HORIZONS IN BIOETHICS

The following videodramas, developed by the Jerusalem Religious Council, explore medical and ethical dilemmas by dealing with real-life problems.  The videos tackle some of life's most difficult questions through the eyes of the families, the medical staff, the ethicists, the hospitals and the courts, as society struggles to find answers.

"...Effective videos dealing with believable dilemmas concerning medical ethics and specifically the Jewish tradition based on divine law or halacha."-Video Rating Guide

"I am pleased to recommend the videotapes...a much needed service."-Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Ohr Torah Institutions

"Jewish law as it relates to modern medicine."-Rabbi Meyer Rabinowitz, Jewish Theological Seminary
 

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A Question of Authority
After a terrible fall, a pregnant mother is rushed to a hospital where, although she is declared "brain dead," she is kept alive by a respirator. The doctors want to deliver the baby by cesarean section in order to save its life. The father resists- he is afraid that the child may have suffered brain damage. The hospital administrator doesn't know what to do and calls in a judge to deliberate.  Who has the authority to determine whether the baby will live or die?  Is it the father?  The doctor?  The judge?  What would the mother have wanted?  When should the respirator be turned off?  Where does Jewish law (halacha) stand on the issues?

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ISBN 1-56082-096-9
25 min., #860, Color, DVD, $39.95
 

Dr. Grey’s Baby
Dr. Grey runs an experimental fertility clinic for couples, which enables the prospective parents to "design" their offspring. In addition, he has clandestinely embarked upon his own experiment - a fetus growing in a completely artificial womb. Should he keep the experiment a secret? When diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, should Dr. Grey’s own physician reveal the truth to his patients, thereby jeopardizing Dr. Grey’s revolutionary work? These thought-provoking questions and more, are answered from the perspective of medical ethics and Jewish Law.

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The Bottom Line
This video deals with real problems that the elderly face as they approach the end of their lives. What do we do when the advances of medical technology turn longevity into a curse? Two separate stories are intertwined in this powerful dramatization on aging. In one, gangrene in the leg of an 82 year-old woman threatens her life and doctors want to amputate, against her wishes.  In the second, a man with dementia, an incurable deterioration of the brain, simply chooses to stop eating.  Which is more important: life or the quality of life? Where does Jewish law come into play?  Where do we draw the line? Who decides?

 

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ISBN 1-56082-097-7
30 min., #861, Color, DVD, $39.95

My Name is John
Robert Morris is in dire need of a liver transplant. A cloning clinic will supply a healthy liver at a cost of $200,000. The liver, however, belongs to John, a clone who was genetically engineered specifically for organ transplantation. Would Jewish Law sanction such a procedure? Is it ethical? Are we allowed to clone a human being, even for the purpose of saving another’s life? What if the futuristic "golem" were to take revenge on his creator? These are but some of the issues confronted in this futuristic new video from the Jerusalem Religious Council.

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The Last Infusion
The Talmud describes a classic situation whereby two people are lost in the desert with only enough water for one of them. Which one gets the water? This scenario has many practical implications in today’s society. In an emergency situation with many casualties and only one remaining transfusion -who will get it? In a disaster such an earthquake or bombing - who do you save first? Patients, doctors, nurses, family and hospital administrations deal with these ethical questions on a daily basis. This dramatic video explores them in the light of Talmudic tradition and Jewish law.

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ISBN 1-56082-241-4
18 min., #869, Color, DVD, $39.95
Hebrew w/Eng. subtitles