Horizon
Season 55 Episode 4 - Spina Bifida & Me
One in every 1,000 pregnancies in Britain has a spine or brain defect like spina bifida. 30 years ago, actress Ruth Madeley was one of them. Despite having spina bifida herself, it is a condition she doesn't fully understand. In this programme, Ruth sets out to discover why she has it, whether it could have been prevented and what it means for her future. Ruth meets the lord campaigning for a change in the law that he says could prevent thousands of birth defects. And she discovers that a pioneering surgery could offer a different future for babies diagnosed with spina bifida, by operating on them before they are even born. She discovers how this surgery was invented, meets the families whose lives it has changed and follows the team of British surgeons preparing to perform this extraordinary foetal surgery in the UK for the very first time. But Ruth also examines attitudes in Britain today and asks whether we should change the way we see disability.
Episodes in Season 55
My Amazing Brain: Richard's War
60 min
Teenagers vs Cancer: A User's Guide
60 min
How to Build a Time Machine
60 min
Spina Bifida & Me
60 min
Jupiter Revealed
60 min
Stopping Male Suicide
60 min
A Week Without Lying - The Honesty Experiment
60 min
The Placebo Experiment: Can My Brain Cure My Body?
60 min
Body Clock: What Makes Us Tick?
60 min
Avalanche: Making a Deadly Snowstorm
60 min
Vitamin Pills: Miracle or Myth?
60 min
Diagnosis on Demand? The Computer Will See You Now
60 min
The Contraceptive Pill: How Safe Is It?
60 min
