Response to the Documentary "Being Mortal" by FRONTLINE

    In the Documentary “Being Mortal” produced by FRONTLINE PBS we are shown how a surgeon is trying to become a better doctor through improving his communication skills by analyzing different coworkers of his to see how they are able to effectively communicate with their patients when they have conversations about death. During the documentary one of the key topics that is brought up is the appropriate time to have talks about death with patients, they mention that it is better to start the conversation of what the patient's would want to do at the end of their lives so they can plan accordingly. This is something I agree with because it would provide the patient with more comfort before they die. In the Documentary Norma Babineaux is a patient who had a conversation about dying and what she would want to do in her final months because she was at the point where the treatment she was receiving was doing more harm to her than good, however, because they had waited so long to have the conversation she was so sick that one of her final wishes which was to leave the hospital could not be fulfilled and she passed away a week later in the hospital (FRONTLINE PBS, 21:00). This shows that it is important to have conversations about death earlier in treatment because if doctors and patients speak about what would be easier and more fufilling for the patient they could have plan around the patients final wishes and make it so their experience dying is more enjoyable. Norma didn’t want to be in the hospital, she wanted to be in the comfort of her own home when she passed away and she unfortunately was not able to have that because they had left that conversation until she was too sick for anything else.