This might be the most emotional half hour of vintage television I have ever seen. Lassie appears to be gradually and irreversibly going blind due to a rare disease of the eye. Jeff skips school and brings Lassie to the (human) hospital in Capital City, determined to find a specialist who can help her. He ascends twelve flights of stairs with the seeing-impaired Lassie and sneaks into the office of the chief eye specialist at the hospital. The doctor is so impressed by Jeff's sacrificial devotion (Jeff even offers to have one of his eyes transplanted to Lassie) that he calls off all his appointments for that afternoon and operates on Lassie. Imagine a people-doctor operating on a dog!
This is one of the most memorable LASSIE episodes and is fittingly included on a recent DVD compilation of the series from Universal. Doubtless today, with all the energy devoted to improving the lives of pets, something could be done to help Lassie's condition through advanced veterinary science.
