Compassion & Choices

Compassion & Choices is a nonprofit organization in the United States working to promote what the organization views as patient autonomy and individual choice at the end of life, including access to physician assisted suicide or what the organization refers to as “aid in dying,” which in the USA is generally limited to people with terminal illnesses. The organization’s primary function is advocating for and ensuring access to “aid in dying.”^[1][2]

Compassion & Choices

Type	Legal and legislative advocacy, counseling
Headquarters	Portland, Oregon
Location	United States
Staff	80
Website	www.compassionandchoices.org

History

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

The 2011 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury prize winner, How to Die in Oregon,^[4] documented the work of Compassion & Choices of Oregon.^[5]

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

1. Ziegler, Stephen J; Bosshard, Georg (10 February 2007). "Role of non-governmental organisations in physician assisted suicide". British Medical Journal. 334 (7588): 295–8. doi:10.1136/bmj.39100.417072.be. PMC 1796670. PMID 17289733.
2. The organization has worked for recognition of a difference between the terms "assisted suicide" and "legal physician aid in dying" in the criminal code. For example, Oregon law draws a distinction between "suicide" and "aid in dying" for criminal purposes. ORS 127.880 §3.14 "Compassion & Choices". Archived from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2010-03-01.^{[better source needed]}
3. "End of Life Planning and Paliative Care - Compassion & Choices". compassionandchoices.org. Archived from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2009-09-14.
4. James, Susan Donaldson (February 13, 2014). "Philly Nurse Exonerated in Assisted Death of Her Terminally Ill Father". ABC News. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
5. Barnes, Brook (24 January 2011). "Unflinching End-of-Life Moments". New York Times. Retrieved 16 April 2011.

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.: Corinthian Books. 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, Merloyd Lawrence Books. ISBN 978-0-7382-1083-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

External links

• Official website