Your advance directive may not mean what you think — and we’re fighting to change that

Who should get to make decisions about your end-of-life healthcare? 

For Compassion & Choices, the answer is “You.” And we’re working to make that a reality for all people facing the end of life, including by challenging laws that restrict self-directed care. 

Compassion Legal in the news

In a recent article in The Guardian, Compassion Legal senior staff attorney Jess Pezley discusses one such hurdle to patient-directed care: so-called “pregnancy exclusion,” laws that invalidate the advance directives of pregnant people. 

As The Guardian notes, with pregnancy exclusions on the books in more than 30 states, we’ve seen increasing stories of pregnant people being kept artificially alive for weeks or months against their stated decisions. 

Compassion Legal is fighting laws like these in courts across the country. The article goes on: 

Due to Almerico v Denny, a case [Compassion & Choices] helped bring in 2018, Idaho’s pregnancy exclusion “was found to be unconstitutional under the federal constitution,” Pezley says. She’s now seeking changes [under] state constitutions in Michigan and Kansas, whose exclusions are among the most restrictive in the country.

Regardless, people who are or may become pregnant should still codify their wishes in an advance directive, Pezley says.

Just this month, Compassion Legal claimed another victory in Michigan, where a judge ruled unconstitutional a law that denied pregnant people who were incapacitated the right to refuse life-sustaining treatment.     

Your voice. Your choice. No exceptions.

Everyone, regardless of their pregnancy status, deserves to choose the end-of-life care that reflects their values. And you deserve to know that your decisions will be honored. But what do you do if you’re facing barriers to getting the end-of-life care you’ve planned for? 

That’s what Compassion Legal is for. We defend and protect the full range of patient-directed end-of-life healthcare, countering healthcare restrictions that impede patient choice and affirming the power of your decisions and plans — putting you and your values back in charge of your care. 

To learn more about the work Compassion Legal is doing to advance patient end-of-life rights, click here.