The Use of Feature Film to Teach Medical Ethics: Overview and Assessment

This paper describes a newly developed undergraduate university course¸ “Medical Ethics and Film.” During the semester, students viewed a series of feature films portraying dilemmas in bioethics. Prior to the films, a series of brief lectures, covering ethical theories influencing health care, was presented. In subsequent classes, immediately before the screening, students received a brief lecture on ethical dimensions of that week’s film. The instructor found that it was helpful to provide a structured framework to assist students in appreciating that different stakeholders in medical dilemmas could be behaving acted ethically depending upon the specific theory and principles employed. Quantitative course evaluation, using the California Critical Thinking Disposition Test (CCTDI), indicated a statistically significant increase on the Maturity of Judgment subscale. Qualitative comments about the course were positive. Film seems to be a useful modality to introduce students to ethical theories and their application.