"The Retrievals is a powerfully narrated podcast that gives the women involved a voice - while the host takes a back seat. I was immediately hooked by the storytelling and the sound design is unobtrusive and sets the right mood. In this podcast, very good craftsmanship meets a gripping story."

- Sophie Rauch, MDR/ARD/Deutschlandradio/Diagnose: Unangepasst/Dark Agent

The Retrievals, hosted by Susan Burton and produced by Serial Productions, is a riveting five-part investigative series that reads like a forensic dismantling of institutional betrayal. What begins as a hopeful journey through IVF treatment and fertility clinic visits at Yale soon unravels into a disturbing story of pain, mistrust, and hidden agendas. Burton skillfully draws out testimonies from dozens of women who endured excruciating agony during egg retrieval procedures—only to later discover the nurse was secretly swapping their painkiller with saline.

The podcast is meticulous in its pacing, guiding listeners from the patients’ bewildered silence to their heartbreak, and ultimately to the courtroom where accountability—along with lingering ambiguity—comes into stark focus.

Balancing empathy with critical insight, Burton turns medical malpractice into a broader meditation on how women’s pain is normalized—and dismissed. What emerges is a narrative that is as morally urgent as it is emotionally devastating, exposing not just one nurse’s actions, but an entire system’s failure to protect the vulnerable.