Everyone deserves to face life’s final chapter with dignity, clarity and control. Compassion Legal—the End-of-Life Justice Center at Compassion & Choices—is the nation’s first nonprofit law firm solely dedicated to advancing patient rights at the end of life. Whether you are navigating your own care, advocating for someone you love, or seeking to shape the future of healthcare, Compassion Legal is here to help.
We are a team of expert staff attorneys and pro bono partners who work at the intersection of law, medicine, and patient-directed care. From medical aid in dying and advance care directives to healthcare refusals and systemic accountability, we ensure that your decisions are honored and your values respected.
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If you or someone you love is struggling to get the care you want and deserve, we are here to help. Call us today, or use our legal intake form.
Note: We are not a general legal services provider. We focus on legal issues specifically related to end-of-life care and patient autonomy.
We’re ensuring that fully-informed patients are the decision makers in their own end of life care; that your decisions and plans are implemented.
We’re protecting and expanding access to existing end-of-life options and rights. (VSED, treatment withdrawal, pain management).
We’re ensuring fully-informed, patient-directed care is the prevailing practice of end-of-life medicine and healthcare and that you have access to all end-of-life care and options through your health systems and care providers.
Our experienced team of litigators work closely with our pro bono counsel to enforce and expand the rights of terminally ill people. Through our work in the courts, we fight to ensure that everyone can receive high-quality end-of-life care that is in line with their values, wishes and beliefs. In every case we are involved in, Compassion & Choices’ dedicated legal team prioritizes and seeks to advance patient-directed care.
In a recent decision that could have far-reaching consequences for people facing serious illness, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the rights of Medicaid enrollees to challenge harmful restrictions on their healthcare options. The case, Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, centered on whether individuals have the ability to enforce the Medicaid Act’s “free-choice-of-provider” provision…
The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued a troubling decision in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, ruling that Medicaid enrollees do not have the right to enforce the Medicaid Act’s “free-choice-of-provider” provision. The decision weakens the legal protections that allow individuals to challenge harmful state policies that cut off access to care. The case has…
Wednesday, June 25th, marks the 35th anniversary of a pivotal moment in the fight for patient-directed care. On this day in 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health, the first case in which the Court formally recognized a constitutional right to refuse unwanted medical treatment. For…
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