Health Ethics Video Guide
Title: If You Want a Girl Like Me (Discussions
in Bioethics Series)
Length: 12 min.
Produced: National Film Board Canada
Date: 1985
Location(s): ·P.H.E.N.
·The Bioethics Centre, U of A
·JW Scott Health Sciences Media Desk, U of
A VC022
·St. Joseph's College Ethics Centre
·Grant MacEwan Community College LRC R724 .D57
·Mount Royal College Library R724.F35
·Education Resource Centre For Continuing Care
V-105B
·Educational Media Services, University Extension
Centre, U of A V06332
·University of Lethbridge Library R 724 D56
·Lethbridge Community College Library V.T.
R 724 D57
·NAIT VTC 241
Description: This vignette features a poor, young
couple that give birth to a handicapped baby. The parents have to decide
whether to consent to a life saving operation to drain fluid from the
baby's brain and raise the baby with a handicap or refuse the treatment
and allow the child to die.
Medical Issues: ·baby born with Spina Bifida
and suffering from hydrocephalus
Ethical Issues: ·rights of the disabled
·life vs. not life - when does the value of
one outweigh the other?
·social problem of how to raise challenged
infant
·responsibility of society to parents and child
Perspective: A balanced view is presented.
Watchability: This is an old looking but well produced
public television quality program.
Comments: The program focuses more on social ethics
than health care ethics but is a good discussion tool for the limits
of the responsibility of health care per se in dealing with social problems.
It is recommended for personal viewing and for workshops or presentations
on broad questions of resource allocation and the importance of community
support and care.
Topics: ·An Analysis of the Values of Canadian
Health Care
·Ethical Issues at the Beginning of Life
·Resource Allocation
Title: Illness And Disability
Length: 1 hr.
Produced: University Of Hawaii
Date: 1993
Location(s): ·Educational Media Services, University
Extension Centre, U of A V05916
Description: Not Reviewed. (catalogue description:
"Examines chronic health problems and availability of supportive services.
Older people discuss how they cope with physical and mental illness,
and face tough decisions regarding institutionalization and costs of
long-term care.")
Title: The Image Of Nursing (Issues In
Nursing Series)
Length: 28 min.
Produced: Access Network
Date: 1992
Location(s): ·Red Deer College Library RT 41
I889
·Grant MacEwan Community College LRC RT6 .A1
P37
Description: Not Reviewed.
Title: Improving Communication: Helping
Patients Ask Questions
Reviewed By: Rachel Lynch
Length: 8 min.
Produced: Centre for Healthcare Ethics, St. Joseph's
Health System
Date: Not Available
Location(s): ·P.H.E.N.
·St. Joseph's College Ethics Centre
Description: Dr. Jack Glaser talks about good communication
and its absolute necessity for the issues listed below. Primarily this
is aimed at an Ethics Committee attacking the problem of poor communication
and the decreased quality of health care provider-patient relationships
at a time when prominent issues require excellent communication. Dr.
Glaser provides some concrete ideas for addressing the problem.
Medical Issues: ·CPR
Ethical Issues: ·advance directives
·health care provider&endash; patient relationships
·informed consent
·autonomy
·dignity
Perspective: Aimed at health care providers and
the institutions they are in. Geared especially to ethics committees.
Watchability: Very good.
Comments: Very good, concrete suggestions for beginning
to address the problem of decreased communication in the environment
of a busy, large institution and the health care setting as a whole.
Topics: ·Ethics Committees
Title: Improving On Nature
Length: Not Available
Produced: CBC-TV Film Production
Date: 1985
Location(s): ·Grande Prairie Regional College
Library CB/25/.P6/no.6
Description: Not Reviewed.
Title: In Sickness and In Health
Length: 29 min.
Produced: CBC
Date: 1993
Location(s) ·Mount Royal College Library RA412.5
C34 I5
Description: This is a television documentary that
looks at the Canadian health care system. It reviews the problem of
increasing health care costs.
Ethical Issues: implications of user fees
·rationing by limiting available resources
·resource allocation
·two-tier health care
·principles of the Canada Health Act
·impact of downsizing hospitals on patient
care
·health care industry's role in inducing demand
for services
·equating healthy populations with availability
for acute care and high technology resources
·importance of access to good care
·social belief that health care is free
·focus on the individual as responsible for
crisis as opposed to social pressures on the individual
Perspective: A balanced set of views is offered
in this program.
Watchability: This is a very well made private television
quality news program.
Comments: The video provides a good review of the
Canadian health care system. It doesn't engage the issues as much as
one would like. That is, the program reports what is being told about
the system but does not look at whether the comments offered to the
public are in fact true (not too "investigative" a report). The video
is recommended for private viewing.
