Collaborated with C&C for more than 10 years. It is a highly effective organization that is successfully transforming end-of-life care in our country, and taking medical aid in dying from the furthest fringe to mainstream acceptance and legality in some dozen states. They set clear goals, and they accomplish them through smart leadership, great staff and motivated supporters. They are highly professional and great to work with. I can't recommend them highly enough to donors or potential employees.
I spent twenty years working at Compassion & Choices. The work they do to help people manage their final days is amazing, from providing documents to use in end-of-life planning to consultants who will help people manage their final days is the best around. I will continue to support their work as long as I can. I highly recommend them to anyone who is interested in this mission.
I came to Compassion & Choices (C&C) after losing my father, mother, & sister to cancer. I was never closer to my father than in his last days, but I wished that all three of them could have had more than simply withdrawal of treatments. Since then, I have studied death with dignity procedures in other countries (I have a PhD in Human Development) & through this came to C&C. I have found their materials most helpful in developing a formal presentation & informal talks with friends on this issue, in developing published writings on it, & in writing my own last wishes regarding terminal illnesses & my quality of life. My wife also reads the C&C magazine, & having come from the Netherlands, is fully in agreement with the concept & purpose espoused in it. She too has used in in formulating her last wishes. We both plan on leaving sizable donations to C&C in our wills.
I spent much of my career working with patients at the end of life, and most were able to die peacefully. However, my sister suffered a very long and painful death in spite of excellent hospice care. I promised myself I’d find a way to help others find options to die with dignity at their own discretion. Compassion and Choices does just that. This organization provides invaluable information to help us navigate the challenges we face at the end of our lives, so that we and our families can say goodbye in the way we choose.
Compassion and Choices provides up to date significant news about the right to die choice movement across the country. In it's monthly newsletter, it also provides excellent resources for end of life planning for individuals and families. I have used many of their resources to provide educational sessions at my CCRC in Ct. A truly valuable organization.
If your goal is a peaceful death, and a health issue is preventing your goal. Compassion and care are the people you need to talk with;
I am involved in more than one organization associated with medical aid in dying and this one (Compassionate Choices) not only "talks the talk" (education) but they are the only one that I have seen, to also "walk the walk." They worked hard to coordinate with their base for REAL policy change! The organizer from our state of NM was extremely communicative and helped organize in a meaningful way for the adoption historic legislation...and they continue to remain involved in the development of services now. So, five stars :)
In 2018 my mother used Medical Aid In Dying (MAID) in California to end her intolerable and uncontrollable pain and suffering from terminal breast cancer that had gone to her bones, liver, and lungs. She was within days of dying the horrible death she knew was coming and desperately wished to avoid. Thanks to MAID, my mother died a peaceful death held by her closest family members.
Compassion & Choices was the key to my mother and our family learning about the existence of the California End of Life Option Act. Her doctors certainly did not offer the information at any time during her long and difficult fight for more time with us.
Compassion & Choices is doing the hard work of advocacy and education around all end of life options in a culture where talking about death itself is taboo. But they don't just advocate and educate about Medical Aid In Dying. They do so much more in terms of educating patients and families about all options when it comes to end of life care planning.
Since my mother's death, I've learned so much more about Compassion & Choices and the people from all walks of life who work tirelessly to advocate for improving end of life care planning, expanding options, and empowering patients to plan according to their own values.
Not only did my family benefit from the vital work Compassion & Choices is doing, but clients in my private practice who are dealing with end of life decision-making gain valuable information when they visit the Compassion & Choices website. Patient education is key to making decisions based on values.
Compassion & Choices is a phenomenal group of dedicated people doing crucial work for all of us in terms of end of life options care planning.
As an old guy and a physician, I am not afraid of being dead but I am very afraid of the process of dying, of the risk dying slowly and being in great pain for weeks or months. That's why I feel that C&C's cause, medical aid in dying for people who are in that fix, and who want help, is a very, very, important cause.
Having been a Clinical Social Worker for 40 years and as a clergy wife of an Episcopal Priest for almost 50 years, I have had a lot of experience with the terminally the ill. Aid in Dying is a tricky issue, one many people find distasteful. As a Client Service Volunteer for the past 7 years I can tell you that this organization has the highest ethical standards and provides a variety of services to terminally ill people.
Here in Oregon, where we have had 20yrs of experience helping terminally ill patients acquire and take a lethal dose of medication that will end their suffering and their life, the question of choosing death over suffering is legal, well documented, and a relief to both patients and their families. It has been an honor to be present at over 80 deaths.
But C & C is so much more than just providing services for the terminally ill. It is in the forefront of the movement to make this compassionate end available in all states, to all who qualify and want a peaceful end. Our volunteers in states without the law advocate, educate, and support people who are looking for the security of knowing that if their suffering becomes too great they have the legal right to end their life.
I am proud to be part of this movement and this organization.
Betsy Moss, Eugene, Oregon
My "honest and candid" experience has been nothing but positive. I'm uncertain exactly how we came in contact with Compassion & Choices. But I am certain it was a great thing that we did. Very few organizations are able to combine on the ground assistance to individuals and families in time of needs with pressing a legislative agenda and on the ground grass roots organizing. Somehow C & C manages all these things, with grace, punch and political savvy. They were helpful to me personally as my father was dying, and have been helpful in providing clear leadership in the step by step process of helping to bring ordinary folks and legislatures to understand the importance of being permitted to die with dignity. Several of my closest friends have gone through drawn out, terminal, end-of-lives. Some were lucky enough to have persons and family to help them make choices and have the ability to carry them out. Others were not so lucky, and suffered pain, indignity, and the misfortune of being trapped in hospitals when all they wished for was to die at home in the company of friends and family and with the comforts of a lifetime of nesting around them. Compassion fights at all levels to help people handle what is perhaps the most difficult time they will face. I give them every star I am permitted to give, and more.