Summary: In the drive to save lives, American medical technology prolongs the dying process for many, creating a number of end-of-life scenarios that have done much to rob death of its dignity and significance. This Fred Friendly Seminar, moderated by Harvard Law School's Arthur Miller, brings together a diverse group of panelists, including Yale professor Sherwin Nuland, author of How We Die;...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: More and more Americans are looking for opportunities to exert some measure of control over where and how they die. In this program, veteran PBS journalist Bill Moyers unravels the complexities underlying the many choices at the end of life, including the bitter debate over physician-assisted suicide. Three patients, their families, and their doctors discuss some of the hardest decisions,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: As appalling and unacceptable as domestic violence is, it often goes unaddressed-especially when inflicted upon those least likely to speak up. This program sheds light on abuse of the elderly with real-world, unscripted case studies. Norman, in his late seventies, suffers frequent beatings at the hands of his two adult sons, but refrains from pressing charges for fear of more severe abuse....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: To decrease the suffering of terminally ill patients, some doctors routinely prescribe strong painkillers-medications that, in effect, actually hasten the patient's death. What distinguishes such treatment from physician-assisted suicide? This program discusses legislative initiatives designed to protect patients from "disguised euthanasia"-and addresses the volatile question of whether such...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: At the end of life, what many Americans want is physical and spiritual comfort in a home setting. In this program, veteran PBS journalist Bill Moyers presents the important strides being made in the area of palliative care at pioneering institutions such as New York's Mt. Sinai Medical Center and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. These advances are bringing peace to those who fear that...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Many people report that being told they could no longer drive was even more difficult than receiving their diagnosis of Alzheimer's. This two-section program examines the numerous issues faced by dementia patients and their caregivers when a decision has to be made about driving. In section one patients and concerned family members express mutual frustration about giving up the keys as...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: Raising complex and timely questions about the warehousing of America's prison population, this program accompanies photographer Ron Levine on his mission to depict the physical, emotional, and psychological conditions of aging inmates-including those nearing death. Levine focuses his work on Alabama's Hamilton Institute for the Aged and Infirm, the first prison created specifically for elderly...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: In this program three married couples affected by Alzheimer's disease talk candidly with a clinical social worker about both physical and emotional changes that occur in their intimate relationships as a partner goes from being a spouse to a caregiver. Sexual expression becomes awkward or meaningless when a mate with dementia no longer recognizes a husband or wife, and the overall fabric of the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: Whether they want to or not, four out of five Americans will likely die in hospitals or nursing homes, and the care they get will depend on both who is providing it and who is footing the bill. In this program, veteran PBS journalist Bill Moyers introduces crusading medical professionals-including staff members of the Balm of Gilead Project in Birmingham, Alabama-who have dedicated themselves...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Most people are unwilling to confront aging-even many seniors live in denial of it. Some fear losing their independence and autonomy, while others simply can't accept the graying of their hair. This program explores the varied landscape of aging in America, presenting the realities-physical, medical, emotional, and economic-of growing old in a youth-obsessed society. Whether they are well off...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Norman is caught in a cycle of physical abuse at the hands of his grown son, and yet when given the opportunity to live safely apart from him in an adult care facility, says he would rather be home. In candid interviews Norman recalls the close relationship he once had with his son and expresses confusion about the brutal behavior the man now exhibits. He's reluctant to press charges and his...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: Thanks to recent advances in medicine, longevity is on the rise. But will America's youth-oriented society finally develop the maturity to respect its elders? And will the Medicare and Social Security infrastructures be able to meet the needs of the Baby Boomers? In this program, experts including medical ethicist David Solomon, the directors of the Aging with Dignity Institute and the Forever...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: In this program, NewsHour correspondent Susan Dentzer reports on life and death in Sun City, Arizona, a vibrant retirement community where hospice is the preferred form of end-of-life care. Dartmouth Medical School's John Wennberg and others consider the desire of many senior citizens with terminal illnesses to make peace with death rather than fight it. They also confront the fact that...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Although many cultures venerate their elders, looking to them as living repositories of wisdom and experience, America, with its "forever young" self-image, does not. Lacking societal support, how are Americans supposed to age well-to grow older with grace and understanding-and make life's final decades a meaningful experience? This program features the stories of exemplary individuals who,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Death, which sooner or later comes to all, is treated as a strangely taboo subject in America. In this program, veteran PBS journalist Bill Moyers describes the search for new ways of thinking-and talking-about dying. Forgoing the usual reluctance that most Americans show toward speaking about death, patients and medical professionals alike come forward to examine the end of life with honesty,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: A follow-up to the video A Thousand Tomorrows: Intimacy, Sexuality, and Alzheimer's, this program revisits Everett and Betty, married for 25 years when Betty was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, to document the changes that late-stage dementia brought to their sexual relationship. Central to the program is Everett's candid discussion with a social worker about his feelings and decisions regarding...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: Verbal attacks, death threats, duping them into signing away property, monitoring phone calls so other family members never find out what's going onin this program four women discuss the abuse they endured while living with their adult sons. Anne reveals what it's like to obtain a restraining order against her own child yet still want him to be a part of her life, and Rita wishes her son would...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011