Near Death

Plot

A film about the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital. The film is concerned with how people face death. More specifically the film presents the complex interrelationships among patients, families, doctors, nurses, hospital staff and religious advisors as they confront the personal, ethical, medical, psychological, religious and legal issues involved in making decisions about whether or not to give life-sustaining treatment to dying patients.

Why watch

A nurse gently adjusts the sheets of a patient in a sterile hospital room, while family members gather, their faces etched with worry and sorrow. The film immerses you in the intimate and often heart-wrenching moments that unfold in a medical intensive care unit, where life and death decisions are made daily. Watching it feels like a quiet meditation on mortality, as you witness the complex interplay of emotions and ethical dilemmas faced by those at the brink of life.

Talking points

• the ethics of life-sustaining treatment
• the role of family in end-of-life decisions
• the impact of medical professionals on patient care
• the intersection of faith and medicine

Cultural context

If you liked this