu.org and it's right there on the activities page after you join.
The big breakthrough idea that Dr. Eising said Isengers has woken me up to the fact that our senses provide incredible clues about how our brains are functioning.
We sort of know that, but it can give us clues about whether you're developing Alzheimer's.
So when we come back, we have the new memory quiz that you can all take right this minute.
The first thing you have to do though is to look at this picture.
Look at it for one second, stop what you're doing, put it down, look at this picture, memorize it, right?
The whole picture, name everything.
When we come back, I'm going to tell you why it's important.
Folks call him a liar, a sociopath, a thug.
They believe he's a murderer.
Just a bunch of nonsense.
He's a normal, regular guy.
In a daytime exclusive interview, a message from OJ Simpson.
mister Simpson wanted me to let you know.
As soon as he walks out of those prison doors, he's going to Greg Goldman is here.
He is simply known as the killer.
I don't want to dirty my mouth with his name.
That's coming up tomorrow.
That's coming up tomorrow.
Now, before the break, I showed you this woman's picture, along with her name and occupation.
You remember her name, don't you?
Maria.
Is that what you all think is right?
No.
And what about her occupation?
I don't remember.
You remember her occupation?
Human Resources.
Oh my goodness.
You guys got it right.
So it's interesting.
The question is, why does it matter?
It's a small part of a quiz that we're going to be talking about today can actually help a doctor tell a lot about your brain and your risk of Alzheimer's.
And I've asked doctor Isaacson to come back.
There's too many A's in Isaacson.
How are you?
Richard and I at the same hospital, so I actually do know your name.
Thank you.
So this test, how does it work?
How does it give clues to folks?
This is a super cool test.
And what some may think is just, oh, looking at faces and looking at names.
This is a test to detect early changes in the brain before symptoms start.
And if there's problems with the names and the faces, it can actually predict whether there's amyloid in the brain, the bad protein that gets gunked up in the brain, just from a simple at-home test.
So this young woman here, you didn't remember her occupation.
I did not.
Does that mean she has Alzheimer's?
No brain transplant needed right now.
That's good.
So occupations are maybe not as big of a trouble or a big of a problem.
The names, those are a little bit more difficult.
When there's trouble with that, then it may signal something.
So let's go over and meet Shannon.
She's going to do the full quiz with us.
How are you, Shannon?
Good.
Thanks for having me.
Okay.
So you volunteered to be our quiz taker for a reason.
Yes.
I had a grandfather who died of Alzheimer's four years ago, and it was a really difficult experience.
And being a mom, I'd like to know if I'm at risk.
I think a lot of us do.
It's actually the single reality that most of us fear.
We don't want to have heart attacks and cancer, but it's Alzheimer's that most of us get woken up in the middle of the night for.
So, doctor Isaacson, walk us through a quiz.
Everyone can do it at home right now.
What's the begin by clicking the button right there.
There we go.
Begin test.
And basically right now, this is the learning phase.
So the question is, does the name fit?
And you can click whatever, whatever sounds right or wrong answers.
No right or wrong answers.
Does that look like a faith to you?
Yes.
It does?
It does.
All right.
Excellent.
So that's the learning phase.
You can't assess memory.
You can't examine memory without first learning information.
And that's just the first step in the test.
The next part of the test is remembering the name combined with the face.
And this is really important.
And this is really where the breakthrough is, because when you can associate a name with a face, that part of the memory actually declines before.
My husband's in trouble.
Uh-oh.
He can't ever remember a name.
Right.
So that's because you're there.
He's asking you.
Is that always happening?
It's like, who is this?
Who is this?
I know them.
It's your son.
So this is important because sometimes when a word is on the tip of your tongue, but you may remember it later, that can be normal for aging.
But a test like this can go deeper and get more information.
Now we're going to the occupation.
What's it saying?
Oh, I skipped ahead.
Sorry.
It's okay.
So we got the name right.
Why is the occupation harder?
Well, occupation is sometimes harder and sometimes easier, actually, because depending on the person's brain, occupation is stored in different parts of the brain.
The name is just focused on one section of the brain.
Occupation, well, you think of a travel agent, you think of airplanes, you think of different visual things.
