Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice presenting free screenings documentary ‘Being Mortal’
Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice is presenting three free community screenings of the tdocumentary “Being Mortal” which explores the hopes of patients and families facing terminal illness and their relationships with the physicians who treat them.
The screenings will take place on April 26 at 2 p.m and 6 p.m. at Samaritan’s Administrative Office, 5 Eves Drive, Suite 300, Marlton, and on April 27 at 7 p.m., at Congregation M’Kor Shalom, 850 Evesham Road, Cherry Hill. After each screening, audience members can participate in a guided conversation on how to take concrete steps to identify and communicate wishes about end-of-life goals and preferences.
“Being Mortal” delves into the hopes of patients and families facing terminal illness. The film investigates the practice of caring for the dying and explores the relationships between patients and their doctors. It follows a surgeon, Dr. Atul Gawande, as he shares stories from the people and families he encounters. When Gawande’s own father gets cancer, his search for answers about how best to care for the dying becomes a personal quest. The film sheds light on how a medical system focused on cure often leaves out the sensitive conversations that need to happen so a patient’s true wishes can be known and honored at the end. The film is adapted from Gawande’s 2014 nationally best-selling book of the same name.
“Being Mortal” underscores the importance of people planning ahead and talking with family members about end-of-life decisions.
Joanne Rosen, Samaritan vice president of Marketing and Public Affairs, says, “In his book, Dr. Gawande says that ‘Hope is not a plan.’ We encourage our community members to be part of a national conversation that brings medical professionals and community members together around the shared responsibility of discussing what matters most to patients and families facing difficult treatment decisions. Samaritan is committed to encouraging everyone to learn how to have these conversations ahead of a medical crisis, preferably at their kitchen table, rather than in the ICU.”
Seventy percent of Americans say they would prefer to die at home, but nearly 70 percent die in hospitals and institutions. Ninety percent of Americans know they should have conversations about end-of-life care, yet only 30 percent have done so.
In February 2015, “Being Mortal” aired nationally on the PBS program “Frontline.” For more information about the film, visit http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/being-mortal/. More information about the book is at http://atulgawande.com/book/being-mortal/.
The free screening is made possible by a grant from The John and Wauna Harman Foundation in partnership with the Hospice Foundation of America.
