Defining Hope

Defining Hope — Plot

We aren't dying the way we used to. We have ventilators, dialysis machines, ICUs-technologies that can "fix" us and keep our bodies alive-which have radically changed how we make medical decisions. In our death-denying culture, no matter how sick we get, there is always "hope." Defining Hope tells the story of patients dealing with life-threatening illness as they move between ICUs, operating rooms, hospice care and home. Diane is a nurse caring for end-stage cancer patients when she is diagnosed with ovarian cancer herself. 23-year-old Alena undergoes a risky brain surgery that destroys her short-term memory. 95-year-old Berthold lives with his elderly wife who struggles to honor his wish of dying peacefully at home. Defining Hope follows these patients and others- and the nurses that guide them along the way- as they face death, embrace hope, and ultimately redefine what makes life worth living.

• Release date
• November 3, 2017
• Runtime
• 77 min
• Genres
• Documentary
• Director
• Carolyn Jones

Defining Hope — Cast

R

Rudolph Bilotti Sr. Self

B

Berthold Cohen Self Charlotte Cohen Self

C

Carmen Hernandez Self

D

Deborah LaFond Self - Nurse

J

JoAnn Nayer-Grutza Self - Nurse

G

Gilbert Oakley Self - Nurse

D

Diane Ryan Self - Nurse