Death with Dignity National Center Names New Executive Director
Peg Sandeen envisions significant advances in public awareness and support.
Aug. 22, 2005
Contact: Robert C. Kenneth by e-mail, or call (503) 228-4415.
Portland, OR – Adding to an impressive list of academic, professional and personal credentials, Peg Sandeen has been named the new Executive Director of the Death with Dignity National Center (DDNC) in Portland, Oregon.
Sandeen is a native Iowan, with a master's degree in Social Work from the University of Iowa. She is currently working on a doctoral degree in Social Work and Social Research at Portland State University. Sandeen is an experienced social worker, specializing in issues related to terminal illness and end-of-life processes.
Through her role as a case manager with the AIDS Project of Iowa, as well as volunteer work with Hospice of North Iowa and the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Sandeen has time and again seen the physical and emotional struggles brought about by a protracted dying process.
As a result of Sandeen's extensive exploration of complex ethical, legal and medical issues related to social work, she was named 2002 Price Fellow in HIV Prevention Leadership by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In her professional capacities, as well as through personal loss, Sandeen has felt firsthand how legal and medical interaction affects people's lives in both positive and negative ways. As a result, her scholarly and professional efforts have increasingly focused on health related ethical concerns, particularly end-of-life decisions, privacy issues and mental health.
Says Sandeen of her new role as Executive Director: "My key goals are to enhance public awareness of a growing range of end-of-life options, to take the lead in defending Oregon's Death with Dignity law and to help citizens in other states explore their legislative opportunities."
The DDNC Board of Directors worked with a long list of qualified candidates in filling the Executive Director spot. Members devoted considerable time and thought to selecting an individual with the combined professional and academic experience, leadership skills and organizational vision to guide the DDNC through additional challenges and successes. The Board of Directors, staff and donors welcome Peg Sandeen.
For up-to-the minute information on the Death with Dignity law, the litigation and efforts at end-of-life care reform in other states, please visit www.deathwithdignity.org.
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You are the key to ensuring well-crafted Death with Dignity laws for all Americans. With your financial and volunteer help, the Death with Dignity National Center, a 501(c)(3), non-partisan, non-profit organization, has been the leading advocate in the death with dignity movement. Member contributions helped us pass a new Death with Dignity law in Washington, defend the Oregon law, and provide education and outreach programs for the vitality of the death with dignity movement.
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About Death with Dignity
The greatest human freedom is to live, and die, according to one's own desires and beliefs. From advance directives to physician-assisted dying, death with dignity is a movement to provide options for the dying to control their own end-of-life care.
Death with Dignity National Center is the leader in this movement, successfully establishing, advancing and defending the landmark Oregon and Washington Death with Dignity Acts.
Political Action Fund
The Death with Dignity National Center partners with the Oregon Death with Dignity Political Action Fund to conduct lobbying and political activities in order to achieve the enactment of Death with Dignity laws in other states.
Learn more about the Oregon Death with Dignity Political Action Fund.
Patients & Families
The Death with Dignity National Center was formed out of a profound commitment to the idea that personal end-of-life decisions should be made solely between a patient and a physician. We are pleased to provide you with support and information as you face the difficult challenges ahead.





