One of the best acted and most realistic moments. The mother is advocating for her daughter with such passion and that lazy nurse could care less.

If you're loved one is in pain and holding out and suffering while waiting for the next dose, don't go screaming like a lunatic every four hours. Talk to the nurses, get the doctor on the phone, get the dosages changed or get more meds added.
Nobody should have to be in pain and waiting for meds. That's insane.
I worked oncology for many years and never once did we have a scene like that. If the meds weren't working, we would call the freaking doctor and say, "She needs more" or "Can I get a morphine drip?" or some damn thing.
Even people who endured the most horrific treatment (which is stem cell treatment) or had bone cancer pain were kept out of pain.
I don't know what all they had in the early 80s for pain, but I know they had freaking morphine. To this day, there is nothing better. It's cheap and it works, so there is really no reason for anyone to ever be in pain unless they're a burn patient (which is something I couldn't do. God bless the burn nurses.)
Talk to the doctors and nurses. Don't make (or allow) your loved ones to suffer because the drugs aren't good enough. One thing we have in America is good health care and a nearly endless supply of morphine.
There is just no reason for anyone to have pain. Period.

It was amazing, and so accurate of how the medical community can be insensitive to paid as they so see so much of it. I am an avid supporter of having your mother around when you are sick.
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My favorite scene!!! I once did the same thing to my son! He hadn't seen the movie yet, and then on Will and Grace, Karen does that scene in the hospital when Stan is ill. When my son finally saw the movie, he just cracked up and said, "now I know what the fuss is all about!" So great!!!
Wait! Wait! Where are you going? I was gonna make Espresso!

Loved that scene. Our family is like that. Loud and crazy and love each other almost too passionately.
I did something like that scene when my son was sick in the er and his eyes were rolling back in his head.
Aurora always reminded me of my Grandma. Always socially akward

I hated that scene! Downright embarrassing and cringeworthy! But I'm a man, not one of those Lifetime TV watching types

Tears my heart out

I completely agree. I know nurses are overworked and it's not always easy to get patients their meds at the specific time they are next due, but being in exreme pain and waiting for the four hour or six hour or eight hour mark is horrific. And it gripes me when patients buzz for the nurse to remind them they are due for more meds and it can take 10-20-30-40 minutes for the nurse to come in there. UNACCEPTABLE!! I've made my rounds with nurses like Aurora did. I think we all have. And when the nurse delivers, drama gone. They get a thank you, like Aurora did.
Emma's scene with her boys breaks my heart every.single.time!! And the fact that she makes sure her makeup and hair is done beforehand to "appear" okay and she smiles and reassures them, my gosh, what a great mother!!
Interesting. You're afraid of insects and women. Ladybugs must render you catatonic.

I'm the mother of a 3 year old fighting cancer for the second time. It was beautiful to see someone act out my frustration. My son is at a world-class facility but even they mess things up horribly sometimes.

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The shot scene turns me into a blubbering idiot as does the scene where she talks to the boys. Also, I love the way Winger matter of fact's it with Jeff Daniels Flap, asking if he "REALLY" wants the kids.

The scene that won her the Academy Award. Not that she wasn't great throughout but this was that Oscar moment.
This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time. - Fight Club

It gave me chills!

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i think that scene got her the Oscar

I'd want a mother like that!
I'm a fountain of blood
In the shape of a girl

When she's saying goodbye and the youngest boy starts crying whilst his elder brother is trying to detach and not get upset but is terribly upset - that scene is heart breaking.
I'm a fountain of blood
In the shape of a girl

Yes, and perfectly judged by Shirley Maclaine. She took a risk and it paid off ten times over, though the scene where Emma says goodbye to her kids is equally poignant (off the scale).

and I would add to that list, the performance of Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice

Much applause and tears came from my eyes in this scene. Only other performances that moved me like this is:
Al Pacino in And Justice For All
John Hurt in The Elephant Man
Vivien Leigh in Gone With the Wind

she was making comments on the hopelessness of my sister's condition
Wow, that is beep up.
Sorry for your loss.
~ I'm a 21st century man and I don't wanna be here.

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I am so sorry for what you had to go through and your poor sister also.
Yes, that nurse deserved to be dressed down. Research has shown that people's conditions actually improve when the attitudes and behaviors of others around them are hopeful and optimistic.

Care of the dying has improved somewhat since this film was made but even when my sister was dying my family had a confrontation with at least one of the nurses on the cancer floor. However, it did NOT involve yelling, which would have been distressing to other patients!
That much having been said, I don't care for the portrayals of the nurses in this particular film. On the cancer floors I've visited, the nurses are usually rotated after a few months, because it's emotionally stressful to know you're going to lose most of your patients, whom you may have come to know well due to their long stays.
MOST of the nurses I've met in the last 15 years who were doing this kind of care have been pretty kind and considerate, and the dying people I knew got enough pain meds to have a fair degree of comfort.
The reason our nurse had to be dressed down was because she was making comments on the hopelessness of my sister's condition which were making the poor kid even more depressed than she already was, as well as the rest of us. It was obviously time for her to be moved off the cancer floor.
"Shake me up, Judy!"