Dr. Feelgood 2016
Distributed by Bullfrog Films, PO Box 149, Oley, PA 19547; 800-543-FROG (3764)
Produced by Sara Goldblatt, Eve Marson
Directed by Eve Marson
DVD, color, 84 min. (52 min. classroom version)
High School - General Adult
Drug Abuse, Drug Addiction, Health Care Ethics, Medicine, Pharmaceutical Industry, Public Health, Documentaries
Date Entered: 08/17/2017
Reviewed by Jeffrey Pearson, University of Michigan Ann ArborThe subtitle of the timely documentary, Dr. Feelgood: Dealer or Healer? voices the question that viewers will be asking themselves right up to the end of the film. Was Dr. William Hurwitz, a pain specialist convicted to jail time for drug trafficking, an ethical care provider with the welfare of his patients purely in mind, or an opportunistic opioid drug pusher with no regard for the lives of the patients he supplied?
Dr. Hurwitz’s story provides a fascinating overview of the history of the medical profession’s approach to pain management in the U.S. for the last 20 years. The film strikes the right balance in illustrating the ethical dilemma of prescribing addictive pain medications by spending equal time with patients who claim that Hurwitz saved their or their loved one’s lives and those who claim he destroyed them. The doctor himself gets the most screen time, and whether he is sincere or self-deluded in explaining his actions and motives is impossible to conclude. One thing is certain, he is probably largely responsible for the current conservative swing of the pain-management pendulum in this country.
This documentary is recommended for public and academic libraries and is valuable for courses on medical ethics and drug abuse.