Health in Modern Day America
From who pays for health care to what gets defined as an illness, health in modern day America is undergoing
radical rethinking. What is the optimal health care system? Who defines what boundaries separate illness
from health and who determines these boundaries? What is the ethical role of the physician in a patient's
treatment? What is the role of the patient in her/his own treatment? How much does America rely on drugs
as treatment for illness (think about the number of Prozac‐type drugs on the market)? Are Americans too
interested in the "easy way out" with drug treatment? According to statistics from CBS News and the Pew
Research Center, America is 4.6% of the world population yet we consume 42% of the world's prescription
medicines. The average American sees ten pharmaceutical ads each day. 20% of the work done by ad
agencies is in naming syndromes for pharmaceutical companies and every dollar spent on advertising by
those companies results in four dollars for the pharmaceutical company. In light of these facts, how much is
health care driven by pharmaceutical companies? By insurance companies? Are people who don't easily fit in
with society's dictates treated differently by mainstream America?
radical rethinking. What is the optimal health care system? Who defines what boundaries separate illness
from health and who determines these boundaries? What is the ethical role of the physician in a patient's
treatment? What is the role of the patient in her/his own treatment? How much does America rely on drugs
as treatment for illness (think about the number of Prozac‐type drugs on the market)? Are Americans too
interested in the "easy way out" with drug treatment? According to statistics from CBS News and the Pew
Research Center, America is 4.6% of the world population yet we consume 42% of the world's prescription
medicines. The average American sees ten pharmaceutical ads each day. 20% of the work done by ad
agencies is in naming syndromes for pharmaceutical companies and every dollar spent on advertising by
those companies results in four dollars for the pharmaceutical company. In light of these facts, how much is
health care driven by pharmaceutical companies? By insurance companies? Are people who don't easily fit in
with society's dictates treated differently by mainstream America?
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- StarsAl PacinoMeryl StreepEmma ThompsonIn 1985, Prior is diagnosed with AIDS and his lover Louis deserts him. Powerful lawyer Roy Cohn tempts Mormon and closeted gay Joe Pitt to the dark side. Joe and Louis get it on while Joe's wife Harper hallucinates an imaginary friend.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMartin SheenMarlon BrandoRobert DuvallA U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.
- DirectorPenny MarshallStarsRobert De NiroRobin WilliamsJulie KavnerDr. Sayer is a pioneering neurologist who wants to take a risk and give his patients who suffer from encephalitis a drug used for Parkinson's Disease. He tries it out on one man who miraculously wakes from his perpetual catatonic state.
- DirectorRon HowardStarsRussell CroweEd HarrisJennifer ConnellyA mathematical genius, John Nash made an astonishing discovery early in his career and stood on the brink of international acclaim. But the handsome and arrogant Nash soon found himself on a harrowing journey of self-discovery.
- DirectorAlan ParkerStarsMatthew ModineNicolas CageJohn HarkinsAfter two friends return home from the Vietnam War one becomes mentally unstable and obsesses with becoming a bird.
- DirectorEdmund GouldingStarsBette DavisGeorge BrentHumphrey BogartA young socialite is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, and must decide whether or not she'll meet her final days with dignity.
- DirectorRanda HainesStarsWilliam HurtChristine LahtiElizabeth PerkinsWhen a self-centered doctor is diagnosed with cancer, he becomes better able to empathize with his patients and appreciate a life outside his career.
- DirectorAllie LightStarsDeDe BloomAllie LightMairi McFallSeven women, including the filmmaker, describe their experiences with manic depression, multiple personalities, schizophrenia, euphoria and recovery. Academy Award winner Allie Light creates dream-like reenactments to capture the revelations of women who have witnessed the dark side of the imagination.
- DirectorJim AbrahamsStarsMeryl StreepFred WardSeth AdkinsThe story of one woman's struggle against a narrow-minded medical establishment.
- DirectorJames MangoldStarsWinona RyderAngelina JolieClea DuVallDirectionless teenager Susanna is rushed to Claymoore, a mental institution, after a supposed suicide attempt. There she befriends a group of troubled women who deeply influence her life.
- DirectorDonald WryeStarsTim MathesonCharles HaidMichael SacksFollow a group of interns in a large teaching hospital. When Chief Resident Jo has a breakdown, the interns are reluctantly placed under the tutelage of the senior resident, who's known as The Fatman. Like "M*A*S*H," "The Hospital," and "St. Elsewhere" (from which this story draws), this film is closer to the truth than the public wants to know.
- DirectorNick CassavetesStarsDenzel WashingtonRobert DuvallGabriela OlteanJohn Quincy Archibald takes a hospital emergency room hostage when his insurance won't cover his son's heart transplant.
- DirectorIrwin WinklerStarsHayden ChristensenKevin KlineKristin Scott ThomasWhen a man is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he takes custody of his misanthropic teenage son, for whom quality time means getting high, engaging in small-time prostitution, and avoiding his father.
- DirectorGeorge MillerStarsNick NolteSusan SarandonPeter UstinovLorenzo Odone, a Virginia 5-year-old, develops a degenerative nerve disease so rare that nobody is working on a cure, so his parents decide to immerse themselves in research and tackle the problem themselves.
- DirectorPaul Thomas AndersonStarsTom CruiseJason RobardsJulianne MooreAn epic mosaic of interrelated characters in search of love, forgiveness and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsJoan CrawfordJack CarsonZachary ScottA hard-working mother inches towards disaster as she divorces her husband and starts a successful restaurant business to support her spoiled daughter.
- DirectorPeter BogdanovichStarsCherEric StoltzSam ElliottA teenager with a massive facial skull deformity and biker gang mother attempt to live as normal a life as possible under the circumstances.
- DirectorJonathan DemmeStarsTom HanksDenzel WashingtonRoberta MaxwellWhen a man with HIV is fired by his law firm because of his condition, he hires a homophobic small-time lawyer as the only willing advocate for a wrongful dismissal suit.
- DirectorBarry LevinsonStarsDustin HoffmanTom CruiseValeria GolinoAfter a selfish L.A. yuppie learns his estranged father left a fortune to an autistic-savant brother in Ohio that he didn't know existed, he absconds with his brother and sets out across the country, hoping to gain a larger inheritance.
- DirectorTodd HaynesStarsJulianne MooreXander BerkeleyDean NorrisAn affluent and unexceptional homemaker in the suburbs develops multiple chemical sensitivity.
- DirectorMichael MooreStarsMichael MooreTucker AlbrizziEdward R. AnnisA documentary comparing the highly profitable American health care industry to other nations, and HMO horror stories including shotgun deaths.
- DirectorAnatole LitvakStarsOlivia de HavillandMark StevensLeo GennVirginia Cunningham can't recall how she landed in an asylum. In flashback, her husband Robert relates their courtship, marriage, and her developing symptoms. She remains in misery as Dr. Mark Kik tries to solve her problem.
- DirectorChris ColumbusStarsJulia RobertsSusan SarandonEd HarrisA terminally ill woman must deal with her ex-husband's new lover, who will be their children's stepmother.
- DirectorChristine JeffsStarsGwyneth PaltrowDaniel CraigLucy DavenportStory of the relationship between poets Edward James "Ted" Hughes and Sylvia Plath.
- DirectorGlenn JordanStarsHume CronynJessica TandyChristine BaranskiAn unusual love story in which a strange white dog appears and helps Sam Peek, a Georgia tree farmer, cope with the loss of his wife, Cora. Stars Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. From the Hallmark Hall of Fame Collection.
