Right to Die: The Barbara Mancini Story

In 2013, while her 93-year-old father was receiving hospice care, Barbara Mancini handed him his legally prescribed morphine at his request. He consumed more than the prescribed dose and lost consciousness. 

EMTs then transported him to the hospital and personnel there revived him, despite his signed do-not-resuscitate order. He died four days later. 

The State of Pennsylvania subsequently charged Barbara with assisted suicide, launching a yearlong legal battle that upended her life. 

Although a judge ultimately dismissed all charges, the prosecution came at a steep personal cost. Barbara was placed on unpaid leave from her job and accumulated more than $100,000 in legal fees, all while navigating profound family loss.

A lens on end-of-life care in the United States

In a new short documentary film, “Right to Die,” Barbara tells her story — not only of her father’s death, but how, a decade later, she faced another uphill battle when her mother was dying. 

Although Barbara’s mother was determined that she would have a better experience at her end of life, she, too, would confront the failure of the health care system. Despite having a POLST specifying the type of treatment she wanted, when Barbara’s mother suffered a massive heart attack, her pain was not treated adequately. 

While the circumstances of Barbara’s case are extraordinary, the questions it raises are deeply familiar to many Americans: Why do so many people die in pain, attached to machines, despite living in a country with advanced medical care? And why are patients’ wishes so often overshadowed at the end of life?

Through her family’s experiences, Barbara Mancini examines how fear, misunderstanding and gaps in medical education shape end-of-life care in the United States. “Right to Die” invites viewers — and the healthcare system itself — to reconsider how we talk about death, honor patient autonomy, and care for people in their final days.