Final Choice:
America Struggles with the Right to Die
Some
of the People Featured:
Dr.
Timothy Quill
Physician and professor of medicine who helped a patient
commit suicide and was involved in the landmark U.S. Supreme
Court case that cleared the way for states to legalize physician-assisted
suicide.
Betty
Rollin
TV network correspondent and author of Last Wish, in which
she describes helping her mother commit suicide.
Dr.
Fred Marcus
O ncologist, who has received many requests from patients
for assistance in dying and feels he should have the right
to help them.
Ed
Grossman
A 43-year-old patient of Dr. Marcus who is dying of lymphoma,
and has repeatedly requested assistance in committing suicide.
Dr.
Nancy Crumpacker
Oregon physician who has prescribed lethal doses for four
patients under the new law and believes that this is a choice
patients should have.
Martha
Lovell
Widow of an Oregon mailman who was an outspoken advocate
of the Death with Dignity Act and found great comfort in
it when it passed.
Wesley
Smith
Writer and consumer advocate, who believes that the push
for physician-assisted suicide means our culture no longer
values human life as it once did.
Jean
Nandi
Disabled rights activist who considered suicide when
she first realized that her disease would eventually cripple
her, and would have availed herself of physician-assisted
suicide if it had been legal.
Penny
Montemayor
Patient advocate with Coalition of Concerned Medical Professionals,
who believes poor people and minorities would be victimized
if physician-assisted suicide were legalized.
Dr.
John Kosina
Cardiologist, who feels that physician-assisted suicide
violates the Hippocratic oath and his religious beliefs
as a devout Catholic.
Betty
Breadth
A patient suffering from end-stage liver cancer, who made
arrangements to have Dr. Jack Kevorkian assist her in committing
suicide, but has postponed her plans because good hospice
care has alleviated her pain and other symptoms.
Akaisha
Kanerli
Betty's daughter, who feels that good hospice care has allowed
her mother and the rest of the family to heal old wounds,
deal with lifelong issues, and enjoy a fulfilling time together.
Credits:
Rita
Moreno, Narrator
Rita Moreno is the only woman to have won all four major
show business awards-the Oscar, Tony, Emmy and Grammy. Starring
in more than 30 movies before her Oscar-winning performance
in "West Side Story," Moreno won a Tony for her role on
Broadway as Googie Gomez in "The Ritz," two Emmys for her
appearances on "The Muppet Show" and "The Rockford Files"
and a Grammy for her 1972 performance on "The Electric Company
Album."
Pam
Rorke Levy, Producer
Pam Rorke Levy is a producer, writer and director of television
programming and educational software, with hundreds of titles
and more than 20 years of experience to her credit. She
has won more than 30 local Emmy Awards and three Iris Awards
from the National Association of Television Programming
Executives.
Charlotte
Grossman, Editor
Charlotte Grossman has been editing film documentaries for
television since 1968. Grossman has won both an Academy
Award and a National Emmy for her work. She currently edits
at her post production workshop, Charlotte Grossman Post
Production, in Tiburon, California.
Home
Video Information:
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