Multimedia Reporting Fall 2021

Extremis Blog Post

In terms of ethics, it seemed questionable to me that the filmmakers were filming these situations. I do not feel as though many of these people were adequately able to consent to being filmed. For example, there was one man who could not identify any living family and was struggling to communicate with the doctor. It does not feel right to me to be filming this man, as it does not appear as though he could have consented to being filmed.

Speaking on a more general term, the film to me was interesting because of how well they depicted the stresses of all parties involved when one is nearing death, whether it be the doctors, the families, or the patient themselves. However, it was not a film that I would watch again because of how sad it was.

One question that I had was about how the final call is made regarding if they should take a patient off life support when the patient is unable to make the decision for themselves. While they have a team of workers with who they talk over the decision, who is the person that is tasked with making the final call?