Seite - 83 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Band 02/02

Film, Parable, Reciprocity | 83www.jrfm.eu 2016, 2/2, 69–98 The hospital policy of consultation with patients (if competent) and family is shown in its complexity and tediousness in the case of Mrs. Bernice Factor. The repeated efforts of medical staff to get clarity about Mrs. Factor’s wishes is hugely complicated by the fact that, while considered competent to make decisions about her own care and characterised as the “strong one” in her fam- ily, she can only shape her words, without vocalising sound. She has to decide whether she will have the breathing tube removed or have a tracheostomy op- eration. There are numerous bedside and corridor consultations and discussions about her case – at first staff are certain she doesn’t want treatment, then they are unsure, and finally the decision is made by her personal physician. In one consultation with Mrs. Factor, the first shot is a close-up of her in the bed, and throughout most of the sequence we see her in the centre of the frame with at least three medical staff on the edges of the frame (fig. 4). A longer shot near the end of the sequence reveals that at least nine people are in the room while this conversation goes on. Dr. Weiss, the spokesperson for the group, says that the decision is hers to make, but it isn’t difficult to see how the odds (both in terms of physical frailty and in terms of authority) are weighed against her. He shifts from euphemisms to more direct language: the choice before her is life or death. In another sequence, a doctor observes that her way of posing ques- tions and presenting options to a patient leads the patient toward the option she thinks is best, rather than really offering a choice (ND 57). Here, Dr. Weiss seems impatient with Mrs Factor’s indecision and his difficulty understanding her (a nurse translates what she is saying), and, as the viewer knows from other sequences, he thinks that her death is likely imminent and that everything pos- sible has been done for her: it is time to put an end to interventions to “see if she flies on her own” (ND 51). Mrs Factor, mouthing words and making hand gestures, keeps the phalanx of medical personnel arrested when Dr. Weiss wants clarity and decision, though Fig. 4: Film still, Near Death (Frederick Wiseman, US 1989), Disc 2, 00:41:26.