Never Let Me Go
As children, Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy spend their childhood at an idyllic and secluded English boarding school. As they grow into adults, they must come to terms with the complexity and strength of their love for one another while also preparing for the haunting reality awaiting them.
Womb
A woman's consuming love forces her to bear the clone of her dead beloved. From his infancy to manhood, she faces the unavoidable complexities of her controversial decision.
The Body Snatcher
Edinburgh, 1831. Among those who undertake the illegal trade of grave robbery is Gray, ostensibly a cab driver. Formerly a medical student convicted of grave robbery, Gray holds a grudge against Dr. MacFarlane who had escaped detection and punishment.
THE A-CARE -Disusebody-
At the "Ijinzaka Clinic" day service, a revolutionary treatment devised by Director Urushihara is secretly spreading among the elderly. Aiming for the ultimate cost-effective care, the amputation of "Disusebody" (limbs with no hope of recovery) has reportedly led to unexpected positive side effects, such as patients feeling "lighter in body and mind" or "developing a gentler personality." Yagura, an editor who hears these rumors, senses a potential revolution in geriatric medicine and proposes a book deal to Urushihara. However, an internal whistleblower leak about the daycare center soon surfaces in a weekly magazine. Following a shocking incident at a patient's home, everything begins to spiral into darkness.
The House Where the Mermaid Sleeps
Kaoruko and Kazumasa Harima are a separated couple with two children. They plan to divorce once their daughter, Mizuho, enters elementary school. One day, they receive devastating news of their daughter falling into a coma after a near-drowning accident at a pool. The doctors declare her brain dead with no prospect of recovery and the couple must decide if they should donate her organs to others in need or to wait until her heart stops beating.
Le Dilemme d'Hippocrate
Black Jack
Adapted from the manga series "Black Jack"
Dr. Cook's Garden
A young doctor returns to his New England home town after a long absence. He visits with the town's kindly old physician, Dr. Cook, a man he has admired since childhood. However, he soon finds out that the old doctor isn't quite what he seems to be, and the young doctor finds his life in danger.
Discussions in Bioethics: A Chronic Problem
One of a series of short, open-ended dramas designed to stimulate discussion of values and ethics in relation to modern medical technology. This film considers the chronic patient's right to quality care, and the acutely ill patient's right to a hospital bed. Jean is suffering from multiple sclerosis and is almost completely paralyzed. It seems that the only ones who care about her are the nurses. With the arrival of a patient in need of an operation, it becomes apparent that chronic patients have little priority.
The Lazarus Syndrome
An adulterous newspaper reporter, who has just experienced a heart attack, pesters a doctor into investigating the questionable medical practices taking place at the hospital where both are residing.
The Belmont Report: Basic Ethical Principles and Their Application
This short film describes the three basic ethical principles that underlie research involving human subjects: respect for persons, beneficience, and justice. The film illustrates their application in case studies of biomedical and behavioral research; it also shows the principles at work in the resolution of ethical conflicts. These guiding principles are intended to protect research subjects, even as medicine and research continue to change over time.
Evolving Concern: Protection for Human Subjects
This short film recounts efforts in the 20th century to develop programs and procedures that protect human subjects of research. Citing selected historical events in behavioral and biomedical research, it shows how protections such as institutional review boards (IRBs) came about in the United States, and why they were needed.
More Than a Test: The Rise of the Unsilenced Movement
In this short documentary film, Unsilenced Movement founder Shelby Smith reveals the dark underbelly of voiding cystourethrograms (VCUGs), the "gold standard" diagnostic test to diagnose vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) in pediatric patients.
Balancing Society’s Mandates: Criteria for Protocol Review
Dr. Edmund Pellegrino, bioethicist and director of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, explains the basis for the criteria that an institutional review board (IRB) in the United States follows when reviewing research. He explains why IRB members might seek clarification or additional information from a researcher.