Educational Media Reviews Online

In 1999, computer scientist Peter Wegner was hit by a bus while on a trip to London, and sustained critical brain injuries from which doctors were uncertain he would recover. Wegner was in a coma for four weeks, but eventually awoke and went on to regain most of his pre-accident function. Four years later, he has occasional memory lapses, difficulty concentrating, and experiences an inability to express complex concepts. But he continues to teach, perform research with colleagues, and enjoy life with his family and friends.

With a very high production quality, and an interesting and refreshing lack of narration, this film immediately engages the viewer in Peter Wegner’s story through interviews with family members, colleagues, and his neurologist. The film indirectly addresses the larger issues surrounding Wegner’s accident. Doctors initially gave him a 5% chance to survive and only a 5% chance on top of that to have brain function. At the time of the accident, Wegner had no written advance medical directives, nor had he ever explicitly stated his medical wishes to family members. His wife and sons, therefore, were faced with making decisions in the face of both medical uncertainty and uncertainty about Peter’s wishes for catastrophic medical care.

The film raises more questions than it answers, which may be the mark of a successful exercise in bioethics. Would advance directives have been useful in Wegner’s situation? How do we define a “satisfactory” recovery, and what if the involved parties disagree on that definition? This film serves as a good starting point for discussion in undergraduate classrooms, medical school ethics courses, or among practicing healthcare professionals. Recommended for academic or special library collections in ethics, bioethics, or healthcare administration.