Secret History

Children of the Iron Lung (8x7)

Ausstrahlung: Sep 21, 2000

For the greater part of the twentieth century, polio spread panic throughout the western world and caused paralysis in its victims, who were encased in iron lungs and fitted with callipers to support their weakened limbs. The story of these years is explored through the memories of patients, medical staff and policy makers, and asks whether or not the government was too cautious in its introduction of the polio vaccine.