Who We Are

For more than 30 years, we have increased people’s quality of life and given them added peace of mind in their final days — even when injury or illness takes their voice. We work to change attitudes, practices and policies so that everyone can access the information and options they need to have more control and comfort in their final days.

We offer free consultation, planning resources, referrals and support. Across the nation, we work to protect and expand end-of-life options — and to ensure healthcare providers honor and enable patients’ decisions about their care.

Federal and State Advocacy

Compassion & Choices advocates for policies that empower people to be in control of their own healthcare decisions. This includes a robust policy agenda at the federal level. We are also a founding collaborator on the Campaign to End Unwanted Medical Treatment, healthcare and aging organizations working to ensure that patients get the treatment they want at the end of life … nothing less and nothing more. At the state level, we work to pass and then implement aid in dying laws so that mentally capable, terminally ill individuals have access to all end-of-life options.

National Programs

Compassion & Choices develops national programs designed to improve the end-of-life experience. As an example, we are currently developing a campaign to create awareness about the issues surrounding late-stage and end-of-life care. Our campaign will seek to inspire candid communication between patients and their loved ones, caregivers and doctors; empower patients to weigh the benefits and burdens of a proposed treatment so that they can fully participate in decisions about their end-of-life care; and, ultimately, ensure that patients receive care that is personalized and aligned with their values and priorities.

End-of-Life Consulting

Our End-of-Life Consultation program provides free, confidential, professional support to people anywhere in the country. We offer a variety of resources and tools to help individuals and their family members through the necessary steps to ensure their decisions are communicated and honored. We listen to an individual’s situation, provide information and support on all aspects of end-of-life decision-making, offer help navigating the healthcare system, and provide consultation with the goal of helping people take charge to improve their quality of life, achieve a peaceful death or simply plan ahead.

Litigation

Compassion & Choices’ innovative legal advocacy is one strategy among many used to achieve better medical care and access to a full range of options at life’s end. Our impact litigation is widely acknowledged to have brought much-needed attention to end of life care and to have established important principles in this arena, including a federal constitutional right to aggressive pain management.