Title: This American Life

Date: 2008

Media type: Podcast

Format: Complete

TV Season-Episode: Switched-at-Birth

Category: Internal Dynamics of Families, Family Law and Policies, Ethical Issues and Delimmas

Keywords: response to crises, legal conflict, dilemmas

Rating: NR

Audience(s): Children Under 12, High School Age, College Age, Adults

Language: English

Film/Episode Summary: 2 Babies are switched at birth in a hospital in Wisconsin in 1951 and are not made aware of it for 43 years. The mother of one of the switched babies knew the day she brought the baby home that she had the wrong baby but kept it secret for all those years. An interview and analysis of the incident follows, raising many ethical and emotional dilemmas.

Comments or Recommendations for Teaching: What do you feel about the mother who kept it secret for 43 years? What conclusions do you draw about her actions? How does this make you perceive her? What are your feelings on the ethics of this situation? What role do you think genetics played in the lives of these girls and their development?

Places to view: Hulu

Contributor: Ian Brunzell-Looney