September 01, 2000
On our own terms: Bill Moyers on dying
Improving care for the dying–and ultimately, each of our experiences of dying–is the focus of growing concern for patients, families, health care professionals, and public policy specialists in the United States. From 9 to 10:30 p.m. each night from Sunday, September 10 to Wednesday, September 13, PBS aired a series produced and edited by Judith and Bill Moyers entitled “On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying.” The series followed the journey of more than a dozen individuals, their families, and their caregivers through the dying experience as they, according to Bill Moyers, “help us to understand dying not as a failure of medicine, but as a natural part of life.”
Through these individuals’ stories, the four episodes examined the following concerns: respect for cultural traditions and personal values influenced by generational, religious and family attitudes; the concept of palliative care (care that maximizes relief of pain and other symptoms as well as psychological, social, and spiritual support at the end of life) and its role in medical education; and genuine inclusion of the patient in making decisions about his or her care. In addition, the series provided a glimpse of programs and models of care that bring hospice ideas into mainstream health care in improving end of life care. Among those described is the Balm of Gilead project in Birmingham, Alabama.
The On Our Own Terms series was joined by a national outreach effort encouraging the development of local coalitions to improve care for the dying and to support caregivers. The series is produced by Public Affairs Television, Inc. and is presented on PBS by Thirteen/WNET New York.
In conjunction with the PBS Moyers on Dying series, the Georgia Collaborative to Improve End of Life Care partnered with Georgia Public TV to produce an additional one-hour program. This program highlighted patient and family experiences. It also explored current efforts in Georgia to begin making shifts in health care and in public culture around issues of death and dying. Particular attention was paid to the important challenges that our health care systems and health care professional education programs face as they reconsider the goals of care and actively partner with individuals and family in providing end of life care.
Other emphases in this Georgia segment included the following: the importance of supporting individuals and families in talking about death and dying and their end of life wishes; the need for further training for health care professionals in all aspects of end of life care; and the role of health care institutions – including nursing homes, hospitals, hospices and home health – in supporting high quality end of life care and continuity between care environments.
The Ethics Center has been a leading partner in the Georgia Collaborative to Improve End of Life Care. The Collaborative consists of 28 organizations, including each of the four medical schools in the state. Collaborative member organizations have been responsible for a number of projects to date: a survey of health care organizations regarding current end of life practices; a task force from the four medical schools to look at how end of life concerns are currently being taught to medical students and residents; a public engagement project involving eight pilot communities in the state; and a nursing home project.
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