Peg Sandeen in 2021.Preserve human dignity
Representing the rights of terminally ill patients isn’t an unusual career choice for Peg Sandeen (Ph.D.’13). Her mother was a hospice nurse, and discussions about death were commonplace in her Iowa childhood home. Now Sandeen is the executive director of the Death with Dignity National Center and serves as adjunct faculty in PSU’s School of Social Work.
Death with Dignity is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring qualified terminally ill Americans have the freedom to make their own end-of-life decisions. Sandeen’s own belief that dying individuals deserve an influential voice in how they die solidified in the early 1990s when her husband became terminally ill. He longed to have control over his death, but there were no laws to defend his wishes. After his death, Sandeen went into social work.
Reflective of PSU’s non-traditional student body, Sandee was a working mom when she began her Ph.D. in Social Work and Social Research. She joined Death with Dignity in 2005.
“At the core of social work are autonomy and self-determination, dignity and the worth of the person. I believe that death with dignity represents all those things,” Sandeen said.
Profound Impact
Sandeen’s work focuses on policy reform. She provides strategic political expertise and assists legislators to create and promote laws across the country that allow for medical aid in dying based on Oregon’s 1997 groundbreaking Death with Dignity Act.
Nine states currently have death with dignity statutes, and a State Supreme Court ruling makes physician-assisted dying legal in Montana. The laws give eligible terminally ill individuals the right to bring about their death in a peaceful and dignified manner.
Minimize Suffering
Compassion drives Sandeen’s efforts, as she advocates for patients’ rights to choose a humane way to end prolonged suffering or slow, painful death. Respecting the range of differing viewpoints, Sandeen assures that participation by doctors, pharmacists, and caregivers is strictly voluntary. Each state’s law contains safeguards with an opt-out clause.
But expanding end-of-life options allows Sandeen to put her values into action.
“I’m so privileged to be in my position,” Sandeen said. “I go to work every day and support my family doing the thing I’m most passionate about.”