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LIFE Before Death #7 -- Torture in Health Care

Posted by Greg Schneider on July 7, 2011 at 7:57pm
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Tags: liz, gwyther, snezana, scholten, willem
Short Film 7 of 50 in the LIFE Before Death documentary series about the global crisis in untreated pain and the dramatic life changing effect palliative care services can deliver to patients and their families around the world. In this Short Film we learn about the 'Stop Torture In Health Care' campaign (an Open Society Foundations initiative). Dr Kathleen Foley (USA) from the OSF International Palliative Care Initiative poses the question; "What is the solution to torture in health care?" Various leaders in the fields of pain control and palliative care debate whether torture is actually taking place in health services around the world. "There is a difference between torture and not acting," points out Dr Willem Scholten (World Health Organization). "People are very hung up on the torture word," reflects Mary Callaway (USA). The sentiments of Dr Liz Gwyther (South Africa) and Dr Snezana Bosnjak (Serbia) reiterate the sensitivity around the language of torture. Dr MR Rajagopal (India) tells the harrowing story of a former patient who threatened to commit suicide in front of his health clinic when stocks of morphine ran out. "It is torture when we willfully refuse to do something about it." Eugene Murray (Ireland) supports this position. "What can be more degrading to a person than to have them in severe pain when they're dying... It is torture by neglect." Dr Kathleen Foley identifies that the issue of fundamental human rights becomes a consideration when we consider the failure to deliver satisfactory pain control as an act of torture. "I think people are suffering and should people have to suffer unnecessarily?" asks Dr Jim Cleary (Australia). "All around the world people are suffering and they shouldn't have to." Featuring Dr Kathleen Foley (USA), Dr Willem Scholten (World Health Organization), Dr Liz Gwyther (South Africa), Dr Snezana Bosnjak (Serbia), Mary Callaway (USA), Dr MR Rajagopal (India), Eugene Murray (Ireland), Dr Jim Cleary (Australia). LIFE Before Death will include 50 short films themed around pain control and end of life issues, releasing one a week for a year from May 2011. A feature film will be released in late 2011, followed by the release of a television documentary in early 2012. The project is presented by the Lien Foundation and produced by Moonshine Movies. It is also supported by the International Association for the Study of Pain, The Mayday Fund, the Union for International Cancer Control and The Institute for Palliative Medicine at San Diego Hospice International Programs. To Have Your Say visit www.TreatThePain.com

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