spikeshome-05684 I watched my Momma pass away in our childhood home as she was at the age of 69, just one day after Thanksgiving 2015. She had been a survivor of ovarian cancer and 8 years after that diagnosis, she had another scan and they found cancer in her tight lung. She had a surgery for that. In a quick time cancer metastasized to her liver. She endured many months of chemo. My Mom was quite the fighter through and through. I was with her for the most of this. Cancer grew in her liver despite the chemo and then had metastasized again into her brain where two tumors were found in the back part of her brain and one smaller one in the front.She endured radiation on her brain. The chemo had been stopped after a trial of the newest chemo type medication that helps the immune system fight against cancer. But by that time, her immune system was terribly damaged by the chemo and cancer so the medicine was useless. She had headaches. She slept a good bit of the time. She had less and less of an appetite and became weaker. She needed help to walk to the bathroom. Her body ached in ways I don't ever want to experience. She took pain medication but when things became so bad, even the strongest pain medicine didn't touch the pain. I was there during the doctor telling her, my father and my sister and I that there was nothing else that could be done and he recommended hospice. That meeting was the sentence before the last small chapter of her life. She passed in her sleep. I tell all of this because I experienced the horror of what cancer can do. I watched the documentary and found a big missing link in it. Where in all these stories was God? The sadness in watching the family at the end seeming so utterly lost in connection was due to the lacking of God in their lives. It was a terrible sadness. In most of the folks, there was no mention of God. THAT is a huge missing piece to 'dying with dignity'. Without our Creator being involved in our lives, my mother's situation would have been hopeless like many in this film. I feel sad for these families and so many are in the same loss. Why in the world would one try and navigate this uncertain life in all it's many evils without the never ending love, compassion, omnipotence and comforting assurance of God? Even with the support of doctors and family and friends, there is a profound emptiness, fear, and in conclusion to ending one's life in this manner. God must be the One directing this story. In Him, this missing piece of the film can be found.

BoogieSmith 'How to Die in Oregon' is affecting often to the point of being distressing in its palpable sadness and sorrow. The magic of the film however, is in its ability to artlessly translate a restoring and comforting warmth in the face of such a despairing content. I was left feeling truly grateful to have had the privilege to have seen the film and learn about some of the wonderful people in it. As a study, this documentary offers immediate proximity to people facing a part of life we must all face; death. And that is not an easy subject for most any of us to grasp or make sense of, no matter how much experience we have had with it. What would you do if you learned that you were incurably ill? Given a rapidly approaching deadline, a deadline you thought you wouldn't have to think about in such a manufactured light... not like this; not right now. How would you cope with being told that your body would soon vigorously, unapologetically and almost certainly painfully, deteriorate and part with... everything. Now, what would you do if you were able to take back some control in the matter of your life. And if this were possible, what would it even mean? This documentary addresses the option of physician-assisted suicide which is a matter quite different from euthanasia, (where a doctor is ultimately in control of the procedure) but it is certainly no less controversial. Physician-assisted suicide is a move towards giving terminally ill persons a choice; a choice they, and they alone, can legally make. An individual of sound mind, (who has appropriate witness signatures to report so), is allowed as much consideration and independence as possible in determining when and how they are to exit this world and their illness. It is the patient themselves who is to administer the substance which results in their death, and this is something revolutionary in the western world today. Whether you agree or disagree with the medical, moral, or political advances in this film should not influence your decision to watch it. Rather, I strongly encourage you to add this to your watch list for two reasons: firstly, for its relatable and engaging accounts and the people you will get to meet, and secondly for its skill as a piece of film-making. If you are a lover of exceptional cinema, especially documentaries, you will not be disappointed.Hopefully you will leave 'How to Die in Oregon' with an enhanced perception and tangibility of not only death and dying, but more importantly humanity, and what this means to each and everyone of us. An easy 10/10 for me,Boogie

Christmas-Reviewer Well made and dare I say perfect. The opening scene hit me in the gut and touched me in a way I never expected. I had no idea what to expect upon viewing but wow I will never forget it that is for sure.As this documentary shows western Docotrs only pro long death. They keep people alive when people really should be the ones calling the shots when it comes to their own health care.I can not say enough great things about this film. I am not sure how the film maker's were able to keep a distance from the people they were covering but if they didn't I could understand.I hope this film will open some minds in the USA.

Danny Blankenship Just watched this HBO documentary and I must say it opened up my eyes and even made me tear up a little bit. It's a fact of life everyone must face we will die and as shown many of us could be a terminal ill person like the folks portrayed in the film. Featuring real life cases in Oregon the first U.S. state to pass legalized physician assisted suicide in 1994 we see it's the best choice for many as it's better to go than suffer. Most eye opening is the case of liver cancer patient Cody Curtis a brave woman who fought to the end, but saw dying with dignity is best.One uplifting part of the film is seeing the 2008 passage of the death with dignity act in Washington state, as the families of those passed are still fighting for assisted death. Interviews with people and advocate groups and doctors were most touching as no matter what your stance on this issue you feel that people like Cody Curtis is a courageous person. Eye opening film that hurts you feel pain and sorrow for those who's life is cut by a terminal illness, yet you feel happy for their courageous work of doing something right when no other means of help will work. Sometimes you have to end it. Most of off you will feel happy to just be alive after watching this painful documentary.