Compassion & Choices

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Compassion & Choices is a nonprofit organization in the United States working to improve patient rights and individual choice at the end of life, including access to medical aid in dying. Its primary function is advocating for and ensuring access to end-of-life options.^[1][2]

With over 450,000 supporters in every state, it is the largest organization of its kind in the United States.

History and organization[]

Compassion & Choices is the successor to the Hemlock Society,^[3] and Compassion In Dying Federation; the organizations merged in 2007. The organization has a staff of 80 people located across the country.

Compassion & Choices of Oregon[]

was a US nonprofit organization launched in 1998 as a provider of services for persons eligible for the Oregon Death with Dignity Act, and their physicians and pharmacists. The organization recruited and trained volunteers to provide legal and medical consultation and direct service at no cost. It was a state affiliate of Compassion & Choices, and provides education, information and support to approximately 1000 Oregonians each year.

The state affiliate ceased operations in 2015.

The 2011 Sundance Film Festival winner, How to Die in Oregon, documented the work of Compassion & Choices of Oregon.^[4]

In early Spring 2012 the organization's medical director emeritus, Peter Goodwin, M.D.,^[5] announced he was dying of a neurological disorder and would end his life with medication and protection of Oregon's Death with Dignity law. Goodwin died at home, surrounded by friends, on March 11.^[6]

End-of-life consultation program[]

Compassion & Choices provides end-of-life consultation for dying patients and their families at no cost. Professional consultants and trained volunteers work by phone or in person to offer assistance in completing advance directives, make referrals to local services including hospice and illness-specific support groups, advice on adequate pain and symptom management, and information on safe, effective and legal methods for aid in dying.

The organization's work is highlighted in the documentary film How to Die in Oregon which won the 2011 Grand Jury Prize^[7] at the Sundance Film Festival.

See also[]

• Act 39 in Vermont, the first state to pass a death with dignity law by legislative action
• Barbara Coombs Lee
• Baxter v. Montana
• California End of Life Option Act
• Oregon Death with Dignity Act
• Family Health Care Decisions Act
• Gonzales v. Oregon
• Brittany Maynard
• Vacco v. Quill
• Washington v. Glucksberg
• Washington Death with Dignity Act

References[]

Bibliography[]

• Colt, George Howe (1991). The Enigma of Suicide. New York: Summit Books. ISBN 0671509969.
• Côté, Richard N (2008). In search of gentle death : the fight for your right to die with dignity. Mt. Pleasant, S.C.: . ISBN 978-1-929175-36-9.
• Cox, Donald W. (April 1, 1993). Hemlock's Cup: The Struggle for Death With Dignity (First ed.). Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-0879758080.
• Dowbiggin, Ian (2003). A Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in America. Oxford England; New York, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198035152.
• Filene, Peter G. (1998). In The Arms of Others: A Cultural History of the Right-to-Die in America. Chicago, Illinois: Ivan R. Dee. p. 196. ISBN 1-56663-188-2.
• Glick, Henry R. (1992). The Right to Die: Policy Innovation and Its Consequences. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-07638-X.
• Hillyard, Daniel; Dombrink, John (2001). Dying Right: The Death With Dignity Movement. New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 978-0415927987.
• Farewell to Hemlock: Killed by its name, an essay by Derek Humphry 21 February 2005
• Humphry, Derek (2008). Good Life, Good Death - Memoir of a writer who became a euthanasia advocate. Junction City, Oregon: Norris Lane Press. ISBN 9780976828334.
• Putnam, Constance E. (2002). Hospice or Hemlock? Searching for Heroic Compassion. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger. ISBN 0897899210.
• Wanzer, Sidney, MD; Glenmullen, Joseph, MD (2007). To Die Well. Your Right to Comfort, Calm and Choices in the Last Days of Your Life. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Lifelong Books/Da Capo Press, . ISBN 978-0-7382-1083-4.

External links[]

• Official website