Past Programs
Doctors and Medical Professionals - 2002
2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002
Freud's Shadow
18/08/2002
The legacy of Dr Sigmund Freud is still with us. After a century of suspicion, ridicule, character assassination and scientific debunking, Freud has not only survived, but grown into a figure of mythic proportions. But what exactly is he today? Hardly a scientist: Freud's scientific credentials have not stood up to scrutiny all that well. Not really a religious figure: Freud had little time for the mystic realm. Barely a literary giant: few people actually read his work. Maybe he's evolved into a pop-culture guru - but does this mean he's approaching his use-by date?
Brain Death
23/06/2002
The organ transplant industry has given life to thousands of people. But it has also given us a new type of human: the beating heart cadaver, whose cerebral functions have shut down, but whose blood is still circulating in order to keep vital organs fresh. Until the early 1970s, such a person would have been considered alive. But since the concept of brain death was introduced, we now have to grapple with a new set of ethical questions and a new understanding of what it means to be human.
