DW Documentary

Meeting death on our own terms

Modern medicine is making it possible to keep people alive for longer and longer. However, hospitals can also earn a lot of money by treating the seriously ill, especially in intensive care units. Intensive care physician Uwe Janssens believes that, when it comes to death and dying, economics often play a key role. Doctors, nurses and the hospital's chaplain meet regularly to discuss ethics: Should a critically ill patient be assisted in dying, or kept alive artificially? What is the aim of therapy? What is the patient's will? What is medically feasible, what makes sense? Even for doctors, decisions at the end of a patient's life are never easy. The film touches on a taboo in Western society. How can people be protected from artificially extended morbid illness, yet still receive the medical help they need and want?