By Steve Weakley

A new documentary calls pain relief a basic human right. That is one of the tantalizing premises of “Hippocratic,” a film about the life of one of the pioneers of palliative care in India, Dr. M.R. Rajagopal.

For over 20 years, Rajagopal has battled conditions that cause palliative care patients in India to suffer needlessly. Despite being home to most of the world’s legally grown opium, morphine and other opioid medications are often inaccessible in India to patients dying of cancer and other chronic illnesses.