+1 862 207 3288 : Reactions to “Extraordinary Measures”
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The discussion for this week will revolve around the movie, “Extraordinary Measures (2010).” Based on a true story, “Extraordinary Measures” illustrates the complexities of the healthcare system through a story about a father’s quest to find treatment for his children who are suffering from a rare disease.
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Before you begin, be sure to complete the readings and view “Extraordinary Measures.” There are several ways to access the movie – some of you may subscribe to a service such as Netflix, where it is available on DVD or Blu-Ray. Your local library may have it or be able to get a copy to lend to you. You may be able to find it from an online service such as Hulu or Redboxinstant. Lastly, you may want to purchase it from a business such as Amazon.
Your initial post should address the following questions:
1. When the father walks out on his job, the mother expresses fear and frustration when he returns, and reminds him that his family needs the health insurance that covers $40,000 in monthly costs for their children, including home healthcare and medical equipment. After reading “America’s uninsured crisis” and “Consumer-driven healthcare and the disadvantaged,” from the assigned readings this week, describe how the story might have been different had this family been living with less economic resources, or living in poverty.
2. Consider the language of key characters in the movie, from the perspective of medical sociology. The physician informed the parents that his daughter’s death would “be a blessing.” Researchers referred to “acceptable losses” that may occur in the process of discovering a cure. The parents argued that human life is invaluable and that both the health care system and the research cannot reduce human connection to purely objective terms. Discuss how each of these three perspectives are contributing to the goal of quality patient care and where they diverge.
3. The children and their parents were interacting with the healthcare system in a range of settings: home health care, their doctor’s office, the emergency room, and the hospital. As you observed this family in each of these settings, how would you describe the role of the parents, from a medical sociology perspective, within each of these settings, e.g. autonomy and control in interactions with home health personnel and in the hospital.
4. We often hear about the patient-centered revolution, and the availability of increasing options for patients to take control of their healthcare through consumer-driven health plans. Yet, one of the key points of the movie was that, ultimately, the parents had to work outside of the healthcare system in order to save their children’s lives, and joined with other families to achieve this goal together. In other words, their “revolution” was to work outside of the system. Discuss how the role of advocacy in the movie evolved from working within the system to working outside of it and what this means for the benefits and the limitations of the patient-centered revolution
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