Extreme Measures: Hollywood's threat against illegal experimentation on humans beings

Who is right? (1) to cure or to kill (2) the quality of life (3) medical ethics 

The Problem of the Homeless  Professional concern soon deepens into disbelief as Guy's investigation unearths the details of a private medical research program centering around one of the country's most revered medical figures - Dr. Lawrence Myrick (Gene Hackman). Guy's credibility, career and life are threatened as he edges ever closer to the unthinkable truth about the program, and the terrifying moral dilemma at its heart.

Thrillers have good guys and bad guys?!  As Hitchcock taught us, the best thrillers focus on the innocent man in the center. They make sure that the danger he faces is terrifying and just out of his control. Finally, through shear perseverance he somehow manages to thwart the villain.

a ring of familiarity?  sufficient realism  typical feel of immediacy  The city  The hospital

Would you do it?  It's an old question of what's right and what's wrong: if you could cure a disease by killing one person, would you do it? That's basically the premise which starts up Extreme Measures, an ultra-creepy little medical thriller by prolific filmmaker Michael Apted.

The hospital system?!  Guy's investigation leads him into a conspiratorial cover-up in the hospital system, an underground dwelling of human moles, and a cryptic research lab where groundbreaking medicine is practiced -- on human subjects. What's more is that the head of the research lab is none other than Dr. Lawrence Myrick (Gene Hackman), one of the country's most respected physicians.

Medical Lessons  According to McConnell, medical doctors, like everyone else, prefer to be judged on the basis of their intentions and feelings rather than on the objective consequences of their work. What is your response to such an argument?

Empiricism?  What is empiricism? Do you agree that medical science is empirical? Why or why not?

 Empiricism is generally regarded as being at the heart of the modern scientific method, that our theories should be based on our observations of the world rather than on intuition or faith; that is, empirical research, inductive reasoning and deductive logic.  Names associated with empiricism include Aristotle, Francis Bacon, John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume.

behavioral and medical cures  Which does McConnell believe to be the more important factors in curing diseases, the psychological factors or the biological factors? Please give instances to illustrate the distinction between behavioral and medical cures and then explain McConnell ’ s viewpoint.