Summary: On September 30, 2004, pharmaceutical giant Merck voluntarily withdrew its popular painkiller Vioxx after it was linked to increased risks of heart attack and stroke. Was Merck's move driven by genuine concern for patients? Or, given findings from earlier studies, was the recall a self-protective move that came too late? This CNBC investigation takes viewers through the process by which one of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: On August 9, 2001, President George W. Bush announced his support for federal funding of limited embryonic stem cell research. This NewsHour program offers a revealing snapshot of that historic intersection between science and public policy. It features a panel of ethicists and researchers expressing their views on the President's decisions-including University of Chicago professor Leon Kass,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Imagine a future in which physical strength and assertiveness are the top-selling items on "baby menus." This program explores that possibility and other frightening implications of market-driven genetic engineering. Showing how the government-funded Human Genome Project has become highly lucrative for pharmaceutical companies, the video examines cases of exploitative gene harvesting in Iceland...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: PGD, or pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, allows doctors and parents to screen brand-new embryos for genetic diseases. This program illustrates the PGD process and what it implies-from lifesaving medical solutions to what many see as the Nazi-esque disposal of life. The experiences of couples considering or undergoing PGD are featured-including the story of Leanne and Stephen, who ignited...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: A respected source of balanced, first-rate journalism, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer raises urgent and challenging questions whenever it covers the healthcare field. This anthology of NewsHour segments confronts ethical dilemmas and complex issues in medicine today. Through in-depth reporting and interviews with doctors, nurses, patients, and other experts, the anthology examines case studies,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Many who followed the Terri Schiavo case struggled to make sense of the flurry of opinions it generated. This NewsHour program, recorded during the last days of Terri Shiavo's life, presents two opposing yet thoroughly reasoned perspectives on the issues. Beth Israel Medical Center neurologist Dr. Russell Portenov explains the medical justification for removing the feeding tube, while Dr....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Jokes about test-tube babies may have faded into pop-culture history, but today, even though in vitro fertilization has helped millions of people become parents, the technology still leads some cultural observers to question its methods, applications, and moral impact. IVF can be used to weed out hereditary diseases, but this ability to select embryos based on DNA testing also raises fears...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: Will human cloning provide a panacea for ailments and diseases or usher in a nightmarish world of eugenics and designer people? This program presents an in-depth exploration of the ethical concerns regarding human cloning, a technology that has already prompted heated debate over its potential uses and abuses. A variety of perspectives are canvassed from the theological, legal, and scientific...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: When it comes to genetic testing, how much should a patient be told? If the news is bad, who else should the patient inform? And could-or should-such privileged information be made available to employers, insurance companies, and others? This Fred Friendly Seminar moderated by Harvard Law School's Arthur Miller offers a compelling discourse on the far-reaching ethical, social, legal, and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: In the drive to save lives, American medical technology prolongs the dying process for many, creating a number of end-of-life scenarios that have done much to rob death of its dignity and significance. This Fred Friendly Seminar, moderated by Harvard Law School's Arthur Miller, brings together a diverse group of panelists, including Yale professor Sherwin Nuland, author of How We Die;...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Some doctors are wary of prescribing medication for ADD or ADHD, especially when treating young patients-but the majority rely on psychotropic drugs. This program challenges the status quo, supported by a staggering amount of testimony and documentation. Incorporating detailed interviews with psychiatrists, neurologists, and education experts-as well as parents and kids who have suffered...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: If death comes without suffering, under the care of a physician and requested by an individual who desires peace and closure, what are the grounds for stopping it? This program investigates the various moral, religious, and philosophical perspectives surrounding euthanasia. Highlighting both pro and con arguments in the debate as it has taken shape in the United Kingdom, the video features such...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: It's one of the greatest breakthroughs in scientific history, but genetic engineering has also brought disturbing new questions. Should we push genetic research to its absolute limit, exploiting every discovery? What are the consequences of intervening in nature's processes at their most fundamental level? Outlining the potential benefits of genetic engineering, such as the treatment or cure of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: Along with the interventions that can sustain the life of a terminally ill senior citizen or a severely impaired premature baby have come a host of ethics-related dilemmas, and chief among them is when to suspend treatment. In this program, renowned theologian Martin Marty, of The Park Ridge Center; members of Lutheran General and Good Samaritan Hospitals' ethics advisory teams; hospice...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: America's frenzied debate over government health insurance has eclipsed another, no less challenging, national health care crisis-the plight of people with serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. This Fred Friendly Seminar sheds light on barriers to treatment, ethical and legal dilemmas, and fragmented social policies that are creating a nightmare for families, filling...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: This emotionally charged program filmed in Australia explores the ethics of whether, and in what circumstances, women and men with severe mental or physical disabilities should ever be sterilized. All parties involved desire a better quality of life for people who it is believed are incapable of fully comprehending and then acting on the issues for themselves. But is sterilization, performed in...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: While abortion will no doubt polarize our society for the foreseeable future, students can learn a great deal from the circumstances, anxieties, and life goals that surround the decision to end a pregnancy. This program presents a poignant and profoundly honest look at that decision through intimate discussions with young British women. Cheryl imagines other choices she might have made if her...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: For someone in desperate need of a kidney transplant, a willing donor holds the key to life. And for someone desperately poor, the opportunity to sell one of their kidneys could mean their family's survival. Though such transactions are illegal, many people, including some doctors and medical professionals, feel that they are justified. In this ABC News program, correspondent Gillian Findlay...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: In the expanding world of biotechnology, cells taken from aborted fetuses are seen as a promising resource for developing a variety of medical cures-although their use has sparked intense controversy. This program examines stem cell and fetal tissue research programs in the United States, Japan, and China and highlights the ethical concerns that surround these projects. Explaining why stem...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Could genetic research stigmatize people who carry a "bad" gene? Could their behavior actually be determined by that gene? If so, then just how free is free will? Moderated by Harvard Law School's Charles Ogletree, this Fred Friendly Seminar scrutinizes social, ethical, and legal issues involving genetic research into undesirable traits such as addiction to alcohol by exploring the relationship...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Her feeding tube removed, Terri Schiavo has passed away. Medically speaking, was she in a persistent vegetative state or a locked-in state? On that question hung Terri's fate for more than a decade. Was she alive in a meaningful sense? Her husband said no; her parents said yes. This ABC News program, broadcast at the time when Terri's case was brought before the Florida legislature and Governor...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: How far should people be allowed to go in trying to have better babies? And whose definition of “better” should prevail? This Fred Friendly Seminar moderated by Dateline NBC correspondent John Hockenberry considers the ethical dilemmas facing individuals and society that grow out of prenatal testing and genetic options that may be available in the future—such as cloning. Panelists include...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: On February 22, 1984, Carol Ann Vetter touched her 12-year-old son's hand for the first time. And when David Vetter died, shortly thereafter, he was already world famous: the boy in the plastic bubble. Mythologized as the plucky child who defied the odds, his life story is in fact even more dramatic. This PBS American Experience episode, The Boy in the Bubble, raises some of the most difficult...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: During her eight weeks of life, Leaney Lavea-born prematurely and with medically insurmountable abnormalities-was dependent on machines to live. But were these machines prolonging her life, or were they merely delaying her death? This deeply moving program explores the ethical dilemma surrounding a case that began in a hospital and ended up in court. Interviews with Baby L's parents, the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005