Review: HBO's 'How to Die in Oregon' end of life politics and emotions

By April MacIntyre May 26, 2011, 19:56 GMT

Especially the story of attractive, seemingly vital Cody Curtis, a sharp Portland woman felled by a vicious type of liver cancer in 2009. She chose the Seconal route and died on camera, surrounded by her doctor, family and death counselor.

First off, the opening scene in HBO documentary 'How to Die in Oregon' was so powerfully close to home for me, I had to stop the DVD and recover from an emotional breakdown.

In the beginning of this film, we meet Roger, an elderly man, surrounded by his friends and family and the end of life counselor, as he curmudgeonly hurries up the process to drink his Seconal cocktail and "do himself in at his own volition to solve his problems."

He thanks the person "who made his medicine," and jokes as he lay dying, "tell the next person it tastes woody."

Roger reminded me of my own father - impatient, avuncular, funny and sweet. I watched Rober exhale his last breath in that distinct shudder of the moment of death.

If you are at all emotionally fragile, dealing with aging parents or have recently lost someone you love, this is not the film to watch right now. For those who have an interest in securing a dignified death on your own terms, as humane and painless as possible, you should absolutely see it.

Filmmaker Peter Richardson's "How to Die in Oregon" won the grand jury prize at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. He began his filming in 2007, conducting interviews with several terminally ill Oregonians who were going to use the state's Death With Dignity Act (I-1000) to end their lives.

The documentary airs May 26, Thursday night on HBO.

Richardson brings us the stories of these terminally ill people whose pain and fear is palpable, heartbreaking.

Especially the story of attractive, seemingly vital Cody Curtis, a sharp Portland woman felled by a vicious type of liver cancer in 2009. She chose the Seconal route and died on camera behind gauzy curtains outside a bedroom window, the audio live in her room as it was time to end, surrounded by her doctor, family and death counselor.

Others are interviewed, but Curtis's story becomes the central focus, as she seems to be beating the odds, then declines at such a rapid rate, the evil that is a painful death from cancer is revealed.

These are powerful intimate respectfully conducted interviews, and you will be absolutely thrown into a deep reflective and sorrowful state. This is hard stuff to watch.

The B story is the fight to get the right-to-die law passed in the state. The telling story of a man dying of prostate cancer - Randy Stroup of Dexter - an uninsured Oregonian with prostate cancer who is denied health care by the state and offered physician-assisted suicide instead.

Another strong sweet story comes from Ray Carnay, an Oregon voice over artist, journalist and radio personality who, post cancer diagnosis, (his voice box was to be removed) asked his doctor for a lethal prescription just in case. He records his eulogy in the studio, and he ultimately died in the hospital from complications from his surgery.

There is a balance to how this subject is presented in this documentary. I left emotionally wrecked, but not feeling that the filmmaker had bias or was promoting this as a positive, but showing just what it was, warts and all.

Death comes to us all, and for those lingering, suffering and terminal, this hard decision should be quietly made on one's own terms privately, unhindered by lawyers, laws and government.

"How to Die in Oregon" airs at 8 p.m. Thursday on HBO.