Solutions

The Life With Dignity Foundation is working with individuals and organizations interested in the important policy changes that need to be made by our society in providing better care for people in the final stages of life. The project which we have established is called Life with Dignity: Compassionate Care for the Dying.

This is a demonstration project, focusing in its first phase on the citizens of the National Capital Area, and it is dedicated to improving the quality of life for individuals diagnosed with terminal illness. On the basis of our work in the National Capital Area, the scope of the project will be widened to include all 50 States, so that eventually all Americans can feel assured that their wishes for health care in the last phase of their life will be respected. Our objectives include:

• early awareness and education to help people understand the value of living wills and other forms of advance planning
  
• working with health care providers and patients' rights advocates to ensure that an individual's documentation of his or her wishes for facing the end of life will be protected
  
• working with federal, state and local policy makers to strengthen and standardize safeguards for the rights of the patient
  
• counseling and assisting family and friends who are surrogate decision makers for terminally ill patients