Death and Dying Audio-Visuals

Note: This is a selected list of current videos as well as classics in the subject of Death and Dying.

After a Loss: The Journey of the Next Pregnancy
WQ 255 VC1 1995

Families coping and dealing with a new pregnancy after the loss of another infant during pregnancy or after delivery. (videocassette ½" -- 33 min)

After Our Baby Died
WS 430 VC1 1978

An overview of the sudden infant death syndrome. Includes parent reactions, a description of current research, and the components of an effective management program. (videocassette ½" -- 20 min)

Castles in the Sand
WH 250 VC2 1987

Documents a television reporter's fight against leukemia. Shows how he and his family cope with his illness and treatment. (videocassette ½" -- 55 min)

Children Die Too
WS 200 VC2 1990

Presents several families who have lost a child and discusses how they coped with the death. (videocassette ½" -- 26 min)

Choosing Death: a Health Quarterly/Frontline Special
W 50 VC12 1993

Examines difficulties physicians face in communicating with patients and their families about DNR (Do Not Resuscitate). Explores conflicts that may arise among health professionals faced with this situation. (videocassette ½" -- 117 min.)

Dax's Case
W 50 VC6 1984

Discusses the case of Donald (Dax) Cowart and his desire to die following severe burns over 65% of his body, the loss of his vision and hands. (videocassette ½" -- 57 min)

Death a Personal Understanding
BF 789 .D4 VC12 1998

Robert J. Kastenbaum explores a wide range of North American cultural perspectives on death within the context of current issues, including AIDS, death by violence, suicide, assisted suicide, hospice care, end of life decision making, and how children react to death.

1. What is Death?
2. The Dying Person
3. Facing Mortality
4. The Deathbed
5. Fear of Death and Dying
6. Sudden Death
7. A Child's View of Death
8. Grief and Bereavement
9. Death Rituals
10. The Good Death

(each videocassette ½" -- 30 min)

Death and Dying, the Physician's Perspective
W 62 VC2 1981

Presents interviews with physicians on patient death with accompanying scenes in the hospital setting. (videocassette ½" -- 29 min)

Death of One's Own
WB 310 VC4 2000

More and more Americans are looking for opportunities to exert some measure of control over where and how they die. In this program, Bill Moyers unravels the complexities underlying the many choices at the end of life, including the bitter debate over physician-assisted suicide. Three patients, their families and their doctors discuss some of the hardest decisions, including how to pay for care, what constitutes humane treatment, and how to balance dying and dignity. In the end, do these patients die the way they wanted? Yes...and no. (videocassette ½" -- 90 min)

Different Kind of Care
WB 310 VC3 2000

At the end of life, what many Americans want is physical and spiritual comfort in a home setting. Bill Moyers presents the important strides being made in the area of palliative care at pioneering institutions such as New York's Mt. Sinai Hospital and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. These advances are bringing peace to those who fear that they will be a burden to loved ones, will suffer needlessly, or will be abandoned in their hour of greatest need. (videocassette ½" -- 90 min)

End-of-Life Care for Children and Their Families
WS 105.5 .A8 VC1 1997

Explains principles of shared decision making. Suggests approaches to resolving ethical conflicts related to end-of-life care decisions and ways to help parents and caregivers cope with their grief. (videocassette ½" --ca. 41 min)

Facing AIDS: Stories of Healthcare Workers
WY 153.5 VC1 1993

Nurses and nurses' aides share their experiences caring for HIV/AIDS patients. (videocassette ½" -- 28 min.)

Facing death

• Providing Emotional, Physical & Spiritual Comfort to Loved Ones (videocassette ½" --33 min)
  BF 575 .G7 VC8 1997
• Practical Planning & Legal Issues (videocassette ½" --17 min)
  BF 575 .G7 VC9 1997
• Understanding End-of-Life Patient Needs (videocassette ½" --15 min)
  BF 575 .G7 VC10 1999
• The Gift of Life (videocassette ½" --13 min)
  BF 575 .G7 VC11 1999
• Teens Healing at Camp Brave Heart (videocassette ½" --22 min)
  BF 575 .G7 VC12 2002

Fall of Freddie the Leaf
BF 789 .D4 VC9 1985

In an allegory, Leo Buscaglia shares the tale of Freddie, a handsome leaf whose life has meaning for us. Freddie's life is one of joy and dignity, from birth in the spring, through the playfulness of summer and maturity of fall, to death in winter. (videocassette ½" -- 17 min)

