A Documentary Film

By Terry Kaldhusdal
and Mike Bernhagen

The purpose of life is to discover your gift. The meaning of life is giving your gift away.

- David Viscott 

Following the painful loss of his mother in 2003, Mike Bernhagen, a former healthcare business development professional trying to start a new career as an independent insurance agent, was presented with a choice – grieve alone or seek healing with the help of others.  Two years later, Mike somehow found the courage to share the story of his mom’s death with a good friend, Terry Kaldhusdal, a 4th grade teacher and part-time documentary filmmaker, while sitting around the fire during their annual father/child camping trip.  Over time, their conversation intensified because Mike joined the hospice movement and Terry’s brother, Pete, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in southern California.  Then, in April of 2009, the pair decided to combine their unique talents to begin production on a documentary film that has the potential to take the end-of-life discussion in this country to a new level.

Consider the Conversation: A Documentary on a Taboo Subject examines multiple perspectives on end-of-life care and includes information and experiences gathered from interviews with patients, family members, doctors, nurses, clergy, social workers, and national experts on death and dying. To date, Mike and Terry have shot approximately 70 hours of film and conducted in-depth interviews with 40+ individuals from California, Illinois, Indiana, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Vermont and Wisconsin.

Among the national experts they’ve talked with are:

  • Ira Byock, M.D., Director of Palliative Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
  • Elliott Fisher, M.D., head of the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care
  • Stephen Kiernan, author of Last Rights: Rescuing the End-of-Life from the Medical System
  • Bernard "Bud" Hammes, Ph.D., Clinical Ethicist, Gundersen Lutheran Health System
  • Susan Dolan and Audrey Vizzard, co-authors of The End-of-Life Advisor: Personal, Legal, and Medical Considerations for a Peaceful, Dignified Death
  • Doug Smith, author of It Takes a Village to Say Goodbye
  • James Cleary, M.D., Director of Palliative Medicine at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics
  • Anne Moore, author of Harry and Louise Must Die: We Could Save Billions in Healthcare if We Could Accept Death and Say Goodbye Outside the Hospital
  • Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein, authors of Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates
  • Loretta S. Downs, President, Chicago End-of-Life Care Coalition

This project that will shed light on a natural life event that many avoid. Throughout the film there will be intimate accounts of the emotional, spiritual, physical and financial burdens associated with the historical shift that has occurred with dying. Forty years ago, most people experienced a quick death, but today we are more likely to suffer a slow, incremental dying process.

Unlike many films, Consider the Conversation isn’t a big Hollywood production.  This one is literally being created by two friends with a camera, a list of questions, a laptop computer and some editing software. That’s why they’re asking for your help.

Take some time to explore this website.  Learn about Terry and Mike’s personal calling to the project, view the trailer displayed on this page, click on the icons above to meet some of the very special people they’ve been privileged to interview, and consider making a tax-deductible donation that will help take this message to the American people in early 2011.  By working together, all of us can make a big difference.