A personal journey using film to teach medical ethics

This chapter presents the author's account of his use of film to teach a course on medical ethics. For a class on the issue of abortion, for instance, students watched the Public Broadcasting System film Abortion Clinic, from the Emmy award-winning television program Frontline, hosted by Jessica Savitch (initially aired on April 18, 1983). For another class that dealt with euthanasia, students viewed the film Dax's Case about an Air Force Reserve pilot who was horribly disfigured in a fire. The author also describes how he uses films dating from 1931 onwards to teach "doctoring" from a historical perspective. By focusing on doctors collectively or as particular subsets (e.g., women doctors, medical students, specialists, etc.), these presentations show what patients value or, by contrast, are concerned about with regard to medical care, as well as medical ethics.