From Ray Duff in regard to this videotape: "I felt I was rather finished as a physician in the 20th Century when my major stroke and then hip fracture became my major afflictions. However, I found I had a mind that would learn and understand and read and communicate. Accordingly, I called Gary Benfield, M.D. whom I had known for years and he proposed that we make this video, so he came here and we made it.

I love it . . . I think both of us gradually drifted toward what I have called ’moral community’ meaning the small number of people involved in the care of the patient: the patient, intimate others and their advisors. People who are more remote from illness, suffering and dying rarely understand the meaning of specific events and so it has been our view that decisions cannot be dictated from any central elite authority."

Gary Benfield, a neonatoligist and NEOUCOM faculty member and I have used this tape many times in teaching to diverse audiences. The story is very powerfully told. Also, in the past we were able to involve Ray in the teaching through group conference telephone hook-up. This was a strategy of Gary’s to keep Ray involved in teaching despite his debilitating injuries. Unfortunately, Ray Duff died earlier this year.