They take a real situation, and ask a bunch of people involved in medical ethics about what should happen, and they step through the case asking at each step "what's changed?" and why.
> Ashley is 14 years old when doctors discover a brain tumour. Tests reveal that it's highly treatable; there's a 95% chance of cure if he has a course of radiotherapy.
> Ashley begins the treatment but he has to wear a mask which makes him very anxious and the radiotherapy itself makes him sick. He finds it increasingly difficult to bear and he starts to miss his sessions.
> Despite patchy treatment Ashley's cancer goes into remission. He and his mother are thrilled but a routine follow-up scan a few months later shows that the cancer has returned.
> Ashley is adamant that he will not have the chemotherapy that is recommended this time. He threatens that he will run away if treatment is forced on him. Although Ashley is only 15 he is 6'2" and restraining him would not be easy.
> Should the medical team and his mother persuade him to have the chemotherapy? Or should they accept his decision, even though he is only 15?
I like all the listed podcasts, but IETC really grabs you emotionally and stays with you. I remember one in the most recent series about whether to amputate a woman's healthy leg:
> Six years earlier, Sarah injured her knee in a skiing accident and the intervening years have been dominated by operations to repair her knee, each followed by months of gruelling rehabilitation.
> But despite all this, Sarah's knee remains unstable and painful and it's taking its toll on her mental health.
> Various surgeons have refused to amputate her leg and recommend that she either accept her existing level of disability or agree to further operations.
> But Sarah is adamant - she wants her leg amputated. She doesn't want to live as she is and has lost faith in the medical profession's ability to give her a knee that will enable her to be active.
> The surgeon is caught in a dilemma - he appreciates how she feels but should he amputate her leg?