September 8, 2000

The MGH is joining with organizations across the country to discuss ways to improve end-of-life care. The effort is in conjunction with the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) series "On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying," which airs Sept. 10 to 13 on local station WGBH, Channel 2. In this four-part series, Emmy Award-winning journalist Bill Moyers reports on the end-of-life struggles of more than a dozen patients, their families and their caregivers as they deal with the often complicated issues they must endure at the end of life.

Medical, professional and consumer organizations, as well as public television stations have been gearing up since last year to raise the level of awareness of this important issue, using the PBS series as a springboard. The MGH is forming a local coalition under the leadership of Michael Wilson, RN, of the MGH Burn Unit, and Andrew Billings, MD, of MGH Palliative Care Services. The MGH will host a community forum Sept. 14, noon to 3 pm in the Clinics 1 Amphitheater.

The MGH forum, which is sponsored by MGH Palliative Care Services and the MGH Center for Clinical and Professional Development, will feature the following guest speakers: Connie Dahlin, RN, of Palliative Care Services; Ellen Robinson, RN, PhD, an MGH ethicist; Michael McElhinny and Rev. Ana Ruth Higbee-Barzola of the MGH Chaplaincy; Taryn Pittman, MSN, of the MGH’s Blum Patient and Family Learning Center; and Wilson. Each speaker will discuss his or her specific discipline in reference to end-of-life issues. A 10-minute film summarizing the Moyer series will be shown, and printed information about such topics as health care proxies, advance directives and resource guides for end-of-life decisions will be available.

"We believe the series will touch people on many levels," says Wilson, who is coordinating the MGH forum. "Our intention is to provide the general public with a resource following the airing of the Moyer’s series. We feel that the hospital should be available for discussion and clarification of concerns in reference to where the health care system stands in regard to this important issue."

The MGH will be among many organizations in communities across the country to plan screenings, town hall meetings, training workshops for volunteers and medical professionals, interfaith discussion groups and many other events and activities that will raise public awareness and promote dialogue about these complex issues.