Vulnerability in Health Care

Auscultation is a dramatic short film set during a single VA clinic encounter between a medical student and a Marine veteran. Written by Quinlan Morrow, a fourth-year medical student at Loma Linda University, and directed by Coleman Weimer, the film is drawn from real experiences in the exam room. The word “auscultation” means listening to the body’s internal sounds, typically using a stethoscope. It is the physical exam technique at the heart of our film and a metaphor for what health care, at its best, can be: careful, deliberate attention to another human being. As the medical student gathers her VA patient’s history and auscultates his heart, her careful listening elicits vulnerability and opens the possibility for healing.

In U.S. healthcare, physicians are increasingly pitted against the clock while caring for patients. Auscultation challenges the idea that faster is better, highlighting the specific needs of the veteran population and the systemic pressures on physicians and their patients.

We are raising $30,000 to bring this film to life. Principal photography is planned for April 2026 at Loma Linda University. Your contribution directly supports production, post-production, a festival campaign, and beyond.

Synopsis:

What begins as a routine visit for a nasal spray refill becomes something more. As Quin takes Mr. Williams’s history, he reveals a complex past of combat trauma, substance use, and the pressure it has put on his relationships. She listens. A bond forms. Then the attending physician arrives, and in a matter of minutes, the intimacy of the visit is undone by the very efficiency the system rewards.