REVIEW: Consider the Conversation 2: Stories about Cure, Relief, and Comfort

by Beth Budinger Fahlberg PhD, RN, CHPNA physician, when asked how he wants to live at the end-of-life, states “I want to die in my own bed in my bedroom, holding my wife.” Yet how do most Americans die? In a hospital room after prolonged multi-system health issues, with a seemingly endless series of hospitalizations, procedures, tests, treatments and medications, and self-care regimens. This discrepancy between the “ideal” view of death and the reality of death in America today is the challenge explored in the new award-winning documentary, Consider the Conversation 2: Stories about Cure, Relief, and Comfort. This is the second film by Michael Bernhagen and Terry Kaldhusdal, who produced Consider the Conversation: A Documentary on a Taboo Subject in 2011. Over the course of Consider the Conversation 2 (CTC2), we learn from physicians and patients about the importance of communication in navigating the uncertainties and the many decisions associated with chronic serious illness. Palliative care and communication are forefront in this movie, which includes interviews with Palliative Medicine experts including Diane Meier, James Tulsky, Anthony Galanos and Jim Cleary. While the perspectives and information provided by these medical experts is a critical element of this film, the most powerful messages about communication come from the patients themselves:Laura, whose journey through cancer treatment is prompting her to take care of things for her loved ones. She talks a...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - Category: Palliative Carer Workers Tags: fahlberg film public education public engagement television tv Source Type: blogs