'Je ne suis pas un assassin' by Frédéric Chaussoy
Frédéric Chaussoy
Dr Frédéric Chaussoy, the intensivist who made the decision to turn off Vincent Humbert’s life support machine, shares his story in this short, powerful text. Blending a first-person account of the events leading up to Vincent’s death with engaged writing and insights from Chaussoy’s family, the text is an ardent defence of the doctor’s actions and calls France to do better at accompanying death.
'Tanner geht' by Wolfgang Prosinger
Wolfgang Prosinger
51-year-old Ulrich Tanner, who lived in Cologne, suffered from various incurable diseases and took his own life in Switzerland with the help of the organisation Dignitas. Journalist Wolfgang Prosinger accompanied and interviewed Tanner in his last months and wrote a book about his life and his decision to commit assisted suicide.
'Fade to Black' by Jeremy Ervine
Jeremy Ervine (dir.)
After learning that his oesophageal cancer has spread to his lungs, petrol station chain CEO Peter Short becomes the face of an Australian Senate assisted dying bill. This crowd-funded documentary recounts his political campaign, and his (unassisted) death, featuring interviews from Short’s family alongside ones from politicians and activists from both sides of the Australian right-to-die debate.
'Griefwalker' by Tim Wilson
Tim Wilson
Griefwalker profiles Stephen Jenkinson as he leads a palliative care counselling team at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital. The film is a meditation on grief, the fear of death, and the failure of palliative care to address this fear as patients near death.
End of Life Stories Workshop at McGill International Palliative Care Congress
Using end-of-life stories in films and photographs, this workshop shed light on the relationship between palliative care and assisted dying. It began with short presentations using material from Switzerland, France, California, and Québec. The second part of the workshop was a discussion of how patient stories complicate the assisted dying-palliative care relationship in Canada and abroad.