Grief in America
BF 575 .G7 VC7 1997

Examines some common myths about grieving, the importance of social supports, the impact of ethnic traditions regarding grief and the social costs of unresolved grieving. (videocassette ½" -- 57 min 6 sec)

Living and Healing During Life-Threatening Illness
WX 28.61 VC1 1997

(videocassette ½" --44 min)

Living Wills
W 50 VC13 1993

Examines the concept of living wills and advance directives. This video may serve as a guide to viewers who may decide before the event whether they wish to be maintained on ventilators, fluids and drugs.
(videocassette ½" -- 30 min.)

Living With Dying
WB 310 VC2 2000

Death, which sooner or later comes to all, is treated as a strangely taboo subject in America. In this program, Bill Moyers describes the search for new ways of thinking-- and talking-- about dying. Forgoing the usual reluctance that most Americans show toward speaking about death, patients and medical professionals alike come forward to examine the end of life with honesty, courage, and even humor, demonstrating that dying can be an incredibly rich experience for both the terminally ill and their loved ones. (videocassette ½" -- 90 min.)

Managing Care, Managing Death
W 50 VC17 1999

Examines what distinctions may exist between prescribing strong painkillers to the terminally ill, even if such hastens death, and physician-assisted suicide. Discusses legislative initiatives designed to protect patients from "disguised euthanasia," and addresses the question whether such laws are a threat to the professional judgement of doctors. (videocassette ½" --30 min)

No Heroic Measures
W 50 VC9 1986

Portrays a woman's struggle in the nursing home and in the courtroom to have her incompetent aunt's feeding tube removed. (videocassette ½" -- 23 min)

Notes From the Edge: the Diary of Peter J. Morgan, M.D.
QZ 201 VC8 1997

Documentary detailing the experience of a young physician following his diagnosis with terminal cancer. (videocassette ½" --49 min)

Nothing Final: The Work of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
BF 789 .D4 VC3 1981

A documentary on the life and works of Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, featuring footage of house calls and hospital visits with dying patients. (videocassette ½" -- 50 min)

One Brief Life: the Baby L Case
WS 421 VC5 1999

During her eight weeks of life, Leaney Lavea, born prematurely and with medically insurmountable abnormalities, was dependent on machines to live. But were these machines prolonging her life or were they merely delaying her death? This program explores the ethical dilemma surrounding a case that began in a hospital and ended up in court. (videocassette ½" --40 min)

Those Who Stay Behind: When a Family Member Is Dying
BF 789 .D4 VC10 1999

Consists of interviews with five persons who have recently lost a family member. These personal narratives offer viewers an opportunity to identify with others and thereby decrease their own sense of isolation.
(videocassette ½" -- 31 min)

Time To Change
WB 310 VC5 2000

Whether they want to or not, four out of five Americans will likely die in hospitals or nursing homes and the care they get will depend on who is footing the bill. Bill Moyers introduces crusading medical professionals-- including staff members of the Balm of Gilead Project in Birmingham, Alabama-- who have dedicated themselves to improving end-of-life care by changing America's overburdened health system. (videocassette ½" -- 90 min)

To Choose No Harm: Ethical Decision-making at the End of Life
W 50 VC15 1996

Uses case studies of a young man with AIDS and a terminal cancer patient to discuss issues facing caregivers and patients at the end of life. (videocassette ½" -- 45 min)

When a Child is Dying
WS 200 VC4 2002

Families of four different children discuss their thoughts and feelings after the death of the child.
(videocassette ½" --56 min)

Who plays God?
W 50 VC18 1996

Explores life and death situations illustrating the ethical decisions made daily in modern American medicine. When is life support provided and stopped? Who gets the transplants, the best technology and treatment? Who lives longer and who does not? The program features five segments that portray choices concerning prolonged life support, the painful struggle of extremely premature babies, the allocation of organ transplants, the crises that accompany the inaccessibility of health insurance, and the often thwarted desire to die with dignity. (videocassette ½" --120 min)

Wit
WP 322 VC1 2001

An English professor, who alienates her students, has always had control over her life. That is until she is diagnosed with a devastating illness. She agrees to undergo a series of procedures that are brutal, extensive and experimental. She finds that the fine line between life and death can only be walked with wit. (videocassette ½" --99 min)