Million Dollar Baby (2004) - 8 questions

Question: Why does Maggie's mother and sister call her Miriam?

Answer: Most likely, 'Miriam' is her real name, and 'Maggie' is the nickname she prefers to use in daily speech.

Question: Was Morgan Freeman in the room when Frankie helped Maggie die?

Answer: No. Only Frankie was there. He would not want to incriminate his friend (Freeman) in what is depicted in the movie as an illegal act. In reality, however, Maggie had every legal right to have her life support removed.

Question: Has anyone tried to really find out what era it was to have taken place in? The Apprentice thing blares obvious, almost intentional. The rest of the comments about the monitor in the hospital and stuff also seem to date the time period. The bigger items that make it seem like the 70's or early 80's are the cars and the phone that Frank has which is very 70's/80's at best. In 2004 hospitals are so far advanced in every part of the country. I believe things like monitors tied into nurses stations and alerts not being able to be turned off locally within it notifying someone can't happen. That has been the case for some time.

Answer: It takes place in modern times. The hospital room is in a smaller hospital or in a wing specifically for people who need assistance living, so there's no need for all of the extra equipment found in an ICU or ER hospital room. The screens are all latest-technology and can't be more than 5 years old.

Question: If Maggie wanted to die, and her leg had to be amputated to save her life, why didn't she simply refuse to have the leg amputated?

Answer: As we can see, Maggie stays in the hospital for a very long time. When she got the infected bed sores, she had not yet made up her mind that she wanted to die, so she allowed the amputation. It is not until weeks or months later that she decides not to live like that.

Question: People have said that Maggie has the right to refuse the breathing tube. But wouldn't that kill her? That would be suicide and suicide is illegal. Isn't that why Frankie needs to help her? Surely the doctors know if you cut off her breathing source that would be suicide and she doesn't have the right to do that. But I don't know very much about this issue either.

Answer: Refusing medical treatment is not considered suicide. Anyway, suicide's not illegal: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/040326.html.

Question: Is it ever revealed what Frankie's secret is? Why is he estranged from his daughter and looking for forgiveness?

Answer: No, the cause of conflict between Frankie and his daughter is never revealed - we only know that she returns his weekly letters, and it has been some time since they have had contact.

Question: Are we ever told why Maggie's family cares so little about her? I can only assume it's because they think she's run off to California and left them (and returning later with lots of money doesn't help) but that's just my interpretation, unless I missed something.

Answer: We might just call it an exaggerated portrayal of the "white trash" family. Part of what makes Maggie so endearing is that she struggled and made herself out of nothing, and to create this history, it is expected that her family is awful, and never expected anything out of her.

Question: Spoiler! Doesn't Maggie have the legal right to refuse any type of life support? She's completely cognitive and in possession of all her mental faculties. Why does Frankie have to sneak in and illegally participate in her assisted suicide?

Answer: Yes, there was an article in last week's Sunday paper about how the medical community is up in arms over the mis-portrayal of patient's rights issues.