
Robert’s Story: Dying with Dignity
Robert Schwartz is dying of advanced HIV disease in Oregon, and he has decided to use the state's Death with Dignity Act to end his life on his own terms. Filmed over two years by directors Tom D'Antoni and Greg Bond, the documentary follows Schwartz from the day he receives his legal lethal prescription through to his death on camera, with his family, his partner, and his medical team all present in the footage. It was the first film to document how Oregon's assisted-suicide law actually works once a patient invokes it, rather than debating the law in the abstract. The camera stays close on the people around Schwartz: relatives who support his choice but struggle with its finality, a partner who stays at his side, and doctors and caregivers navigating the line between treatment and letting go. Made in 2005, the film was shelved for years and had only a single public screening before this release. Narration by D'Antoni keeps the focus on Schwartz's own account of why he wants control over his final days.