Phil Ezra M.

Santos Ethical Considerations and Psychological

Treatment/Research

Awakenings:

A. Summary

Awakening is a movie that showed a story of a doctor who is unexperienced in an actual

medication with patients his only basis is research but somehow, he got into the mental
institution due to insufficient person thus they are forced to hire the Doctor in which is Dr. Sayer.
As the story continue Dr. Sayers observation led into a conclusion that the reflexes of patient are
still there and there might be a f Encephalitis this observation came through with his first patient
Lucy Fishman and then eventually tried other patients then become convinced that those patients
have Encephalitis. In his search for a cure, he came along with an idea of using the L-Dopa that
is used to treat Parkinson’s disease he thought that it could also be used as a treatment for the
patients with Encephalitis. He asked the superiors to perform an experiment to prove his intuition
this experiment begun with a consent form a mother of one patient that is the mother of
Leonardo Lowe with trial and error it finally showed an effectiveness and they tried it in all of
the patients under group with the same situation and they all become normal. With this result
patients want to be freed with the mental hospital but that don’t happen then it led or shall we say
over the time they realized that their normal condition is not permanent with this the experiment
is a semi failure as the story ends it showed that Dr. Sayer did not stop in finding the cure.

B. Identify the legal concepts or themes that were illustrated in the film. Describe the
scenes that are legal-related.
the concept or the theme of the movie that showed a legal process is that even though the
observation and theory of the doctor is done they don’t just proceed with an experiment
instead they proceed with caution and under the right procedure that happed when they
explained to mother of Leonard what could happen and what is the risk the Leonard is on
if the experiment and then explained that Leonard would be the first patient to undergo
with the experiment this is very vital and sensitive because this might be the major factor
whether the mother would agree or not then give the written consent that indicates that
Leonard would undergo with their experiment.
Phil Ezra M. Santos Ethical Considerations and Psychological
Treatment/Research
C. Granting that the legal-related situations/scenes in the movie happened in the
Philippines, determine the deviations from our law. Describe said situation/scene
and explain how it deviated from our law.
I don’t know if because this film is old that is why even tough, they have proceeded with
proper procedure it almost fast they just conducted the experiment. If that would happen
in our Country right now that would go under a lot of process just to be able to proceed.
As I remember it happened to Quezon City that they shut down a vaccine for some sort
because it is in experimental stage even though there is a waver my point is in our
country, we can’t just administer a medicine easily specially if it is experimental.
D. Give your Reflection and Reaction to the Movie
As a psychology student this movie is amazing for me plus this movie is a based on a true
story and this is motivational for me since his work is wonderful not only come from
curiosity but come from deep concern for his patients and not only that his works
contribution is also a factor because the experiment doesn’t meet the expectation but it
proves a major point because even it is temporary the patients felt normal again. And I
wish that some day my work can also be a great contribution in our field.