That can actually generate a memory from different parts in the brain.
So for some people, occupation may actually be easier.
So she's a travel agent.
So we're going to quiz to know if you remember that.
Okay.
So you've educated us again.
Okay.
Moment of truth.
Last part of the quiz.
Okay.
Let's click continue.
All right.
Okay, so now you're going to again see each individual face with a list of occupations.
So let's see if you can do it.
He was a teacher.
Eric, Henry.
Great job.
Hey!
A plus!
And what a show off!
So what this shows is that all the different parts of the brain that we tested for the earliest phases, the earliest pre-symptomatic, before symptoms begin, remembering faces, occupations and names are all working great.
So that's a great sign.
I think something in the C range or below.
But if you see something on this test that doesn't look great, talk to your doctor, get informed, and get a real memory test in the clinic as well.
All right, the name face test we just did is on algu.org.
it's a free website created by Wild Cornell and York Presbyterian.
There's lots of other resources there as well.
And I urge you to check it out.
We're going to put a link up on droz.com.
Please share it with your friends after you've taken it yourself.
Next, the five step Alzheimer's offense you need to take this disease on its head.
My Alzheimer's prevention team has sorted through the latest research and breakthroughs from brain labs all over the world.
And they have your Alzheimer's offense planned when we come back.
Thank you.
Recent headlines found that one in three cases of dementia is preventable.
meaning what you do at home today can help protect your brain from Alzheimer's tomorrow.
So how do you protect your brain?
Brain expert Dr. Rudy Tansey says we can do it with a shield.
Shield.
But defending ourselves with a shield.
But I want you to remember this word because each letter represents a step in your Alzheimer's offense to tackle this disease head on.
So shield.
Let's get to Dr. Tansey here.
He's going to walk us through the S. The S actually stands for sleeping eight hours.
So why is that so important?
Well, it's during sleep that you go through dreaming and REM stage.
And right after dreams, something magical happens in the brain.
So all day you're making this amyloid plaque in the brain.
But right after REM or dreams, the brain actually cleans itself out.
So you actually stop making the plaque.
And then there are cells in the brain like little scrubby bubbles that actually start cleaning the plaque and breaking it away.
And then the brain actually constricts itself and washes that stuff out into the spinal fluid.
So I call it mental floss.
Mental floss.
I love it.
It's that simple, just sleeping?
I mean, I say simple, but I know it's hard for life.
a lot of folks well it's hard but doing whatever you can to get eight hours of sleep because you want to cycle in and out of dream sleep and then that really deep sleep where your brain cleans itself out as often as possible so eight hours of sleep religiously has never been more important So scientists actually studied what happened in the brains of mice when they slept and they found this brain cleanup is a very real thing.
Come on back, let's show this to everyone.
So here are the mice sleeping comfortably in their cages and the brains, right?
If you look at the brains, right?
In the brains there are cells and there's yellow stuff, gunk in between all these cells.
This yellow stuff is all the debris that accumulates during the day.
As the mice slept, only when they started sleeping, the space between these cells got bigger.
So you have the gunk, but you have empty space here as well.
This creates space for the spinal cord and brain fluid that's naturally there to begin to flow through the brain and literally begin to sweep away that yellow gunk, the toxic buildup that's associated with diseases like Alzheimer's.
But this washing, Dr. Tansey said, can only happen when we sleep.
Did I get it right?
You got it perfect.
The next and shield, the agent shield, it stands for handling stress.
And our good friend Deepak Chopra, with Dr. Tansey wrote Super Jeans, made a short video showing us a little trick to do just that.
Less than a one minute meditation for Dr. Oz.
Keep your eyes open but soft.
Not focusing on anything just soft eyes Inhale one two three four pause exhale one two three four and then let your awareness float up towards the sky and mentally say lightness of being Now just rest in your body smiling everywhere.
His voice is so soothing just listening to him.
All right next in the SHIELD acronym is I wish, which stands for interacting with others.
So how does this prevent Alzheimer's?
Well, social engagement is very important.
We're social beings.
And we've learned that loneliness is a stress that can cause toxic buildup of chemicals that kill nerve cells in the brain.
