Haley, Harold B.

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The Linacre QuarterlyVolume 31 | Number 4 Article 5November 1964Television Series on Catholic Approaches toMedical ProblemsHarold B. HaleyFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnqRecommended CitationHaley, Harold B. (1964) "Television Series on Catholic Approaches to Medical Problems," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 31: No. 4,Article 5.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol31/iss4/5J, ' I / Television Series on Catholic Approaches to Medical Problems HAROLD B. HALEY, MD. * The Catholic Physicians ' Guild of Chicago, during the early part of 1964, presented a series of 13 tele-vision programs on WTTW, Channel 11, Chicago. These were 30-minute shows carried from 8:00 to 8 :30 P.M. on Tuesday evenings. The reason prime time was available for such a program is that WTTW is an edu-cational station. The Archdiocese of Chicago has a Radio-Television Office under the direction of Rev. John Ban-ahan. This office is responsible for a considerable number of individual pro-grams or series on all Chicago stations throughout the year. These are planned and presented to appeal to a va riety of audiences and present a va riety of approaches. It was in this context that Father Banahan requested the coop-eration of the Catholic Physicians' Guild. We are reporting our experi-ences with this activity in order to call it to the attention of other Gui lds, possibly stimulate further work along these lines, and outline our resulting thoughts for the future . Each group involved has its own motivation in presenting such a pro-gram. Television stations, whether op-erated for profit or educational in nature, provide some hours for public service. They are interested in well-conceived, well-presented programs to fit into this time. The Archdiocese is, of course, interested in teaching. This includes teaching both Catholics and *Dr. H aley is president of the Chicago Catholi c Physicians' Guild. N OVEMBER, 1964 non-Catholics about the Catholic doc-tor and his medical ethics and prin-ciples. The general format was in the na-ture of a discussion ; participants were two lay moderators, two physicians, and either a third physician or a priest, depending on the given sub-ject. The subjects discussed were the following: Respect for Life The Family Parent-Child Relationships The Exceptional Child Sex Education Medical Institutions Surgery Psychiatry Research The Dying Patient Rehabilitation Geriatrics Medical Missions The Executive Committee of the Guild and an ad boe subcommittee of five members assisted Father Banahan in selecting the topics to be covered and the appropriate speakers. The ma-jority of the speakers were Guild members, but in some cases we in-vited non-member Catholic physicians to participate. The planning committee developed a series of questions on each topic. Before the broadcast, these were sent to the mod e r a tor s for study and to the panel members as suggestions of subjects they might wish to discuss. The panelists were 173 not held to the guideline ques-tions but were asked to bring in their own interests and viewpoints. In selec-tion of topics we specifically avoided the subj ects of abortion and birth control. This was done because we felt that to many people those two sub-jects represent the sum total of Cath-olic medical ethics. W e felt that, since they are discussed sufficiently in other forms, it was not necessary to cover these subjects in the present series. Formal clearance was obtained from the Medical Ethics Committee of the Chicago Medical Society. Such clear-ance is important and should be ob-tained early in the planning stage of a program or series. The idea for this series was origin-ally an interview session- that is, moderators interviewing a single phy-sician. The Guild felt it preferable to participate in a series of programs in which the focus was discussion among a group of physicians. In our series two lay moderators were present. Our feeling is that a single moderator is probably better. This then leads to related questions: Who should the moderator be-lay-man, priest or physician? A layman as the moderator offers the advantage of a viewpoint comparable to that of the audience. He will tend to keep subjects, viewpoints, and vocabulary from becoming too technical. On the other hand, since physicians and priests spend most of their time com-municating with laymen and have to be able to do this in meaningful ways, either should be able to do well as moderator. Whoever is moderator his role must be clearly defined in ' ad-vance: Is he to carry the program as an interviewer or is his mission to initiate the show and occasionally guide it gently, primarily serving as a catalyst to the free-flowing discus-sion between the members of the 174 panel? More spontaneity and better panelist participation results from the second alternative. The moderator should be prepared for a more active role in the occasional case when the panel might not carry itself. Another related question is the number of panel members. Our experience leads us to feel that for this type of pro- ~, gram three is a good number. If three are assigned and at the last moment one is prevented from appearing, pro-gram flow is not disturbed; if one member of the panel does not actively participate, the program flow still con-tinues. Exchange between several peo-ple appeared to be the most important factor in a successful program. In many areas, such as "Medical Institu-tions," "The Exceptional Child," "Re-search," and "The Dying Patient," it was felt that priests could significantly contribute to the discussion. On some other programs, discussion was car-ried on solely between physicians. In-formal conversation between panelists and moderator for 30-60 minutes prior to broadcast time aided in re-laxing people and having a free flow of discussion. The 3D-minute length of these pro-grams raised some questions. Some have asked : "Would it not have been better to have a smaller number of programs for the duration of an hour so that more depth could be had for the discussion?" The question was only theoretical, since 30 minutes was the time made available by the station. On the other hand, we felt that while increased depth would be valuable some people will watch a 3D-minute telecast of this serious na-ture who would not watch a longer one. Being televised on an educational station, our shows had no interrup-tions fo r station breaks or commer-cials. All in all , we feel advantages and disadvantages probably neutralized LINACRE QUARTERLY ) each other and one can plan according to the time available. Newspaper listings of this program were under the over-all title of the series which, derived by the non-physician portion of the planning group, ended up as " Life, Death, and Hippocrates. " It is our fee ling that listing of each week's program by specific subject for that week would stimulate more specific listener interest. The moderator raised some question that the programs were not sufficiently controversial. We felt that our purpose was not to stimulate controversy but rather to present Catholic viewpoints. The subject matter of the programs in many cases was such that major controversy would not ensue. Such programs as "Respect for Life, " "Par-ent-Child Relationships," and "Med-ical Missions" by their nature would be more informative than controver-sial. Where the subjects discussed were primarily moral and ethical principles, usually significant controversy con-cerning the principles themselves would not arise; controversy arises with specific applications of principles to particular si tuations. Therefore, if more argument is de-sired, probably the best way to induce it would be to present specific or hy-NOVEMBER, 1964 pothetical cases and explore the prin-ciples involved and possible resulting actions . Although we felt the problems dis-cussed in this series were well cov-ered from the viewpoint of good medical practice, it was found that on some programs spiritual aspects were not sufficiently emphasized. In any future programs we will try to have more emphasis in this area by includ-ing more spiritual material in our guideline questions and in suggestions to panelists and moderators. Such a series could also be used to further interracial and interfaith dia-logue. In the 13 programs, a total of 33 physicians participated. The larg-est number were general practitioners, internists, and surgeons, but repre-sentatives of eight other specific fields of medicine participated. All in all, it was an interesting and pleasant experience. The physi-cians involved were uniformly articu-late and projected a serious and sin-cere concern for the spiritual and medical aspects of their patients. Audi-ence response was favorable . It is our feeling that this is a Gui ld activity which we would like to extend in our community and that other Guilds might find worthwhi le. L75 

Television Series on Catholic Approaches to Medical Problems

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Television Series on Catholic Approaches to Medical Problems

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