[spectre] A Reminder - The Last Collaboration

[marc garrett]

A Reminder - The Last Collaboration

Edward Picot's article about Millie Niss on Furtherfield. Submitted by 
Theresa Wyatt

"I have read The Last Collaboration by Martha Deed and Millie Niss and 
it is a striking account, one that I will never forget and one that I 
will never stop learning from. Mr. Picot introduces this book with laser 
beams of experience and clarity that will enable readers to find their 
way. The way here can be difficult - through the health care "mill," but 
not without respite through poetry or "notes about birds" as Picot 
points out. That he knew Millie Niss and can attest she was "no ordinary 
patient" or that she "...put her finger right onto a recognised problem 
of healthcare..." only confirms what I have already surmised about this 
remarkable woman and her extraordinary mother - that no degree of 
difficulty was going to silence this important narrative. I am happy to 
learn that this documentary book is slated to be used in the classroom 
by a medical professor. This is most encouraging and I hope more 
professors and health care educators will do so."

The Last Collaboration
By Edward Picot - 26/01/2012

The United States loses more American lives to patient safety incidents 
every six months than it did in the entire Vietnam War." Edward Picot 
introduces The Last Collaboration an art documentary book by artists and 
poets Martha Deed and Millie Niss. This work is a construction of 
Millie’s hospital experiences in the last hospital she ever visited. The 
story is told through Millie’s notes, emails, the daily diary she sent 
home, her posts on her Sporkworld blog, her mother’s log, and Millie’s 
medical records. These primary, often raw, documents are framed with 
medical notes and clinical guidelines as well as the outcomes of two NYS 
Department of Health investigations of Millie’s care. Millie wanted her 
story told. She wanted an autopsy performed if she died. Because of the 
autopsy, we have the story.

http://www.furtherfield.org/features/articles/last-collaboration

Featuring Martha Deed
http://www.furtherfield.org/user/mldeed
http://www.sporkworld.org/Deed