At a recent event, I had the opportunity to watch the documentary, You Just Have to Laugh. This comedic documentary was appropriately put together by a comedian, David Naster. The impetus behind making the film was apparently a show Naster did in a church in Kansas. Afterward, a man came up and thanked Naster, saying that it had been the first time he had laughed since his son had died.

From there, Naster began exploring the topic of how we use laughter to get through the tough times. In his documentary, he interviews many different people in difficult situations, such as a gentleman with MS, a firefighter who was severely burned, people with tourettes syndrome. One interview was of a psychiatrist with a stutter talking about his experiences working a suicide hotline. Another is of a concentration camp survivor talking about the humor they found in the most horrible tasks. (The documentary points out that we may not find all these experiences funny but if it helps one cope with such a horrible situation, it was funny to them.)

Below is a video clip of Naster talking about his philosophy on laughter and death. Working on a hospice team, this really struck a cord with me.



Naster has also written books on this topic, the most recent Is there Laugh after Death? looks at stories of hospice workers and families of dying patients.

While I don't think Naster's documentary is widely available, it appears to be available at his website.

March 31st marks the 5 year anniversary of the death of Terri Schiavo. The case that got so many families talking about their end of life preferences comes back into the media now in an unexpected way.

To commemorate the anniversary, Family Guy, a Fox Network animated series, aired a short spoof on the case, Terri Schiavo: The Musical. Below is the episode. (It's just the first minute or so of the episode.)



Tasteless? Insensitive to all parties concerned? Disrespectful of the deceased? You can be the judge. I guess we all have different senses of humor. Not quite historically accurate. (I pointed out to my husband how it was medically incorrect. His response was "Amber, I think they were going more for rhyming than medical accuracy.") But is it too soon? Will it always be?

Having watched Family Guy before, I think that it is clearly meant to shock. To make us say out loud "They did not just do that?". As I am sure there will be some upcoming media about this anniversary, Family Guy probably sees that all press is good press. And they have gotten press over this. Schiavo's family was understandably enraged by the episode and many different family members have been quoted stating as much, calling for Fox to drop the series.

Family Guy isn't the only animated series to take on this topic. March 30, 2005, just 12 hours before Schiavo's death, South Park aired the episode "Best Friends Forever" (This is the link is to the episode. It may be offensive to some viewers as South Park always is.), also a spoof of the controversial case. They actually won an Emmy for this episode. There is some interesting commentary on the state of modern medicine. Even if South Park isn't your taste, I recommend watching it. It actually seems to be more making a point than trying to shock the audience.

So am I offended? Not really. I likely would be if it was my family member they were talking about. It honestly makes my inner palliative care doctor cringe a bit to think of the family having to see this, regardless of what my views may be. But I have seen much more offensive material come out of both of these series. They have poked fun at about every controversial issue out there and will continue to do so. No one would even bother if these issues didn't not raise so much emotion already. Maybe it should be an honor to get this kind of attention. It means enough people care.

I recently caught a very palliative care rerun of Scrubs that I had previously forgotten about. For those of you not familiar with this comedy, it premiered in 2001 and follows three interns and their friends through residency and now into their careers. In 2001, I was a medical student and I watched the show through my residency. It always seemed to capture some of the emotions I was dealing with at the time.

This episode entitled "My Five Stages" is about dealing with the death of a patient. In the clip below, the concept of the five stages of grief is introduced to a dying patient by a very interesting grief counselor. The episode goes on to follow the two doctors, JD and Cox, as they go through these stages themselves and come to terms about the loss of one of their favorite patients. Note the description JD gives about what it's like to die.


I have often thought Scrubs is the most realistic medical show. I never really got into any of the other medical shows because I hated all the drama. (How many bombings and shootings can one ER have anyway?) I know Scrubs is a comedy, so definitely exaggerated, but there is usually an element of truth in all of their humor. The situations and conversations may be over the top but I think it gets the emotional aspects right (always in a funny way).

Because it deals with the day to day struggle of the medical staff, there are frequent palliative care topics that come up. This scene from "My Long Goodbye" addresses the difficulty we have delivering bad news.


Another episode, "My Number One Doctor" deals with the ethical dilemma one of the doctors has when she discovers that her ALS patient had attempted suicide and was planning on trying again.

Scrubs is still coming out with new episodes but has changed networks from NBC to ABC. If you're interested you can see old reruns frequently on Comedy Central and other networks.