The Angel of Death

Two stories about that key life moment many of us spend a lifetime dreading. It's a key life event that none of us live to tell about. The moment. It's all in the timing...

In the first story, a cat wanders the corridors of a Rhode Island Alzheimer's facility. When it jumps up on a bed and gently nestles in next to a patient, the nursing staff know with near-perfect accuracy that it's time to summon loved ones.  

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Oscar and Dr. David Dosa

 

A video profile of Oscar the cat

 

Then, in a Florida retirement community, a visit to an elderly donor ends with a university fund-raiser crouched in the back seat of a squad car, fleeing mob of pocketbook-wielding grandmothers. It’s probably not what the poet Dylan Thomas had in mind when he penned those lines, "Do not go gentle into that good night / Old age should burn and rave at close of day / Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

Note: This program originally aired on February 10, 2012.



Credits

Producer:

Bob Carlson