Topics: ·Resource Allocation
·An Analysis of the Values in Canadian Health
Care
Title: In Sickness Or In Health: Making
Decisions In Long Term Care
Length: 33 min.
Produced: Health Professions Press
Date: 1990
Location(s): ·Education Resource Centre For
Continuing Care V- 1169
Description: Not Reviewed.
Title: In The Pink: Women And Women's
Health
Length: 1 hr.
Produced: Wilfred Laurier University
Date: 1992
Location(s): ·Mount Royal College Library RA564.85
I5
Description: Not Reviewed.
Title: Inner Healers
Length: 28 min.
Produced: CBC
Date: 1990
Location(s): ·Medicine Hat College Library
RZ400 I55
Description: Not Reviewed.
Title: Informed Consent (Medical - Legal
Issues Series)
Length: 10 min.
Produced: Access
Date: 1984
Location(s): ·Red Deer College Library KE 3663
I5 M439
Description: Not Reviewed. (catalogue description:
"Judgements from the Supreme Court of Canada in two noteworthy cases,
Hopp vs. Lepp and Reibl vs. Hughes, have had a dramatic impact on the
patient's right to information and his/her consent to medical treatment.")
Title: Institutional Policies (Ethics,
Values and Health Care Series)
Length: 23 min.
Produced: Concept Media
Date: 1980
Location(s): ·Lethbridge Community College
Library V.T. R 724 E8442
·Grant MacEwan Community College LRC RT85 .E82
Description: This is part of a made for discussion
program series that presents an issue and then stops to present some
discussion questions. This video looks at appropriate institutional
policies. Its aim is to sensitize health care professionals to various
kinds of dilemmas that occur in the institutional setting so as to enable
them to develop tools to help deal with these dilemmas. The video follows
the experience of three nurses and dilemmas they have faced.
Ethical Issues: ·the options for nurses when
forced to work in situations where they feel they are underqualified
·the obligation of a patient to participate
in the learning experience of a student learning to be a health care
professional
·anxiety as an indicator of possible ethical
problems
·the need for avenues to question the judgement/decisions
of administrative staff
·informed consent
·legal implications of private ownership in
for profit health care institutions
·the value of the elderly patient as compared
to other groups
Perspective: A balanced perspective is offered in
the U.S. health care context.
Watchability: This is not really a film. Rather,
it is a number of slides with voice over. It's alright, but a little
old looking. The medium itself is a little dry and boring to look at.
Comments: The video is successful at raising some
of the ethical issues that arise in the context of an institution. The
snippet regarding the health care student and the patient may be good
to use in a presentation on informed consent. The presentation, however,
really is a little hard to watch. The video is not recommended for use
in entirety - perhaps portions can be used.
Topics: ·Informed Consent
·Team Decision Making
Title: International Nursing: Who Benefits?
(Issues In Nursing Series)
Length: 26 min.
Produced: Access Network
Date: 1992
Location(s): ·Red Deer College Library RT 41
I889
·Grant MacEwan Community College LRC RT6 .A1
P37
Description: Not Reviewed.
Title: Invasive Treatments In The Geriatric
Patient: Considerations For Initiations And Care
Length: 15 min.
Produced: Geriatric Video Productions
Date: 1995
Location(s): ·Education Resource Centre For
Continuing Care V- 1235
Description: This is a documentary style look at
the ethical issues in the administration of invasive treatments in the
elderly.
Medical Issues: ·IV lines, feeding tubes, folic
catheters, and oxygen administration equipment in elderly patients.
Ethical Issues: ·competence of the elderly
·advance directives and the elderly
·autonomy/paternalism in the elderly
·importance of telling the elderly patient
of their rights (to refuse treatment, have a personal directive etc.)
·informed consent - importance of counselling
elderly patients with respect to their prognosis and the possible outcomes
of various treatments
·financial cost of maintaining care
·ethical dilemmas as arising when no advance
directives are available
Perspective: The video presents the elderly patient's
perspective.
Watchability: This is a very well made information
video quality program.
Comments: This program offers a very sensitive look
at some of the ethical issues arising in a geriatric setting when invasive
treatments are required. The video offers what ideal handling of various
cases might look like. As such, the video might be especially helpful
for a comparison of the ideal presented and the reality faced by those
working in continuing care. A discussion can be facilitated also around
how to accomplish the ideals presented in a home care setting. The first
half of the video (~ 7 min.) is all that really needs to be shown, as
the second half of the video focuses on the actual administration of
the various treatments discussed. The video is also worthwhile for personal
viewing.
Topics: ·Ethics and the Elderly
·Health Care and Technology
·Informed Consent
·Ethics and Long Term Care
·Ethics and Community Care
Title: Is This Life Worth Living?
