Extreme Measures is a crime thriller film directed by Michael Apted

Extreme Measures is a crime thriller film directed by Michael Apted

Extreme Measures is a crime thriller film directed by Michael Apted, and the main cast was Gene Hackman, Hugh Grant, David Morse and Sarah Parker. The film was released in 1996 and was based on novel “Extreme Measures” by Michael Palmer’s published in 1991. The film follows Dr Guy Luthan, a doctor who works in an emergency room in New York. One night comes across a homeless patient with a strange symptom which included a fluctuating heart rate. The homeless person was mentioning a drug he had never had of and had a wristband from a hospital he could not recognize. When the man dies, the doctor tries to find out about the man, but he finds out all the records and the body had disappeared. The doctor tries to follow up, but he is told by his superiors to drop the case.

When he continues trying to find out what happens, his professional and personal life gets sidetracked where cocaine gets planted in his house and his home ransacked. He gets arrested and convicted, which lead to him losing his job and his license to practice medicine. He later discovers that the homeless man like many other had fallen in hand of an organization led by Dr Lawrence Myrick that performed spinal experiments in an attempt to find a cure for paralysis and all had died. He gets persuaded to join the organization where he gets convinced that the test subjects are heroes, and that is worth a sacrifice of saving millions by killing one. Dr. guy admits that there is truth in that, but the victims did not accept to die, and that is murder. Myrick is later shot and killed by the hand of an FBI agent, his wife hands documentation and a disc regarding the research.

The ethical, moral problem represented by the film is that of practical ethics. The film deals with the subject of voluntariness and informed consent where it discusses the question would you kill one person to save millions of people. Two main themes run through the film, the involuntariness of the research subjects versus the benefit or gain that acquired through the research. There are instants of moral values that conflict with one another, Dr Myrick believes that it is ethical to experiment on a few people for the good of the future where many people will benefit from the research. While Dr Guy thinks that it is unethical to study on people without their consent, and it is a murder to kill people in the name of medical research.

The characters in the film get their moral guidance from utilitarian ethics where one believes in saving many by sacrificing few, while the other character believes that all lives are meaningful. Nobody should get killed to save others. Dr Myrick research involves the killing of homeless people to facilitate his research, his intention is good, but he does not conduct ethics in his practice. Dr. guy is ethical in that he wants to save the life of any human being no matter their condition and does not believe that sacrifices should make in science without the agreement of all the party involved.

The film provides a sketch of a grey area that needs researcher could carry to save advance medical science or save people. Although the intentions of Dr Myrick are good, his methods are unethical. Myrick wants to bypass the scientific community by secretively performing his experiment while ignoring all the guidelines on research ethics set by the scientific community. He avoids all the early stages of research such as animal research and moves to human research without the approval that could assess his plan for research.

The current standards of research ethics deem involuntariness of the medical research experiment unethical in that no person should be included in medical research against their will, especially if not aware of being involved. A person should h a choice whether or not they want to participate in the experiment. The issue of killing one to save many is a stunt that has many different sides of view and is open for debate. Some people may argue that killing a few numbers of people to save many is the right thing to do. Deontologist argues it is a principle not to kill another human being, and that should not intentionally kill a person to save others.

The film illustrates the importance of research ethics, open science and medical research consent procedure. When research ethics and code of conducts not followed, research may get conducted that harms the people involved to save many others. The difficulty of finding a balance between benefit and injury and the role of utilitarianism in medical ethic is seen in the film. It is essential to keep an open culture in science order to maintain integrity in science and research responsibility. When research get conducted, data should be shared, and trials registered at all time. Consent procedure well performed is essential in medical research in guarding the participant that must freely choose, and lack of consent procedure enables researchers to us people without their permission to advance medical science.

In conclusion, the film Extreme Measures follows the virtual of utilization ethics, where one as if it is ethical to kill one person to save millions of people. The fill follows Dr Myrick, who think that it is necessary to make sacrifices to succeed in medical science. The doctor experiments on homeless people which eventually kills them. Dr Guy believes that what Dr Myrick is doing is unethical. Although the intentions of Dr Myrick are good, his methods are wrong. The current standards of research ethics deem involuntariness of the medical research experiment unethical in that no person should be included in medical research against their will, especially if not aware of being involved. A person should be given a choice whether or not they want to participate in the experiment and When research is conducted, data should be shared and trials registered at all time.

What I have learnt from the film is that life is precious, and ethics should be followed when conducting any scientific research or experiment. When research ethics and code of conducts are not followed, the analysis may be performed that harms the people involved to save many others I have to learn that is important to follow code of conducts in my personal and professional life. When research conducted, data should be shared, and trials registered at all time.