As part of our Aging is Inevitable Series, Rabbi Jen Kaluzny joins forces with Jessica Zitter, MD, MPH for an in-depth discussion on our nation's end-of-life care and how to restore humanity to the care experience of seriously ill and dying patients. This program will include an exclusive viewing of Dr. Zitter's documentary CAREGIVER: A LOVE STORY which highlights an essential, yet largely unseen workforce—the family caregivers of America, and challenges viewers to acknowledge the growing strain placed on them. Dr. Zitter's previous documentary film, Extremis, was nominated for both an Oscar and Emmy Awards and is currently streaming on Netflix. Her newest film, The Chaplain and the Doctor, will premiere in 2025. 

This program is supported by The Stanford and Roselyn Komisar Blanck Fund for Elderly and Aging Support.

About Dr. Zitter

Dr. Zitter attended Stanford University and Case Western Reserve University Medical School and earned her Master of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. Her medical training includes an Internal Medicine residency at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a fellowship in Pulmonary/Critical Care at the University of California, San Francisco. In 2005 Dr. Zitter co-founded Vital Decisions, a telephone counseling service for patients with life-limiting illnesses. Dr. Zitter founded her nonprofit Reel Medicine Media to further her work towards humanizing healthcare for all through the power of storytelling. Her book Extreme Measures: Finding a Better Path to the End of Life, offers an insider’s view of intensive care in the U.S. and its impact on how we die. Her essays and articles have appeared in the New York Times, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, Time magazine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and other publications. Her work is featured in the Oscar and Emmy-nominated Netflix documentary Extremis, now streaming on Netflix. Caregiver: A Love Story, which explores the rising concern of family caregiver burden, was Dr. Zitter's directorial debut. She practices at the public hospital in Oakland, California.

      To watch the trailer, click below.