Katherine,
        I watched the movie and agree fully.  The parallels were quite
obvious expecially when the friend who was a doctor pointed out to the
specialist that they could provide no double blind studies to support the
use of either the drugs or the surgery that they were pushing.  They were
also blackmailing the parents by threatening them that they would not allow
the parents to take the child to where he could get appropriate treatment
unless they met their conditions.  Sounds very much like power and control
issues once again.  The patriarchal approach that they know what is best and
that parents are doing a good job only as long as they agree is too common.
Jennifer