First, the dying girl does not tell her parents her wishes about dying, or about being kept in a vegetative state, but she tells her doctor? She has attentive and loving parents throughout, yet she only tells Marsha Mason, her doctor?
Second, the doctor played by Mason appears to have no other patients. She really spends all her time on the dying Kathleen Beller character, making frequent house calls, yet she is on staff at a city hospital?
Third, Would the Marsha Mason character really ruin her career by pulling the plug on the dying patient when there is a nurse right there that is sure to report her? Not to mention that the parents have not given permission for this? This doctor would lose her medical license for overruling the parents' decision to keep their daughter alive on a respirator. Now, if the nurse and parents were not present and she pulled the plug, she could claim the girl died, put the plug back in and the euthanasia could go undetected. But that isn't what happens here. She literally throws away her career and possibly is sent to jail. Does this seem likely?
Fourth, the concept of a doctor who is that emotionally involved, who makes one patient practically her life, and gets upset a lot, is very Hollywood and Marcus Welby-like; it does not ring true. Doctors MUST stay mainly professional or they cannot do their job and they are too busy to spend all their time on one patient. Plus, why would the parents not have this role? This film makes the doctor into a parent.
All this said, Marsha Mason is a superb actress. I want to read why she stopped working on screen so long ago, she could have made the transition to character parts if the lead roles were no longer offered. Perhaps she chose to do something else.
Second, the doctor played by Mason appears to have no other patients. She really spends all her time on the dying Kathleen Beller character, making frequent house calls, yet she is on staff at a city hospital?
Third, Would the Marsha Mason character really ruin her career by pulling the plug on the dying patient when there is a nurse right there that is sure to report her? Not to mention that the parents have not given permission for this? This doctor would lose her medical license for overruling the parents' decision to keep their daughter alive on a respirator. Now, if the nurse and parents were not present and she pulled the plug, she could claim the girl died, put the plug back in and the euthanasia could go undetected. But that isn't what happens here. She literally throws away her career and possibly is sent to jail. Does this seem likely?
Fourth, the concept of a doctor who is that emotionally involved, who makes one patient practically her life, and gets upset a lot, is very Hollywood and Marcus Welby-like; it does not ring true. Doctors MUST stay mainly professional or they cannot do their job and they are too busy to spend all their time on one patient. Plus, why would the parents not have this role? This film makes the doctor into a parent.
All this said, Marsha Mason is a superb actress. I want to read why she stopped working on screen so long ago, she could have made the transition to character parts if the lead roles were no longer offered. Perhaps she chose to do something else.