So staying socially engaged, keeping friends and family around is very important.
Okay, the last three on that little shield that we're going to talk about is E, which stands for exercise.
That Kazuki, this is your area of world expertise.
So, absolutely.
How does physical activity actually?
You told us how it works, basically.
But I want to understand how much activity do we have to actually take?
You have to run a triathlon.
What works?
Absolutely not.
So let me start with what kind of aerobic exercise.
That just means getting your heart rate up.
So how much?
Even a single power walk, a single power walk per week can get you going on the right track.
Can you all do that?
We can all do that.
You can all go out right after the show and power walk, right?
The best exercise is the one you'll do.
Okay.
L is learning new things, which you do by watching the show, but find excuses to do it every day.
And D is for diet.
But the question is, which diet?
Dr. Tansey, which diet has been proven to be most impactful for Alzheimer's?
Well, we've heard a lot of new trendy diets for the brain.
But in the end, the Mediterraneanan diet is the best.
Some sort of bias towards the Mediterranean.
I too.
Doctor Tanzi, thank you.
Doctor Suzuki, thank you very, very much.
Anyway, we're going to put the full one sheet with the full shield plan on doctoroz dot com dot There it is.
It works, guys.
Take advantage of this, share it with your friends and use it for yourself.
I want to thank Doctor Tanzi for his latest book, it's called Super Jeans.
Wrote it with Deepak Chopra.
And Doctor Suzuki's book is called Healthy Brain, Happy Life.
Follow her advice.
We will be back.
Next up, one of America's most famous judges, Judge Glenda Hatchett is here.
She's speaking out about her daughter in law's death after a scheduled C section.
C-section, why she is outraged and how she's fighting for change.
*Aplausos*
Brenda Hatchett is one of America's most famous judges.
And in what was supposed to be one of the happiest moments of her life, the dream of meeting her new grandson, she instead experienced an incredible nightmare.
Just twelve hours after a scheduled C-section, her daughter in law, Kira, tragically died.
Today, Judge Hatchett and her son, Charles, are here, opening up exclusively on how their family is coping and how Judge Hatchett's outrage over her daughter in law's death has sparked a legal battle of her own.
Judge Glennon Hatchett joins me now.
I know this is painful to revisit and I thank you very much for sharing your story.
Absolutely.
And I'm grateful.
I'm grateful to you, Dr. Oz, for caring enough to give voice to this important issue because I had no idea that so many women die needlessly from childbirth.
So thank you.
Well, we're going to talk about that whole big area, but I want to focus right now on you and your family.
It's been about a year.
Yes.
How are you coping?
It has been the most difficult challenge I've ever faced.
I pride myself on being a very strong woman, but this cut me to the core of my soul.
And there's days when I still cry, and I have sought counseling because it's not just my grief.
It is seeing my son under pain that I can't even describe.
How am I?
Seeing these precious babies without their mother.
How is he adjusting your son, Charles, to raising those beautiful kids?
It's painful to watch him go through this, but he is the best father, and these children are so blessed to have him.
Well he's going to be joining us in a few minutes.
Yes, yes, yes.
I want to go through the story a little bit.
So 12 hours after your grandson Langston is born, you lose Kira.
Kira.
What went through your mind when you actually found out that your daughter-in-law was gone?
I couldn't believe it.
It was surreal.
I just could not believe.
I mean, this is the most vibrant, loving woman.
This is a woman who spoke four languages, Chinese fluently.
She'd lived in China for three years.
She'd owned her business.
She raced cars.
She was a skydiver.
She was in excellent health.
And how could this happen?
This should not have happened.
They let her bleed to death for some 10 hours.
When we lose a loved one, a lot of times we'll replay that.
Yes.
And I'm sure you're doing that.
Tremendous youth.
What happened when you were there that you witnessed?
What were the last moments with Kira like for you?
Well, I hugged her and I prayed.
with her and I live on this side of optimism and I said you know cure it's all going to be fine because that's what the doctors told us that she would be fine.
Dr. Aiza would have never left that hospital and the guilt that I have carried for leaving that hospital that night, I would have called everybody I knew.
