Wit 2001

Wit

A made-for-television movie, Wit addresses issues related to terminal illness, death, and dying. Emma Thompson plays Vivian Bearing, a professor of literature enraptured with erudite poetry like that of John Donne. When she is diagnosed with ovarian cancer, Bearing's life changes dramatically. At first, Bearing goes the traditional route of succumbing to paternalistic medicine's approach to treatment. She obeys her doctor's orders, goes through chemotherapy, and generally struggles with the idea that she has an illness. A precocious woman, Bearing flashes back to a series of events in her life that place her personality and value system into perspective. Ultimately, Bearing comes to terms with the core essence of life as she goes through the stages of dying. She realizes that caring and compassion trump personal, intellectual, and career achievements.

The people who do and do not visit her in the hospital teach her about quality of life. Issues raised in Wit are clearly pertinent to nursing, giving the emphasis on caring and palliative care. Nurses in the film provide a level of care that trumps that of the cotros and even some of the friends and family members. Bearing can see the pitfalls and drawbacks of buying into the paternalistic medicine package, as she starts to compare that worldview to her own. Doctors like Posner treat Bearing with disregard. She is not someone they care about with their hearts but only with their minds, as her cancer becomes a project they work on to further their career goals.

The experience is a great awakening for Bearing. The film raises questions about the quality of healthcare, the ways doctors and patients communicate, and the way doctors and nurses communicate with each other. Ethical issues such as medical paternalism are also raised. I gain a lot from watching and re-watching Wit. The film seems to send a dual message. Part one relates to the experience of self-awareness and insight that blooms upon the experience of dying. The second message of the film is that of how to properly and effectively care for patients. Nurses are presented in a significant role in Wit. Nurses are shown to be the caring side of modern medicine, an apt contrast to the colder and more cerebral side of medicine exemplified by researchers and doctors. As a professor, Bearing sees through the farce that characterizes the treatment of patients in a cold-hearted, profit-driven system.

A plan of action can be developed based on the fictional events described in Wit. A corrective action includes a campaign for education. Healthcare needs to change to reflect more humanitarian values. The values of healthcare are too rooted in profit to be of any ethical value. Healthcare must be reframed so that patient care comes first. This requires a complete reframing of healthcare issues. Pharmaceutical companies and others with vested interest in medical technologies currently come first on the list of priorities for institutions. Wit shows why patients should come first, in a meaningful way: by interacting with them, finding out their definitions of health, and discovering ways to alleviate suffering.