NPR’s “The California Report” aired interviews today with Compassion & Choices President Barbara Coombs Lee and a local advocate from San Mateo, Jennifer Glass, about our new campaign to legalize aid in dying in California. It started with a series of online ads last week to educate state residents.
“The time is now,” says Coombs Lee. “We all together have made a commitment to see aid in dying accessible, transparent, available to Californians within five years.”
When Glass was diagnosed with lung cancer last year, her mind immediately raced to a vision of a messy, chaotic death.
“The idea that my life is going to end was not so frightening to me,” she says. “The idea that I might drown in my own lung fluid while my family watches me suffer. That is terrifying.”
Glass, 50, says at least having the option of controlling when and how she dies would bring her peace.
You can listen to the audio of the full story here.
You can read the full story text here.
When Barbara Engdahl read about Compassion & Choices in a magazine five years ago, she immediately called to volunteer. Her career as a social worker helping patients and their families deal with injury, illness, disability and death – and her own mother’s death when she was 11 years old – have given Barbara the wisdom and acceptance to support others at life’s end.
Planning a vacation is fun. Planning a wedding is exciting. Planning a meeting is important. Planning for your future healthcare is critical, which is why Compassion & Choices makes such a big deal out of National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD).