AMWA is delighted to partner with Compassion & Choices in providing our members with current and clinically relevant information on medical aid in dying.
Compassion & Choices’ Doc2Doc consultation program has educated the California healthcare community about how to help interested patients access the state’s End of Life Option Act. Equally important, the law has spurred conversations with terminally ill adults about all their end-of-life care options, including hospice and palliative care, to minimize suffering and maximize quality of life.
Nearly every physician that I have met since I was diagnosed with breast cancer assumed my highest priority was quantity of life. As a result, I have undergone a number of burdensome procedures and painful treatments which I believe I would have refused if I knew then what I know now because my highest priority is quality of life. But since I started using the Truth in Treatment Trust Card and Diagnosis Decoder, these tools have helped me establish a foundation of strong communication with my doctors so I can ask good questions about the benefits and burdens of my treatment options and make fully informed healthcare decisions.
I became a petitioner for the Colorado End-of-Life Options Act because I watched my dad suffer in his dying and suffer a horrific death. My dad had wanted medical aid in dying, and I promised him that I would see his wish through so that others who want the option — and who qualify — should have it in Colorado. As a result of the leadership, foresight and resources of Compassion & Choices and the Compassion & Choices Action Network, and the fantastic efforts of a grassroots corps of volunteers, Colorado residents now have access to this peaceful option at the end of life.
Compassion & Choices could not have been a better partner in our ongoing efforts to prevent Congress from repealing the D.C. Death with Dignity Act. The congressional, legal and local legislative experience of its talented staff has helped us mount a successful campaign to defend the medical aid-in-dying law passed by the District of Columbia Council.
When terminally ill individuals fully understand their care options, they can focus on living, not dying. Compassion & Choices has been an invaluable resource for Coloradans to learn more about the law, how it works and how to talk to our own doctors.
I’ve been very thrilled, quite honestly, to have found Compassion & Choices and to be able to participate in this work. Being able to talk to people, to open up the conversation, to support their feelings and fears and desires, I think is probably one of the most important gifts we can give them in their journey through life and eventual death.
For almost 20 years I have been a supporter and advocate and worked for the law’s expansion in other states...I have proudly given my support for Compassion & Choices, not only in the past, but tonight at this special benefit. I believe in this law. I believe in the right of choice, including at life’s end.
We commend Compassion & Choices for its exemplary record of committed actions in service to improving care and expanding choices at the end of life, and convey our sincere hope that the organization's services, programs, and advocacy will achieve further success in the future.
After watching my husband John suffer terribly at the end of his life, I strongly believe in our right to choose when we die, if our illness is beyond any hope of meaningful recovery. Compassion & Choice has worked diligently to advance patient autonomy at life’s end, and to improve end-of-life care for all of us. That’s why I support Compassion & Choices' transformational leadership in achieving these vital goals.
I want to thank Compassion & Choices, which organized our D.C. grassroots supporters, without whom we could not have passed this bill. They articulated the urgent need for terminally ill residents to have the end-of-life care option of medical aid in dying. This law is designed to keep the government from taking away people’s freedom and liberty to make these fundamentally personal decisions in consultation with their family, physician and spiritual advisors.
My lifelong work as an advocate for social justice has taught me that difficult moments require our utmost compassion, the wisdom to imagine walking in another person’s shoes and the ability to respect the wishes of others. I was proud to partner with Compassion & Choices and its affiliates when they led the successful legislative campaign to make the End of Life Option Act a reality in California. As a result of their efforts, terminally ill adults in California who want the option to avoid a lengthy and painful dying process can do so peacefully.
I’m grateful that Compassion & Choices helped Omega overcome roadblocks in accessing and using the law, enabling her to die peacefully, without needless suffering, at home, in her own bed, with me by her side. (- Harold Bryan Webb, widower of Dr. Silva)
Since my cancer diagnosis, my mission is to raise awareness about the importance of end-of-life planning. Compassion & Choices planning resources and COVID-19 toolkit are free, easy to use and help people clarify priorities, resulting in real peace of mind.
Talking about and planning your transition will not kill you, but it will save your loved ones the awful sorrow and agony of unpreparedness. We are grateful to Compassion & Choices for helping us transfer our reluctance and fear of discussing the ultimate transition of our life journeys into a responsible and respectful plan of love and dignity
I live in Easton with my wife...I have no idea how or when I’m going to die. But if Connecticut passes this medical aid-in-dying bill, then my life will be better now.
Our remaining time together as a family could have been immeasurably better and we would not be carrying the heavy burden of sadness in our hearts because of the unnecessary prolonged suffering of our beloved.
One of the most appreciated aspects of this law, we’re told from people who are dying, is the peace of mind it gives them. Even if they don’t exercise it--just knowing it’s there, knowing that if they need it, if the suffering becomes too much to bear, it will be available to them--releases them from spending their final weeks and months, in fear. I wish my wife, Pam, had had this chance.
I do not want sympathy—don’t ‘feel sorry’ for me. Rather, feel compassion. Imagine how you would ‘feel’ in my situation and how long you could tolerate the suffering and daily loss of capacity before you’d just want to relax and die peacefully.
The expanded telehealth provisions that Compassion & Choices and others advocated for so passionately have been transformative in healthcare delivery, ensuring people, particularly underserved communities, can safely and more easily access quality healthcare.
Mail contributions directly to:
Compassion & Choices Gift Processing Center
PO Box 485
Etna, NH 03750