Length: Not Available
Produced: Filmmakers Library
Date: 1987
Location(s): ·Grande Prairie Regional College
Library R 724 .I7
Description: Not Reviewed.
Title: The Kevorkian File - Frontline
Length: 56 min.
Produced: WGBH Educational Foundation
Date: 1994
Location(s): ·Lethbridge Community College
Library V.T. R 726 K4867
Description: Not Reviewed. (catalogue description:
"focuses on the relationship between Dr. Kevorkian and his patients
while presenting both sides of the debate on physician-assisted suicide.")
Title: Kidney Transplants in the Elderly
Length: 18 min.
Produced: U of A Health Sciences Media Services
Date: Not Available
Location(s): ·The Bioethics Centre, U of A
Description: This video features two conversations
between a physician and an elderly man (first at 71, then seven years
later after receiving the transplant) having difficulty with dialysis
and facing death. The man was first told he was not eligible for a kidney
transplant. Later he was given the option as a kidney became available
that was unsuitable for younger patients.
Medical Issues: ·kidney disease - given peritoneal
dialysis, got peritonitis and put on hemodialysis
Ethical Issues: ·patient autonomy
·end of life issues
·age discrimination in transplantation
·living wills and advanced directives
·resource allocation/rationing
Perspective: The video is in favour of transplantation
for the elderly patient.
Watchability: This is a home video quality program.
It is a little difficult to hear, especially in the second half of the
video. It is also a little slow, though gets more interesting as it
goes along.
Comments: This video is essentially a positive testimonial
for having transplantation in the elderly. It may be valuable for demonstrating
the effectiveness of transplantation in the elderly and for a discussion
on the rights of the elderly to health care in general. It is not recommended
for general viewing and not recommended for use in its entirety for
showing in a group setting.
Topics: ·Ethics and the Elderly
Title: The Last Days of Living
Length: 58 min.
Produced: NFB Canada
Date: 1994
Location(s): ·Medicine Hat College Library
R726.8 L3
Description: Not Reviewed.
Title: The Last Right
Length: 30 min.
Produced: National Film Board Of Canada
Date: 1985
Location(s): ·Education Resource Centre For
Continuing Care V- 251
·Mount Royal College Library R726.L38
Description: This is the dramatic presentation of
the case of a family where the grandfather begins to become mentally
ill, losing his memory and progressively his general bearings. The video
presents the impact on the family as he decides that his deteriorating
condition is devoid of dignity and that he plans to refuse nutrition
and hydration until he dies.
Medical Issues: ·hardening of the arteries
in the brain - senility
Ethical Issues: ·home care for the elderly
·responsibility of the family in caring for
one another, especially the elderly
·competence/autonomy/paternalism - especially
with respect to the elderly
·the right to die
·the right to refuse treatment
·personal directives
Perspective: The video focuses on the perspective
of the family and of the elderly gentleman.
Watchability: This is a very well made public television
quality program.
Comments: This presentation is particularly good
at offering a deeper look of the impact of individual health on the
members of a family. It raises important questions of the role of the
family in providing care and of competence in the elderly. It can be
a very good (though a little lengthy) video to show in a group setting.
It is not really amenable to being shortened. It would make for valuable
personal viewing.
Topics: ·Ethics and the Elderly
·An Analysis of the Values in Canadian Health
Care
·Personal Directives
·Introduction to Bioethics
·Ethics and Long Term Care
Title: Last Rights
Length: 58 min.
Produced: Carle Medical Communications
Date: 1987
Location(s): ·University Of Lethbridge Library
R 726 L38
·Lethbridge Community College Library V.T.
R 726 L377
Description: Not Reviewed. (catalogue description:
"Euthanasia or mercy killing is the controversial subject of this documentary
program which features filmed segments from the Hemlock Society's national
convention. This world-wide organization advocates legislation for physician-assisted
euthanasia for the terminally ill and promotes the laws recognizing
a plea of mercy killing. The program also examines the topic of 'living
wills' and the steps individuals can take to control their own medical
care.")
Title: The Latimer Case: Mercy Or Murder?
Length: 14 min.
Produced: CBC News in Review
Date: 1995
Location(s): ·Mount Royal College Library AN619042
Description: This is an investigative news report
on the case of a father of a severely disabled daughter who seeks to
alleviate her misery by causing her death, poisoning her with carbon
monoxide gas.
Medical Issues: ·severe cerebral palsy resulting
in severe disability and constant pain
Ethical Issues: ·whose decides what acceptable
quality of life is for the non-competent?
·euthanasia/assisted death
·the value of existence vs. non-existence
·social obligations to provide support for
caregivers
·difference between withdrawing/withholding
treatment
Perspective: The video offers a fairly balanced
view that is sympathetic to assisted death in this context.
Watchability: This is a very well made private television
quality program.
