Movies Similar to Quincy, M.E.: Seldom Silent, Never Heard (1981)

After a teenager suffering from Tourette's Syndrome dies in a fall, Dr. Arthur Ciotti (Michael Constantine) shows up in the autopsy lab and makes an unusual request of medical examiner Quincy (Jack Klugman). Ciotti wants to take possession of the dead boy's brain in hopes of finding a cure for Tourette's. It turns out that Ciotti has been campaigning for years to persuade the pharamaceutical company which employs him to finance similar research, but to no avail; there simply isn't enough "profit" in something as rare as Tourette's. As the story progresses, Quincy becomes a staunch crusader on behalf of government-funded research for "orphan" diseases. This episode and its eighth-season followup "ive Me Your Weak" were instrumental in the ultimate passage of the real-life Orphan Drugs Act. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi