Give Me Your Weak begins with a young man, David Bowman (Roderick Ewing), suffering from myoclonus in a convalescent center shooting himself in despair over his declining health. Initially the police think it may have been a murder rather than a suicide because of the angle of the bullet, but after Quincy (Jack Klugman) consults further with friends Dr. Ciotti (Michael Constantine) and his son Tony (Paul Clemens) who knew the victim, this is ruled out as they confirm he was despondent and that his condition would have caused the unusual positioning of the gun. Dr. Ciotti and David also inform Quincy that the victim deteriorated because a drug that he had been taking was no longer available and the reason that it was pulled was because the Orphan Drug Act legislation that they lobbied for previously stalled in Congress. This leads Quincy and several other advocates to band together and lobby once again for the government and pharmaceutical companies to work together in making available lifesaving medications for disabling conditions which are not as common among the public.
I found this to be a rather interesting episode which picks up where a previous one left off and we learn that the initial campaign to get the pharmaceutical companies on board with this effort through government support was not successful. This is a rarity in the Quincy series as usually once we see a social problem addressed that is usually the end of it, but not here. I was further intrigued to learn that the follow up story was based on the real life struggle in Congress of getting this legislation passed where a Senator was holding up the bill for his own interests, very similar to the Simon Oakland character here. Given that this episode was based on actual events that helped lead to passage of legislation that helped benefit those suffering from rare diseases, I think that it is very compelling and effective.
During the final scenes, I incorrectly assumed that they were using stock footage of the protest march to the Senate offices, but I was surprised to then see guest stars from this episode in the actual crowd of those marching. As it turns out, 500 extras were hired to film this powerful scene and many of them were suffering from the conditions that would benefit from the Orphan Drug Act. Wow, this was pretty impressive and talk about making a statement!
While this Season 8 episode may not feature an intriguing murder mystery, it does tell an important story which mirrored real life events and surely had an impact in getting crucial legislation passed shortly thereafter, so for these reasons I feel that it was very worthwhile and I do recommend viewing!
I found this to be a rather interesting episode which picks up where a previous one left off and we learn that the initial campaign to get the pharmaceutical companies on board with this effort through government support was not successful. This is a rarity in the Quincy series as usually once we see a social problem addressed that is usually the end of it, but not here. I was further intrigued to learn that the follow up story was based on the real life struggle in Congress of getting this legislation passed where a Senator was holding up the bill for his own interests, very similar to the Simon Oakland character here. Given that this episode was based on actual events that helped lead to passage of legislation that helped benefit those suffering from rare diseases, I think that it is very compelling and effective.
During the final scenes, I incorrectly assumed that they were using stock footage of the protest march to the Senate offices, but I was surprised to then see guest stars from this episode in the actual crowd of those marching. As it turns out, 500 extras were hired to film this powerful scene and many of them were suffering from the conditions that would benefit from the Orphan Drug Act. Wow, this was pretty impressive and talk about making a statement!
While this Season 8 episode may not feature an intriguing murder mystery, it does tell an important story which mirrored real life events and surely had an impact in getting crucial legislation passed shortly thereafter, so for these reasons I feel that it was very worthwhile and I do recommend viewing!
