My name is Marshall. I’m a compulsive gambler, and I’m an emergency physician. For years I was both at once and admitted to only one of them.

This first episode is the introduction. It starts in middle school at an arcade, with a coin pusher that taught me the draw before I had a word for it. It moves to medical school, a roommate’s rent check, and the lights going out. And it lands on the sentence that cost me the most: “I’m not this bad. I just need to cut down.”

Along the way I explain what the title means. What it's like being a doctor and looking at a patient with addiction and wondering why they wouldn’t just stop. I’ve also been the patient. The white coat was a calling, and it was a hiding place.

You’ll also hear how the show is built: story episodes in the order I lived it, and topic episodes that take one subject and look at it from both seats.

Next time: the gambling story, and how it developed.

Both Sides of the White Coat is personal experience, shared for information only. It is not legal advice or medical care, and listening doesn’t create a physician-patient relationship.

If you’re in immediate danger, call or text 988.

Speaking engagements and events: marshallnaquin.com

Consulting for licensed professionals in or possibly facing entry into a health program: professionalsupportconsulting.com