PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Eilmus, Ayden
AU  - Clayton, Jay
TI  - Eugenics and genetic screening in television medical dramas
AID  - 10.1136/medhum-2023-012882
DP  - 2024 Jun 01
TA  - Medical Humanities
PG  - 408--416
VI  - 50
IP  - 2
4099  - http://mh.bmj.com/content/50/2/408.short
4100  - http://mh.bmj.com/content/50/2/408.full
SO  - J Med Humanit2024 Jun 01; 50
AB  - Medical dramas offer unique insights into the way popular media makes sense of genetic technology and the ethics of its applications. In this paper we evaluate the contrasting depictions in television medical dramas of reproductive genetic screening and eugenics—two medical themes that some commentators see as closely related. By conducting a content analysis of 32 episodes of doctor shows featuring eugenic and/or genetic screening themes, we put the medical drama landscape in conversation with bioethics scholarship and mark a significant divergence between the two. While the academic literature has been parsing the possible relationship between genetic screening and eugenics for over 50 years, doctor shows tend to champion genetic screening as a powerful tool for promoting individual reproductive choice and criticise eugenics as a socially unjust infringement of reproductive freedom. In doing so, medical dramas mark a subtle but important moral distinction between the population-level implications of eugenics and the highly personal, emotional impact of genetic screening.All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplementary information.