In June 1990, Ruth Shulman and her family were returning from Palm Springs, California, to their home in Santa Monica when the car she was riding in crashed and overturned in a ditch along the freeway. Shulman was seriously injured and pinned inside the car. The paramedics who worked to free her were wearing microphones. The helicopter that brought her to the hospital emergency room had on board a crew from a real- life rescue television show. When Shulman saw herself on TV three months later, begging the paramedics to let her die, she was stunned and outraged. She sued for invasion of privacy, charging that her tragedy was taped without her knowledge or consent.

Shulman is just one of dozens of people across the nation who claim that their privacy has been invaded by broadcasters who televised them without their permission...