Holby City – Resource allocation UPDATE

The most recent episode of Holby City is available to view of download on via the BBC iPlayer.

Following on from the recent BioethicsBytes post Holby City – “If you can’t look after yourself, then why should we?” (published on January 21 2009; updated February 4th 2009), which concerned ethical issues in NHS resource allocation as highlighted by two episodes of the BBC1 drama Holby City, this update post covers events in more recent episodes of Holby City – including the denouement to the storyline, as depicted in Feet of Clay.

The storyline concerns the “zero tolerance” policy implemented by Head of Surgery, Dr Ric Griffin (Hugh Quarshie), who is refusing to authorise surgical procedures for patients whose lifestyle choices may have contributed to their illness. Previous posts have covered the instigation of this policy in the episode Just (first broadcast on BBC1 on January 20 2009, at 20.00; TRILT Identifier: 00D15A4E),  and the events and debates this creates between the characters in Tough Love (first broadcast on BBC1 on February 3 2009, at 20.00; TRILT Identifier: 00D8E505). This post notes relevant events in the subsequent episodes Trust, Truth and Mercy, and Take Her Breath Away, and the closure of the storyline in Feet of Clay.

Darwin’s Dangerous Idea – Born Equal? (BBC2)

This episode of Darwin's Dangerous Idea can be viewed online via the BBC iPlayer until April7 2009.

In the three-part series, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, broadcast on BBC2 to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species, broadcaster Andrew Marr explores the impact of the theory of evolution by natural selection on science, politics and society.

While the first and third episodes, respectively entitled Body and Soul and Life and Death, explore the historical spread of Darwin’s theory and the way it can be employed within conservation and ecology, the second episode, Born Equal?, includes a short section (between 00:45:12 and 00:56:20) that could be used in bioethics teaching.