Videos are one of the teaching tools that CBEC uses with its students during its teaching sessions and workshops. In order to provide contextual storylines and associated ethical issues, CBEC started producing its own short film series a couple of years back. Called “Local Moral Worlds,” these videos cover a wide range of ethical concerns from various societal and medical viewpoints within local cultural perspectives. You can access this video series on our YouTube Channel or over here.
These video clips are accessible for free, and can be used for teaching with due acknowledgment.
A Tale of Two Worlds
Jannatville, a rich, gated community lies across the creek from Pariabad, a large slum that lacks even basic facilities such as drainage and water supply. When a dengue epidemic surfaces in both communities, issues of social justice and public health ethics become prominent. Against this backdrop, an international research team seeks permission from a local IRB to carry out a trial in Pariabad and another locality, for a drug, Fixit-W, that can be added to a community’s water supply and which potentially, can kill a mosquito that bites someone who has ingested Fixit-W. Issues such as justice, community engagement, and voluntary consent in public health research are highlighted in the movie.
Pushing Boundaries
CBEC’s latest production brings forward the ethical issues that arise due to choices that emerging technologies such as in-vitro fertilization provide to individuals. The movie explores the societal pressures in being a biological parent in traditional societies like Pakistan, and how it impacts family dynamics.
Between A Rock and a Hard Place
This production uncovers the ethical issues that arise due to deceased organ donation as they tend to play out within local contexts. The movie focuses on the dynamics of collective family decision-making processes in Pakistan. The video is meant to stimulate audiences in identifying different ethical challenges in procuring organs for organ transplantation, and consider solutions applicable within particularized situations.
Between Hope and Despair
This video discusses the ethical issues that can come up while conducting public health research in disaster struck areas. Issues related to the healthcare professionals, the community and the ethical review process have been highlighted in the video.
To Err is Human
To err is indeed human, and healthcare providers are as human as others. However, their errors have far greater significance as their acts of omission and commission can have an irremediable impact on those under their care. This video explores various aspects of medical mishaps while depicting incidents of error, negligence and near misses in the clinical setting. We hope that the video will generate an ethical discourse on why we err, and what to do when we do.
Walking a Tightrope
The stories depicted in this short video contrast the value of doing good for the patient against legal and institutional compulsions, when the two may be diametrically opposing forces. The video brings out the tensions healthcare providers face while trying to find a balance between the two, a challenge encountered quite frequently by medical practitioners.
Testing Times
As genetic screening and research becomes mainstream, it has also unravelled a lot of contentious ethical challenges. This short film explores some of these challenges, focusing on breast cancer screening and also highlights how research can often become conflated with clinical care, not only for the patient, but also for those involved in providing care.
Publish or Perish
This movie highlights several areas of scientific misconduct that can tempt researchers, driven by increasing pressures to publish research work in order to move up the academic ladder. Viewers will notice examples of plagiarism, fudging data, gifted authorship and other similar issues highlighted in this film. The film ends by touching the issue of whistle blowing.
More Than Meets the Eye
End of life issues form a major part of ethics consults all over the world. This teaching video depicts one such situation where a neurosurgeon faces an ethical dilemma regarding the care of a quadriplegic patient with Downs Syndrome who is ventilator dependent but not brain dead. The process of engaging a distraught family member to ascertain the wishes of the family, and the deliberations of an ethics consultation are depicted in this film.
A Matter of Trust
This movie raises issues of physician-pharmaceutical interaction, and how it can lead to potential conflicts of interest. It also explores the relationship of a patient with a physician and the ease with which therapeutic misconception creeps in when a physician assumes the role of a researcher.
To Tell or Not to Tell (09:02)
This movie explores issues related to family dynamics and informed consent when a patient’s family wishes to shield him from the harsh reality of his ailment and treatment. It portrays tensions between a physician’s duty to disclose illness and an individual’s autonomy and right to know, versus the protective feelings of his children.
The Sound of Silence (09:01)
This movie explores questions of informed consent in a hierarchical, male dominated environment. It brings out the issue of respecting the patient’s wishes and empowering the patient even when the individual appears to be disinterested. It also explores the issues of privacy and empathy in the interaction between physicians and patients.