Wit Reaction Paper

Or

I Know I Will Stop Crying Eventually

Meredith Zwicke

5 March 2018

NUR 4130-OL65

Wit was not only a great film, it was an excellent illustration of how a loss of humanity on the part of a healthcare provider can negatively impact the care of patients. Professor Vivian Bearing was ultimately let down by every member of her healthcare team and passed away an unnecessarily undignified death. This serves as a good lesson for us all: let us never forget that we are treating human beings, not test subjects.

The film opens with Dr. Kelekian valuing the education of Professor Bearing, rapidly talking through her devastating diagnosis of terminal ovarian cancer at a very high level and excitedly pushing for her to submit to rigorous experimental treatment for research purposes. She is given no compassion from the very beginning, setting the tone for how her treatment would progress. Throughout the movie Dr. Kelekian continues to relate to Professor Bearing on an academic level and goes so far as to treat her as another teaching mannequin as his medical students confer over her condition and bicker amongst themselves in her presence, but without acknowledgement. One of these medical students, Jason, is a former student of Professor Bearing who reveals this bit of information whilst performing her painful pelvic exam. His entire bedside manner continues to torment and degrade Professor Bearing’s soul as her chemotherapy torments and degrades her body.

Unfortunately, even well-meaning nurse Susie lets Professor Bearing down when she does not adequately care for her patient’s emotional needs. During a dramatic scene in which the professor breaks down and cries in front of her, Susie is dismissive of the key fearful revelations that are being made right in front of her and seeks to act instead of listen. The kind moment when the two share a popsicle is utterly ruined when Susie disjointedly brings up Professor Bearing’s impending death, and how she must make a decision regarding a do not resuscitate order. Later, Susie misses the opportunity to advocate for her patient when Dr. Kelekian and Jason both cross the line at various points. She rightly expresses that Professor Bearing would prefer a patient controlled analgesia pump but is steamrolled by the doctor, quickly letting the matter drop. Later, Jason speaks rudely in front of the patient, assuming that he cannot be heard. Finally, when the code is improperly called there should have been a different protocol in place to cancel it and the code team should have be trained to listen for the screams of “do not resuscitate!” As a side note, Jason’s out of control insistence that a code be called to save his research was chilling. We do not violate a patient’s DNR status for selfish gain.

The only bits of humanity we see in this film are from outside of the professor’s healthcare team, in the form of flashbacks to her father and to her own beloved professor. We find that they were the ones to influence her path toward the study of metaphysical poetry, specifically John Donne whose “Death Be Not Proud” was peppered throughout the film to foreshadow Professor Bearing’s acceptance of her own mortality, as well as how she had treated mortality in her past. The sheer beauty of Evelyn’s recitation of “The Runaway Bunny” as Professor Bearing’s faculties shut down lent a shred of dignity and utter devastation.

We cannot allow our patients to be treated inhumanely. It is unethical, immoral, and undignified.

“And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”