Dr. Katherine Morris was Cody Curtis' surgical oncologist. They were both featured in the groundbreaking documentary, How to Die in Oregon. Dr. Morris is currently an Assistant Professor in Surgical Oncology at University of New Mexico, with clinical and research interests in Upper GI (stomach, liver, pancreas, etc) cancers.

I'm not a person who likes getting her picture taken. So, how I ended up in a documentary discussing the most difficult and emotionally laden decision I've ever made in my professional career still occasionally puzzles me. Voting for Oregon's Death with Dignity law was a clear decision for me given the amount of respect I have for individual autonomy, and through my practice I'd learned how much people can suffer at the end of their lives. Even so, the decision to be a prescribing physician for a patient I was very attached to was incredibly difficult.

Nora Miller's husband was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 1999, and died peacefully after exercising his right to Death with Dignity under Oregon's law. Her mother and sister weren't so fortunate.

These contrasting experiences have motivated Nora to do what she can to promote the enactment of Death with Dignity laws in all states, to encourage medical personnel to learn about and embrace the benefits of the law for their patients, and to challenge misrepresentations of the facts about Death with Dignity wherever possible.

So you've made an advanced directive, selected a healthcare advocate, and given it to all the important people who need to know—your surrogate, your family, your physician, your hospital (you have, right?). The directive is intended to reflect how you feel right now about the difficult decisions your health advocate would have to make for you if you were suddenly incapacitated and required invasive procedures or life-saving treatments. So you Have the Conversation, think over the options, make your decisions, check off the boxes, sign on the dotted line, and send out the copies. It feels good to have things spelled out so clearly. Now you can stop thinking about that and get on with Other Stuff, right?

Duane Leuders contributes to the Death with Dignity National Center every month. He lives in Simsberry, Connecticut with his wife of 29 years. Duane's been a practicing attorney for 26 years, and his wife is a licensed clinical social worker.

If there were an organization whose cause you cared deeply about which had an easy, automatic, and affordable way to support them on a regular basis, wouldn't you be interested in signing up?

Well, there is! Under the Death with Dignity National Center Sustaining Partner Program, you can set up automatic, tax-deductible gifts to be charged to your debit or credit card once a month, each quarter, or annually. I've been participating in this program for the past two years.

By signing up to be a Sustaining Partner, you'll save yourself time and money (remember, donations are tax-deductible), and save the Death with Dignity National Center's resources as well. More of your donation will go to directly support their mission rather than to administrative costs. That's right, no more solicitations filling up your mail box, no more checks to write, envelopes to address, or stamps to mess with. That's what I call a win-win situation!

Dr. Christian Sinclair is the editor of Pallimed: A hospice and palliative care blog. He's passionate about health care professionals engaging the public through social media. You can follow him on Twitter @ctsinclair or @pallimed.

This article originally appeared on Pallimed and is republished with permission

Some of you may have caught the stark red cover of Time magazine last week with the bold white font and minimalist design, which let you know lurking within those pages was a story that would let you know "How to Die." (Subscription required)  Now as you may recall, Time magazine was recently lauded/lambasted for the breast feeding cover featuring a 3 year old on his mother's breast. So initially I thought this was Time magazine jumping into sensationalism again to increase magazine sales, but then on further thought would people really be stampeding the newsstands for this subject?

Meg Claire had dedicated her career to the success of grassroots nonprofit organizations. Currently, she
serves as a director at one of the country's most prestigious children's hospitals. For more, follow Meg on Twitter.

I want a good death. You probably do too. But people who have made clear their decisions about wanting to die at home surrounded by loved ones, still end up dying in ICUs. They undergo treatments that prolong their suffering and may shorten their lives, even when they know they are imminently dying. We hope for a heart attack, one big one to finish us off, but the odds aren't in our favor. For most of us, it'll be the long, slow decline we dread.