When My Time Comes

About the Film

When My Time Comes depicts Diane Rehm’s exploration of the issue of medical aid in dying (MAID). This is an option for terminally ill patients with six months or less to live who are able to make their own medical decisions and meet certain other legally prescribed criteria. Available to over 20% of the U.S. population, it is an option that John Rehm, Diane’s husband of 54 years, wanted before he died in 2014, but could not have.

The film tells Diane and John’s story, as well as the stories and perspectives of others as Diane sets out to discover as much as she can about MAID. Viewers will learn what Diane learns, right alongside her, in a series of conversations with patients, family members, physicians, clergy, and lawmakers. A diversity of viewpoints is represented — pro, con, and undecided.

The film will help Americans understand what MAID actually is, and what it is not. Medical aid in dying is not suicide, euthanasia, or many of the other things with which it is sometimes confused. The film will also encourage people to have conversations with their family and their physicians about what they want at the end of their lives, and to have those conversations early. 

As Diane testified before the Maryland House of Delegates, “If you believe that God alone should decide when and how you will die, we support you 100%. If you wish to make use of every tool medical science can offer to prolong your life as long as possible, we support you 100%. And if you wish to have medical aid in dying in order to have some control over your death, we support you 100% as well.”

Production Credits

When My Time Comes is a production of FabFilms, LLC, presented by WETA Washington, D.C. Joe Fab is the producer, director and writer. Diane Rehm is producer. Diane Naughton is executive producer. John F. Wilson is executive producer in charge for WETA. The film’s editor is Barbara Ballow, director of photography is David Goulding and original music composed by Charlie Barnett.

Major funding for When My Time Comes is provided by George Vradenburg, Roger Sant, Zickler Family Foundation, Virginia Mars, Carolyn Kaplan Revocable Trust, Clarice R. Smith Revocable Trust and Margot Perot.