THE WAY WE DIE:  LISTENING TO THE TERMINALLY ILL
	Locally produced special airs on Charlottesville's WHTJ-TV41 

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Oct. 21 -- The almost unimagined
success with which American medicine has sustained the lives of
people has brought with it a host of unanticipated problems.  We are
faced with the ethical issues of an increasing number of elderly
people suffering from chronic, debilitating and terminal diseases.
Both the medical establishment and society seem to view illness and
death as a medical phenomenon, often neglecting the psychological,
social and spiritual needs of the terminally ill and their families.
	"The Way We Die," produced by the Virginia Health Policy
Center at the University of Virginia and directed by U.Va. law
student and filmmaker Jonathan Mednick, takes an intimate look at
doctors, patients and families struggling with the difficult issues
faced at life's end.  The special airs Monday, Nov. 6, at 9 p.m. on
WHTJ-TV 41 and WCVE-TV23, Richmond.
	Immediately following this poignant portrait of real people
facing death and dying, stay tuned for an in-depth discussion with
local medical and legal professionals who address the ethical issues
raised in the film.  Included on the panel are:  Margaret Mohrmann,
M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of pediatrics at U.Va.; Leigh B.
Middleditch Jr., a partner in the Charlottesville office of McGuire,
Woods, Battle & Boothe and chair of the medicine and law committee
of the International Bar Association; and Frances B. Bonardi, vice
president of administration for Martha Jefferson Hospital in
Charlottesville.  May-Lily Lee, reporter for Virginia Currents,
hosts the follow-up program.
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October 20, 1995