I would have had every specialist in there had I thought that we were at risk of losing her.
What did she say to you?
Before we left the condo that morning, we were sitting on the bed and she put her arm around me and she said, Mom, I'm nervous.
And I said, oh, it's going to be fine.
It's going to be great.
It's going to be everything.
It's going to be good.
And she hugged me.
me the last moment I saw her she hugged me I never thought that I'd never see her again and so this can't happen to other mothers and that's why I'm so grateful to you and your wonderful team here for us really talking about this today.
We want to change that.
Yes.
We are.
So I want to bring out Judge Hatchett's son, Charles.
He's going to come out next to speak a bit about his wife's death.
and the latest legal battle in order to get justice for Kira, but also change what's going on in America.
You'll be shocked when you understand how frequently we lose young mothers in this country stay with us folks call him a liar, a sociopath, a thug.
They believe he's a murderer.
Just a bunch of nonsense.
That message from OJ Simpson.
Mr. Simpson wanted me to let you know.
That's coming up tomorrow.
Hey, Langston.
We're waiting on you, buddy.
Everybody's here to celebrate.
Charlie.
I gotta say, it looks like it's Peppy.
Okay, thanks.
That was Kira Dixon just moments after her son was born and just hours before she tragically died from complications following a scheduled C section.
I'm here with her mother-in-law, Judge Glenda Hatchett, and Kira's husband Charles joins us now.
What's it like seeing your beautiful wife knowing that she only had a few hours to live?
It's difficult.
It's difficult, Dr. Oz.
You know, it was the happiest day of my life.
and so it took an incredible, unbelievable turn for the worst.
You're with her the entire time.
Yeah.
At what point did you start to think it wasn't going as planned right right well for me i first noticed that something wasn't right when we were in recovery shortly after she got back to recovery i started noticing the blood in her catheter bag turned pink from the urine from the urine and she was complaining a lot of pain she was becoming very pale and i could see from the signs visibly i'm not an expert but i could see that there were signs that something wasn't right Well,
you're your husband and a father.
Absolutely.
And you're a human being.
We can all sense it.
And trust our instincts is hard when you're in a hospital because so many crazy things are happening.
Right.
So what did you tell the doctors or the nurses or who was trying to help?
Absolutely.
So there was a team of doctors, nurses, and residents that were trying to assist.
And so once they noticed that stuff was, that something wasn't right, that she was showing signs of deteriorating, they ordered a series of tests as well as a CT scan that was supposed to be performed stat.
They ordered that at 6 o'clock.
Hours go by.
I'm asking them, when are they going for a scan?
They're telling me, oh, it's coming.
And so time is going by.
Myself, my mother, my in-laws, we are fighting for cure.
We're trying to advocate for somebody to do something because we're watching her condition deteriorate to the point where Dr. Eyes at one point they told me, you know what?
She's just not a priority right now.
Yeah.
And so to sit up here and look at my kids and for them to have that type of disregard at a facility like Cedarside, a hospital that's supposed to be the top medical facility in the world, is insane.
And so for hours we begged, we pleaded for them to take action, to do something.
And I'm watching her condition deteriorate.
I'm watching her fade in and out of consciousness.
I'm watching her in excruciating pain.
And you're telling me she's not a priority?
So when they finally did take her back to surgery, the only way that she finally went back to surgery is we finally had to go over the staff's head at the hospital and wake up the head of OB at home to go over their head to get it authorized for her to go back to surgery.
All the way up to the point where they're taking her back to surgery, my wife is, I'm holding her hand, they're rolling her down the hall, and She's telling me I'm scared and I'm doing the best I can to kind of hold it together for her and be brave even though I could tell that something wasn't right.
And the doctor, last thing the doctor told me before he rolled her into the operating room for the second surgery, he said, well, I'm just going to go back into the same incision that I made for the c-section to find out what's going on, and I'm going to fix it.
She'll be back in 15 minutes.
And that was the last time I saw my wife.
So...
They're in the operating room.
Who comes out and tells you what's going on?
Right.
