Being Mortal:
e is going to die soon is one of the most avoided conversations in the medical world. Part of it can be that the patient or their family isn’t ready to hear that prognosis. There is also hesitation from medical professionals who likewise want to keep hope alive even if they see no other outlet.
“It is the elephant in the room,” said Dr. Julie Benson of Lakewood Health System. “We want to open these conversations, because we are terrible at it.”
Lakewood is helping equip people to have those conversations with free community screenings of a documentary, “Being Mortal,” at 2 and 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 7 at the Staples Centennial Auditorium. After the screening, audience members can participate in a guided conversation with panel members on how to take steps to identify and communicate wishes about end-of-life goals and preferences.
According to a Lakewood press release, 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 Dr. 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 a 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.
Benson said one of the poignent lines in the film is “When you enter hospice, you become a person, not a patient.” She recognizes how the whirlwind of tests and treatments can be hard on patients, and how it is a completely different feeling when they enter hospice. Hospice is used for making a person comfortable as they approach death.
Benson does Palliative Care at Lakewood, which helps people cope with pain. She said the most important thing in Palliative Care is to listen to the patient. That’s one of the points in “Being Mortal,” where Dr. Gawande and his colleagues listen to the personal stories of their patients and help them reach decisions based on those stories. The focus of the medical staff is to help people live the best life possible with the time they have left.
From the Lakewood press release: “Being Mortal” underscores the importance of people planning ahead and talking with family members about end-of-life decisions. 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.
The Feb. 7 screening will allow attendees to get connected to professionals who can help with the planning process. One option is an advance healthcare directive, in which each person can state their preferences for the types of medical procedures they are comfortable receiving. That can become valuable if the person is in a situation where he or she is unable to respond.
The Lakewood team pointed out that the conversation has been successful in other communities, such as La Crosse, Wisc., where 96 percent of the population has an advance directive. The success of the La Crosse efforts show that death is not a foreign topic for everybody, and it makes the conversations easier when the time comes when they’re needed.
