Movie Recommendation of the Week: "How to Die in Oregon" (2011)

My movie recommendation of the week:

How to Die in Oregon (2011)

Directed by Peter Richardson

Synopsis via the film's official website:  "In 1994, Oregon became the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. As a result, any individual whom two physicians diagnose as having less than six months to live can lawfully request a fatal dose of barbiturate to end his or her life. Since 1994, more than 500 Oregonians have taken their mortality into their own hands. In How to Die in Oregon, filmmaker Peter Richardson gently enters the lives of the terminally ill as they consider whether – and when – to end their lives by lethal overdose. Richardson examines both sides of this complex, emotionally charged issue. What emerges is a life-affirming, staggeringly powerful portrait of what it means to die with dignity."

How to Die in Oregon just might be the most powerful and heartwrenching documentary I have ever seen. I saw it on Saturday and two days later, I'm still thinking about it. No matter how one feels about the Death with Dignity Act or physician-assisted suicide, which is now legal in three states (Oregon, Washington State and Montana), I would highly encourage everyone to watch this documentary and listen to these terminally ill people as they tell their stories, their struggles and the way they process the possibility of ending their life with dignity on their own terms and not on the terms of the terminal illnesses that's killing them. From the beginning of the film to the end, I was incredibly moved and I'm not ashamed to say that there were lots of tears, so if you do see it, have some tissues with you because you're going to need them.