So they take her back to the operatingating room, they put me in a waiting room, and it is pin drop quiet and after about 30 minutes go by a pair of doctors who are residents come out and they approach me there's a hall about 25 yards long and it looks like an attorney residents residents they're training train kids essentially right they come out and as they approach me as they get closer I can see the look on their faces a lot like the look you have right now I
tell them something's not right, the closer they get.
And so I'm bracing myself at this point.
And they tell me to sit down and they say to me, Charles, we couldn't be back there any longer without coming and telling you what's going on.
I'm saying, okay.
And they say, when the doctor opened Kira up, she coded immediately.
And I'm saying, what?
Well, what they said to me is they're continuing to work on her.
Her situation is critical.
So I know that you've heard a little about Kira and the type of person that she was.
She's amazing.
She's the closest thing, honest to God, Dr. Oscar, I've ever seen to a superhero.
So they're working on her.
She's going to be okay.
That's my mind.
She's going to be fine.
And so I say to these doctors, that's fine.
Thank you for coming.
Appreciate you telling me what's going on, but I need you to get back in there and bring me my wife back.
Right.
Get back in there and bring me my wife back.
And so they went back and threw out there for about another hour when the door opens again.
The same residents and another doctor who I've never seen before come making that same walk down the hall.
And I'm seeing those same the same the same looks on her face.
And.
They tell me that there was nothing they can do that she did that she passed.
uh I just remember everything just going like blank and just I don't even know how to describe that feeling just being hit with news like that.
And I'm still, even to this day, it's been over a year, but still even when I kind of go back and play these events in my head, it's still incredibly difficult just to simply get my mind around going into a hospital like Cedar Sinai Hospital, which is supposed to be one of the top hospitals in the world, with a woman that's not just in good health, but's in exceptional health, with a baby that from all of our prenatal visits has showed signs of being exceptionally healthy.
Walking in for a routine scheduled C-section.
And you're telling me that she's g difficult.
It's difficult, Dr. Oz.
Take a short break.
We'll be right back.
A new season of True Crime Tuesdays.
And now, True Crime Thursdays.
The cases that have kept you up at night, only on Dr. Oz.
I'm back with Judge Glenda Hatchett and her son Charles.
They're here speaking out about his wife, Kira's death following a scheduled C-section.
So, your older son, a year and a half.
old.
What are you telling him about where mom is?
Man, that bond between mother and son is amazing.
And they were so close.
And such an amazing mother.
And he asks, even to this day, you know, where is mommy?
Right?
And he'll ask me, where is mommy?
When is mommy coming home?
And I'll try and have that conversation explained to him.
Well, Charles, mommy's in heaven.
mommy's in your heart.
And I can't describe the pain when I want to go to heaven too.
Grandma G, when is she coming home and go get her and bring her home, Grandma G. Go get her.
You know, and that's why this is so important to us, Dr. Oz.
Charles is an incredibly private person.
I am...
I could not be prouder of him than I am for his strength and his courage, but also the decision to be transparent with this story.
I guess I'm so honored by your braveness.
It's hard to live this again.
That means a lot, Dr. Oz.
I appreciate it.
The passion you're both bringing to this, I think, can make change.
You've actually filed a lawsuit against the hospital where Kira died.
And I understand the opportunities having high profile, particularly thoughtful people with a tragic story have to change something that's happening all over America.
People who couldn't call the chairman of the department.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
They don't even know if that could have helped them because it's still happening.
So we reached out to Sidersana.
Here's what they said in part.
You've seen this.
Charles and Judge Hadget are demonstrating important leadership in raising awareness of preventable maternal deaths and that no mother should die giving birth.
They went on to say they've made changes to prevent this from happening again.
What are your thoughts about that statement and what are your hopes of what we can accomplish across America?
For me personally, I'd be very interested and I'd want to know specifically what those changes that Cedar Sinai has made are.
Right?
We hope not only to affect change at Cedar Sinai, but hospitals around the country.
And we're going as far as not only with the lawsuit, but we're working hard to press legislation that will protect mothers protect babies because this is an issue that is not partisan it's affecting people whether you're white black rich poor democrat republican if we're not protecting mothers and babies in this country dr oz what are we doing what are we doing god bless you both so i know the kids have been very important They're holding you together.
