Read Dr. Peg Sandeen’s introduction to our 2022-2023 annual report, and then explore the rest of the report below.
Every year, we celebrate our wins, we bemoan our losses, and we get up to fight another round. This year is no different, even though the nature of the fight is changing.
In the last year, five laws passed that expanded access to Death with Dignity across the country—six, if you count Nevada before the governor’s arrogant and misguided veto.
We celebrate the end of residency requirements in Oregon and Vermont. But significant barriers still exist for most Americans, even in states where laws exist. In some states, there aren’t enough clinical care providers; in others, hospitals with religious affiliations prevent patients from accessing information about end-of-life options.
This past year, our organization adopted a new mission statement: to improve end-of-life care by expanding options for those who are dying and confronting injustices in the health care system. We did it with little fanfare, so that we could focus our effort on the work to advance it.
We tracked every single legislative movement this past year, providing immediate and clear guidance about new bill introductions and taking every opportunity to advocate for Death with Dignity as a policy that improves end-of-life care, giving terminally ill Americans the right to die on their own terms.
We invested over $85,000 in grants to organizations in our movement. Organizations like Florida Death with Dignity, which advanced legislation in the state farther than ever before; End of Life Options New Mexico, which mobilized volunteers to reach patients in rural areas; and the American Clinicians Academy on Medical Aid in Dying, which works to educate clinicians and provide resources to support access to medical aid in dying.
After several years of hard work to improve our digital communications infrastructure, we’re also making big strides forward in our advocacy. We mobilized a coalition and collected over 10,000 public comments to successfully challenge a proposed DEA rule that would have made it harder for terminally ill patients to receive the medical care they need.
And in New York, where we’ve been campaigning for eight years, we piloted a new strategy to break through what’s blocking us in the legislature—inviting legislators to share their stories and bringing them into the center of our advocacy strategy.
With unwavering dedication, we will continue to advocate until every American can choose to die how they live, with love and with dignity.
Thanks to generous and dedicated supporters like you, our movement continues to grow. Death with Dignity is committed to this fight, and to strengthening our relationships with our allies as we face wins, losses, and everything in between—together.