Comments: The video is effective at summarizing
some of the actual developments in the case but does not engage the
ethical elements very deeply. It does provide a good introduction into
the issue of caring for the not-competent patient in both group and
individual contexts. A useful tool might be comparing the case presented
in this video with that presented in the case of K'aila, the newborn
who needed an organ transplant to live, but whose family decided that
the treatment was not appropriate.
Topics: ·An Analysis of the Values in Canadian
Health Care
·Ethics and the Disabled
·Introduction to Bioethics
·Ethics and Long Term Care
Title: Laughter: Rx For Survival
Length: 1 hr.
Produced: OCSR Production
Date: 1991
Location(s): ·Educational Media Services, University
Extension Centre, U of A V05745
Description: Not Reviewed. (catalogue description:
"Joyce Anisman-Saltman, A.S., CAGS, focuses on the value of laughter
and its physiological benefits. Relates humorous anecdotes of life situations,
and the importance of having more laughter in your life.")
Title: Learning How to Give Birth
Length: Not Available
Produced: University of Alberta Health Sciences
Date: 1977
Location(s): ·Medicine Hat College Library
RG651 B5
Description: Not Reviewed.
Title: Lifestyle Choices: Your Health,
Baby's Health
Length: 1 hr. 30 min.
Produced: Varied Direction
Date: 1987
Location(s): ·Educational Media Services, University
Extension Centre, U of A V05854
Description: Not Reviewed. (catalogue description:
"Examines the range of choices available to influence the health of
a newborn baby. Includes choices involving nutrition, smoking, exercise,
alcohol and drugs. Showdown on Tobacco Road deals with the history of
smoking since the early 1900's. Explores the motives and strategies
used in advertising by tobacco companies and anti-smoking activists.")
Title: Lifestyles for Wellness
Length: 17 min.
Produced: AIMS Media
Date: 1987
Location(s): ·JW Scott Health Sciences Media
Desk, U of A NVC320
Description: This video provides a narrative on
how to achieve wellness through changes in one's own lifestyles.
Ethical Issues: ·definition of health
·individual vs. social responsibility for health
Perspective: The video presents an attitude that
is in favour of individual responsibility for personal health.
Watchability: This is a very well made public television
quality program.
Comments: The video is good at introducing the influence
of lifestyle on health but also succeeds in implicitly shifting full
responsibility to individual lifestyle for well being without regard
to greater social determinants. The video can be used to introduce a
discussion of the different definitions of health and the limitations
and benefits of centering the responsibility for health on the individual
as opposed to with greater determinants beyond individual control.
Topics: ·An Analysis of the Values in Canadian
Health Care
Title: Living Wills
Length: 30 min.
Produced: Films for the Humanities
Date: 1992
Location(s): ·Lethbridge Community College
Library V.T. R 726 L584
Description: Not Reviewed. (catalogue description:
"Examines the concept of living wills and advance directives. Spends
time with families in intensive care units, where they are forced to
make decisions about life-saving care; their experience may serve as
a guide to viewers who may want to decide before the event whether they
wish to be maintained on ventilators, fluids, and drugs. Patients, their
families, and doctors also present their views of the situation.")
Title: Living With Dying
Length: 28 min.
Produced: National Film Board Canada
Date: 1991
Location(s): ·JW Scott Health Sciences Media
Desk, U of A NVC509
·Medicine Hat College Library RC271 P33 L5
·Foothills Hospital Library (no call numbers)
Description: This is a docudrama style presentation
that follows the case of a man with terminal cancer and how he and his
wife cope with his condition.
Medical Issues: ·lymphoma
·Hodgkin's Disease
·cancer of the prostate
·Tuberculosis
Ethical Issues: ·palliative care
·end of life decision making
·advanced directives
·needs of the dying patient
·home care vs. hospital care
·preserving the autonomy of the terminally
ill patient at the end of life
Perspective: The video presents the presents a favourable
community care attitude.
Watchability: This is a well made documentary style
public television quality program.
Comments: This is a good story, that is warm to
watch but a little long in its entirety for use to begin a discussion.
The ethical issues are somewhat hidden, not explicitly mentioned. One
needs to be prepared well to bring the important ethical issues out.
Topics: ·End of Life Decision Making
·Personal Directives
·Ethics and Community Care
Title: Lobbying For Lives
Length: 30 min.
Produced: MediCinema
Date: 1988
Location(s): ·Red Deer College Library HF 6161
T6 M537
Description: Not Reviewed. (catalogue description:
"Documents how Canadian health groups beat the powerful tobacco industry
at its own political game to ban cigarette advertising in Canada. Illustrates
how lobbying is planned and carried out, how public opinion and politicians
are influenced through the mass media, and how laws actually get passed
in a legislative democracy.")