Your mom acknowledged that there are times she's worried about you because she's still your mom.
So if it's okay, I'd like to bring Charles V and Langston out.
Okay?
Yeah, definitely.
Come on out, guys.
I've been hearing them backstage.
Oh my goodness.
Thank you very much.
You're right there.
Did you say you say hi to Dr. Az?
He's a beautiful wife.
Hey.
Say that's a he said, Hey, Sean, say hi.
You say hi?
Hi.
He said it's a great.
Can you do Dr. Az high five, Charles?
Boom.
All right.
Say hi.
Say hi, everybody.
So, Charles, are you ready?
Are you ready?
Can you tell me why you love your daddy and grandmammy so much?
You're thinking about it still?
You're so cute.
Thank you so much.
And I'm so honored that you're willing to tell your story.
And put yourselves out there to make sure there are lots more beautiful ones who can enjoy both their parents.
Thank you so much.
Bless you all.
Absolutely.
Judge, I just thank you very much.
We'll be right back.
I want to talk to you eye to eye about what's going on with women having babies in America.
and I've got an expert who's going to help you understand what we need to do right now to change something that's really, really a problem.
Thank you.
What happened to Cura is happening more than you think.
In fact, the US has one of the highest rates of maternal deaths in the developed world.
So why are women dying during childbirth?
Up next, we demand answers.
I am outraged to see that the US has one of the worst maternal death rates in the developed world.
Think about how is that even possible?
Take a look at this chart.
Now just to point this out, this is 1990, 2000, 2015.
So last 25 years, right?
Some of these other big countries, Germany, France, Italy, they all have dropping rates of problems with childbirth.
It's on a decline, right?
But the US, well, guess what?
We're the orange line up there.
We're increasing.
Is this infuriating to you?
How is that possible?
Someone has to address why even big, important centers, and frankly, these little ADBD ones as well, over the country are somehow missing signs that mothers are in distress.
So we're joined now by OBGYN, Dr. Jessica Shepard, who knows a lot about this and deals with it in her practice.
And thank you for joining us.
Judge Akira and Judge Hatcher's story with her son Charles is so compelling to me.
It's the tip of the iceberg though.
So let's start there, but I want to broaden this.
The 21st century, we know a ton.
I can start hearts, open hearts, change hearts.
How is it possible women are dying during childbirth?
Something that has been in existence since we've been in existence.
And so when you showed that chart, that just quantifies and magnifies just how much of a problem this is as a health care provider, as an obgyN and a mom of two.
These statistics are infuriating and disturbing.
And those rates are because we have lack of communication.
We don't have access to care.
Prenatal care as well as postnatal care should be continued well after women have had their babies, but a lot of times they're not covered until twelve weeks after, which is not enough time.
And so again, we have women who are having babies who are older, who might need a little bit more assistance or care during their pregnancy.
You have women who have complex health care issues before pregnancy, so that's your hypertension, your diabetes, your heart issues.
And so in pregnancy, that can magnify some of those things.
But if you don't have the resources, if you don't have the access, if you don't have the care that you need, then you're very well likely to have some of these complications that we're seeing during pregnancy and after pregnancy.
It's such a continuing conversation that needs to happen.
I'll tell you one of my biggest issues, Exxon Shepard.
I think when the baby is born, the baby becomes the patient and we start forgetting about the mom.
You do.
So what's the actions to take?
What are we going to do?
This is the question that is so important for everyone to hear.
What can we do?
What can we do as a community?
What can we do as health care professionals?
That is really advocating to legislation for more bills that really look into maternal care, more research grants, insurance covering mothers up until a year after they have a baby.
That's when maternal morbidity covers.
and mortality covers up until a year after you have a baby.
So insurance should be covering moms who are sick.
We need to cover moms who are sick.
So in the meantime, yes.
Let's give everyone an extra step.
Our friends at the Association of Women's Health, Obstetrics and Neonatal Nurses have put together a one sheet for post birth warning signs.
I'm putting it up on my blog.
I want everyone who knows someone who's pregnant or thinking about getting pregnant to share this.
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