STARING INTO THE FACE OF DEATH MARGARET EDSON'S PLAY OFFERS A LESSON IN HANDLING END OF LIFE WITH DIGNITY, 'WIT'.Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer A literary scholar learns that she has advanced ovarian cancer ovarian cancer Malignant tumour of the ovaries. Risk factors include early age of first menstruation (before age 12), late onset of menopause (after age 52), absence of pregnancy, presence of specific genetic mutations, use of fertility drugs, and personal history of breast from a doctor who is speaking a language the rest of us would call ``medicalese.'' The unfamiliar terminology doesn't shake the patient. She has a Ph.D., and is a lover of words. She gets to deconstruct de·con·struct tr.v. de·con·struct·ed, de·con·struct·ing, de·con·structs 1. To break down into components; dismantle. 2. and critique the language of her own diagnosis. In real life, however, it shouldn't happen this way, say medical experts. Message to doctor: When delivering this kind of news, speak English, and choose your words and your tone carefully. Message to patient: No matter how strong you think you are, don't be alone when you receive this kind of news. Take a close friend or a family member with you. Welcome to the world of Margaret Edson's ``Wit,'' a Pulitzer Prize- winning play - written by an elementary school elementary school: see school. teacher - that contains multiple lessons for doctors and patients, students and teachers. Theatergoers of all stripes have embraced the play that is enjoying a nearly sold-out run through March 5 at the Geffen Playhouse The Geffen Playhouse (or the Geffen) is a not for profit performing arts theater in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Originally named the Westwood Playhouse, UCLA purchased the property in 1993. UCLA's then chancellor, Charles E. in Westwood. The work has become a teaching tool as well as a forum for discussion. The cast has read the play to medical students at the Veterans Administration Hospital in West Los Angeles
The after-play discussions are called ``Talk-back Tuesdays,'' and people are indeed talking. On a recent day, one theatergoer asks about the ``stereotypical doctors'' depicted in the play. A visiting psychologist, who plans to use examples from ``Wit'' to teach first-year medical students, asks whether the playhouse provides a psychologist for audience members who are disturbed by the play's content. (The answer is no; playgoers are on their own.) ``I wish every medical school and nursing school just happened to have this playing across the street,'' said author David Kessler David Kessler may refer to:
UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX Medical School and the Geffen Playhouse. ``It's a brilliant play, and I think it brings out so many facets of the human experience. It takes a subject that's hard to deal with and makes it watchable watch·a·ble adj. 1. Capable of being watched; viewable: watchable wildlife. 2. Good enough to watch: "The fastest modem ... and - dare I say it? - enjoyable.'' Enjoyable, certainly, but in a tough and uncompromising way. ``Wit'' examines how individuals face death, and the options they are given when their doctors urge research over compassion. It's about how a remarkable - and frequently unsympathetic - woman named Vivian Bearing is able to hold up in a situation that would break most people. Vivian's decision to undergo a rigorous cycle of chemotherapy at a research hospital is a gamble. She is offered, at best, only a glimmer of hope at survival. But she is a woman who passionately understands the value of research, and for that reason alone, she allows herself to become a human guinea pig guinea pig (gĭn`ē), domesticated form of the cavy, Cavia porcellus, a South American rodent. It is unrelated to the pig; the name may refer to its shrill squeal. . Which is pretty much how her doctors treat her. There is a largely indifferent physician, Dr. Harvey Kelekian, and Kelekian's unfeeling medical fellow, Jason Posner, a data-obsessed bumbler whose idea of bedside manner bed·side manner n. The attitude and conduct of a physician in the presence of a patient. bedside manner Medtalk A popular term for the degree of compassion, courtesy, and sympathy displayed by a physician towards Pts is to ask a vomiting patient, ``How are you feeling.'' The play's most sympathetic character A sympathetic character is a fictional character in a story with whom the writer expects to reader to identify with and care about, if not necessarily admire. Protagonists, almost by definition, fit into the category of sympathetic character, however so do many minor characters and is a nurse, Susie Monahan, the only person who seems to know how to treat a suffering patient like a human being. Are the doctors' characterizations extreme? In some respects, said medical experts who have seen, read or taught ``Wit,'' but the characters are presented this way to make a dramatic point about the person Vivian is, and about the leveling effects of a disease like cancer. And, as many medical experts note, a teaching hospital isn't the place patients go if they're looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a lot of warmth and compassion. Medical schools are just beginning to stress the importance of bedside manner techniques, of ``treating the patient, not just the disease.'' But helping a patient face death is still a barrier many doctors, despite their skill, are unable to penetrate. In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke" put differently , there are reasons why Vivian Bearing's doctors never quite get it, said Ronnie Kaye, a psychotherapist psy·cho·ther·a·pist n. An individual, such as a psychiatrist, psychologist, psychiatric nurse, or psychiatric social worker, who practices psychotherapy. and breast cancer survivor. ``In general, doctors, nurses and medical students don't understand end-of-life issues. They don't have a place for it in their scheme of things, so they do some unfeeling and unsympathetic things,'' said Kaye, who teaches a course in ``doctoring'' at UCLA Medical School. ``It's too bad that people see the end of life as unacceptable. It isn't unacceptable. It just is.'' ``Medicine is geared toward healing,'' agreed Karen Stanley, a nursing consultant on end-of-life care and another participant in the upcoming symposium. ``It doesn't prepare the practitioner for an encounter with someone who is expected to or just about to die.'' Stanley took a group of 72 people to see ``Wit'' as part of her effort to help educate the public about end-of-life issues. If they take nothing else away from the experience, Stanley said, people who see the play - those who are sick and those who are healthy - often emerge from the Geffen determined not to let a Vivian Bearing-like situation ever happen to them. It may seem like a scene out of an ``ER'' episode, but the discussion over whether to sustain life is one that every seriously ill patient and family member should have, said Stanley, and one that doctors can neglect. Stanley also believes that anyone considering experimental treatment should have an extensive discussion with his or her doctor. Only after the physician lays out the benefits and burdens of treatment should a person decide whether it's worth trying a high-risk/no-guarantees treatment that may involve misery-inducing side effects Side effects Effects of a proposed project on other parts of the firm. . ``I don't believe all patients are willing to answer that question,'' Stanley said. ``And patients like Vivian Bearing are in a catch-22 position because this is all they have. They're far more willing to be accepting of what's recommended because the alternative is death.'' ``No Man Is an Island: The Themes of Art, Medicine and Compassion featured in `Wit' '' will be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood. The panelists will include ``Wit'' star Kathleen Chalfant; Beth Karlan, M.D., director of gynecologic oncology and the Gilda Radner Ovarian Cancer Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a world-renowned hospital located in Los Angeles, California. History Cedars-Sinai is the result of a merger in 1961 between two major Los Angeles hospitals, Cedars of Lebanon and Mount Sinai Home for the Incurables, with Steve Broidy as ; David Kessler, author of ``The Rights of the Dying: A Companion for Life's Final Moment''; Dr. Paul Sellin, professor emeritus of 17th-century literature at UCLA; and Karen J. Stanley, oncology nursing consultant and founder and chairwoman of Claremont Coalition Concerned With End of Life Issues. For more information, call (310) 208-6500, Ext. 158. CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) Kathleen Chalfant stars as an English professor with ovarian cancer in ``Wit.'' On Feb. 28, a related symposium serves as a platform for raising awareness among doctors and patients. (2 -- color -- cover) Heal thyself thy·self pron. Archaic Yourself. Used as the reflexive or emphatic form of thee or thou. thyself pron Archaic the reflexive form of thou1 |
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