On Our Own Terms

When Lena Brown died in 1942 at the age of 89, surrounded by her family and friends at home, her 17-year-old granddaughter washed and dressed her and then "sat" with her grandmother until she was buried the next morning. Although many of us envision this type of family-centered death for ourselves, statistics suggest that most of us will leave this life alone, in an unfamiliar hospital room, while being cared for by strangers who know little about us beyond our names and medical conditions. While celebrating the fact that the last 50 years have brought an explosion of medical knowledge and technological advances to help prolong our lives, On Our Own Terms, the latest series from the prolific Bill Moyers, invites viewers to explore a topic that society is reluctant to talk about: death. In volume one, Living with Dying, Moyers discusses with patients and their families the possibility of choosing how they want to spend their remaining time, and the role that culture and belief systems play in the decision making process. Volume two, A Different Kind of Care, which includes visits to New York's Mt. Sinai Hospital and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute, introduces the concept of palliative care, where the emphasis shifts from curing the disease to comfort and pain management. In A Death of One's Own, viewers meet three patients and their physicians, delving into the issues surrounding physician-assisted suicide, the financial devastation that can occur with homecare of a terminally ill family member, and the emotional toll on caregivers. Finally, A Time to Change introduces the viewer to the patients and staff of The Balm of Gilead Project in Birmingham, Alabama, a palliative care program that tries to improve end-of-life care by working to change the framework of the current healthcare system and encourage interagency cooperation. While bringing us face to face with our own mortality, On Our Own Terms beautifully and sensitively illustrates the need to put humane and empathetic treatment back into the dying process, encouraging us all to look at death not as a failure of the medical system, but as a natural part of life. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: H, C, P. (L. Stevens)