AAP - Section on Bioethics

On History, Literature, Media and the Arts in Medicine - Mary B. Adam, MD, MA, FAAP

On History, Literature, Media and the Arts in Medicine
This is a miscellaneous set of resources on media which are do not necessarily fit well with our other files. It incorporates the older Movies List. The order is movies first, then articles and finally miscellaneous Web links to various material.

Movie Intro:
Unlike previous generations of science fiction in movies and literature we currently live at a time when technological advances have moved our capabilities to places previously only imagined in science fiction. Scientists are now able to clone animals and some are working to clone human beings. Bioengineers, cell biologists, and clinicians are working together to build replacement body parts. Cybernetics, using bionic devices that enhance human capacities and xenogenetic tissue transplants from other species into human patients are being explored. Mapping of the human genome, a major milestone in our ability to understand the human instruction book, is now almost complete. The time is ripe for serious conversation about the path down which our technological advance is leading us. Many of these areas of biomedical research raise vexing issues. Can these technologies be harnessed for good and what risks to the human community might come along with technical "progress?" What does it mean to be human? Movies provide an esthetic opportunity explore questions raised by human cloning, artificial intelligence, and genetic engineering, and other bioethical issues. It is my contention that the bioethical debates of the 21st century are not the limited domain of scientists or bioethicists but are issues, which should be debated in the public square by the people, not just a subset of the intellectual elite. Below is a list of movies that explore a range of bioethical themes. If you are interested in discussion questions and a curriculum I have compiled one and it is available on the Web.

Bioethics and the Movies a curriculum

You may also find the Web site at the University of Kentucky on movies useful.

This British list may also be useful.

After the movie list, you will find some journal article references and other links on movies, books and art.

Movie list for AAP Section on Bioethics Web site
Artificial Intelligence 2001. A Steven Speilberg classic where a highly advanced robotic "boy" longs to become real and be truly loved by his human mother.
Bioethical Issues: Humans as machines or something more, scientific progress versus human progress, what makes a "perfect child."

Bicentennial Man 1999. This film staring Robin Williams as a robot who wants to become human is perhaps one of the most delightful and engaging movies to examine bioethical themes. Based on the book of the same title by Isaac Asimov the movie explores what it means to be human.
Bioethical issues: man as machine, scientific progress versus human progress,

Blindness 2008. The movie Blindness is now viewable in some areas. It concerns an epidemic in a city and how civilization breaks down.

Boys from Brazil 1978. This sci-fi thriller staring Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier examines the issue of human cloning in the context of an insane plot to resurrect Adolph Hitler and a 4th Reich. Bioethical issues: Human cloning, scientific progress versus human progress, role of evil in human existence.

Dark Victory with Bette Davis 1939 An intense film about a terminally-ill patient with a negative prognosis who marries her treating physician. He does not disclose specifics about her condition supposedly in the interest of her protection.
Bioethical issues: patient physician relationship

GATTACA 1997. GATTACA is a classic movie with Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman in a story of the quest for genetic enhancement and perfection.
Bioethical issues: genetic screening and genetic engineering, eugenics, what is the worth and value of a child, what makes a perfect human, can we transcend our genetic limitations.

Johnny Q with Denzel Washington 2002
A down-on-his luck father, whose insurance won't cover his son's heart transplant, takes the hospital's emergency room hostage until the doctors agree to perform the operation.
Issues of justice, access to health care, financial issues, organizational ethics versus individual ethical questions.
Bioethical Issues: distributive justice in health care

Million Dollar Baby with Clint Eastwood
The movie tells the story of a boxing trainer Frankie Dunn and a woman boxer Maggie Fitzgerald. Heralded as a great boxing movie, Maggie and Frankie face a battle that will demand more heart and courage than any they've ever known.
Bioethical issues: euthanasia, suicide, and assisted suicide

Minority Report 2002. This sci-fi thriller starring Tom Cruise and directed by Steven Speilberg where criminals are caught before they commit crimes and punished.
Bioethical Issues: Scientific research and protections of human subjects, neuroethics, sciences and scientists obligation to those born disabled or drug addicted, can we as humans predict evil.

The Dark Knight 2008. Mary Adam’s article in our fall 2008 newsletter is on the movie The Dark Knight.

The Sea Inside
Based on a true story, the film focuses on the life of Ramón Sampedro, a man paralyzed from the neck down who pursues legal action that will allow him to end his own life. Cared for lovingly by friends and family, Ramón has nevertheless reached a decision, after twenty-six years confined to his bed, that he does not want his life to continue.
Bioethical Issues: decision-making, competence, "life not worth living", physician assisted suicide.

The 6th Day with Arnold Schwarzenegger 2000. In this futuristic action movie Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a man who meets a clone of himself and stumbles into a power conspiracy of clones taking over the world.
Bioethical issues: human and animal cloning, human rights, animal rights, clone rights, issues of scientific progress versus human progress.

Whose Life is it Anyway with Richard Dryfuss 1981. Richard Dryfuss plays a sculptor Ken Harrison. One day he is involved in a car accident, and is paralyzed. He decides his life is no longer worth living and takes his physician to court in an effort to end his life.
Bioethical Issues: euthanasia, suicide, and assisted suicide, patient autonomy, physician role in decision making, patient competence to decide.

Articles by Author
Bhutta M. Doctor Glas. BMJ 2009;338:b476. A review of: Doctor Glas By Hjalmar Söderberg

Bud R. BMJ 2007;334:539. An article on Sinclair Lewis’ Arrowsmith.

Chapman S, MacKenzie R. Fainting schoolgirls wipe $A1bn off market value of Gardasil producer. BMJ. 2007;334:1195. On the power of media to affect stocks

Czarny M, Bodensiek E, et al. Medical and Nursing Students’ Television Viewing Habits: Potential Implications for Bioethics. AJOB. 8(12):1. Don’t forget the commentaries.

Dakin P. Brainwashing: the power of the psychiatrist portrayed in 1960s visual media. Medical Humanities. 2008;34:80-83.

De Beaufort I, Meulenberg F. The Dangers of Triage by Television. BMJ. 2007;334:1194-1195. On the Dutch “win a kidney” show

Didion, Joan. The Year of Magical Thinking. Vintage. ISBN-10: 1400078431. There is an article on this: Brennan F, Dash M. The year of magical thinking: Joan Didion and the dialectic of grief. Medical Humanities. 2008;34:35-39.

Douglas BC. Dickens’ characters on the couch: an example of teaching psychiatry using literature. Medical Humanities. 2008;34:64-69.

Emanuel EJ. What Cannot Be Said on Television About Health Care. JAMA. 2007;297(19): 2131-2133.

Fitzpatrick M. Medicine and the Media: From Hero to Zero. BMJ. 2008;336:479.

Fried NJ. The Angel Letters: Lessons That Dying Can Teach Us About Living. 2007. Chicago, Ill, Ivan R Dee Publisher. ISBN-13 978-1-56663-718-3. This is reviewed in JAMA. 2007;297:2770-2771.

Heaton KW. Faints, Fits, and Fatalities from Emotion in Shakespeare’s Characters: Survey of the Canon. BMJ. 2006;333:1335-1338.

Hemphill RR, et al. Trauma: Life in the ER? The Patient’s Perspective. South Med Jour. 2007;100(3):248-251.