When Doctors Get Cancer

Here's a video that starts out on the wrong foot with a misleading and gloomier than necessary title. But viewers who check it out will find a revelatory piece about the redefinition of the doctor/patient relationship. The depersonalized medical school mantra of attacking disease has not yet been replaced by the concept of healing the whole person. When Doctors Get Cancer examines the paradox of doctors who deny death, and looks at the issue of pain relief. When should a doctor stop trying to cure and focus on making the remainder of a patient's days livable? (It's worth noting, however, that the film was funded by Cerenex Pharmaceuticals, a company that no doubt benefits from greater use of pain killers). If the viewer can forgive that, there are other good ideas: that patients and doctors should be equal partners in healing, that doctors sometimes need to admit that they will be guiding cancer patients to death, and that people can "die healed." The video ends with a quote about doctor and patient "being on the edge of being" together. Recommended for libraries with strong health collections. (A. Laker)