Concern's 20th Anniversary - A Celebration of Real Achievement, And a Renewal of Commitment to Facing New Treatment Challenges

Sep 29, 2026

Uploaded by Connor

A president’s address and anniversary report mark Concern for Dying’s twentieth year, reflecting on progress in end-of-life ethics and patient rights while preparing for emerging treatment challenges. It highlights the growing acceptance of living wills, increased respect for terminal patients’ autonomy within healthcare professions, and the organization’s prevention of its work being seen as mere consumerism. The document also honors journalist Andrew Malcolm and producer Karen Danaher for influential coverage and dramatizations that helped build public understanding of death and dying in technological medicine.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

A Word From the President

Twenty-year accomplishments

Honoring media coverage and awards

# A Word From the President By Donald W.McKinney The Twentieth Anniversary of Concern forDying,like any profoundly felt and deeplyshared commemoration,brings us face toface with the basic riddles of the humancommunity.How did a beginning thatseems to have taken place just the otherday actually lead toward the enormousprogress that is evident now?How can ourprimary focus,decisionmaking in the treat-ment of the terminally ill,have moved fromthe cutting edge of ethical thought two dec-ades ago to the mainstream of lay discus-sion nationwide today? Time always seems to move more swiftlythan we'd like,but the appearance in thiscase has been accelerated by the unpredict-able proliferation of events in the patients'rights movement. Looking back is almost a matter of tryingto catch one's breath,but,as the first pres-ident and president for the past six years,I feel today a very pleasing mixture o satis-faction with the work accomplished by thisuniquely committed organization and eageranticipation for the challenges that alreadybegin to materialize on the horizon. First,let's look at the unarguable ac-complishments of the previous twentyyears: The Living Will has received unpre-cedented acceptance since we first begandistributing it;concurrently,the generalpublic has been educated about the indi-vidual's constitutional right to make medi-cal decisions and,equally important,aboutthe responsibility of the individual to planfor the future. Second,we've helped bring about achanged attitude in the health-care profes-sions.When we began our work,we en-countered mistrust often and hostility morethan we'd like.Now,almost everyoneinvolved in the care of the terminally illrecognizes the nced to respect patientautonomy. (continued on page 2) # Concern's 20th Anniversary:A Celebration of Real Achievement,And a Renewal of Commitment to Facing New Treatment Challenges New York Times Reporter Andrew Malcolm HonoredBy Concern for His Coverage of Treatment Issues At a Twentieth Anniversary reception givenDecember 10 by the Board of Directors ofConcern for Dying,the highly respectedjournalist Andrew Malcolm was honored“for the intelligence,dedication and jour-nalistic skill with which he has illuminatedthe complexities of death and dying in atechnological age and for his exemplaryefforts to build public consciousness ofthese important issues.” So read the official Concern awardcita-tion,but,as Concern Director A-J Levin-son has said,“Andy's most significant ac-complishment,from our point of view,hasbeen his ability to arouse nationwide in-terest in the problems of the terminally illby graphically and movingly portraying thehuman dimension." Malcolm,who writes for The New YorkTimes,was arguably the first journalist toreach a wide popular audience on the sub-ject of decisionmaking for the terminallyll in light of contemporary technologicaldevelopments in medicine.Clearly,hestirred reader interest by showing thedoubts,fears,conflicts and various kindsof pain experienced by dying patients andtheir families. In a very real sense,he made newspapercoverage of these troubling issues "respect-able,"proving that the issues were not thehobby-horse of a fringe movement but fre-quent problems likely to be faced by almostanyone nearing death in today's treatmentclimate. Malcolm's rapidly developing expertisein death and dying,as they are managedin real life in the U.S.,led to his writingof the influential book,This Far and NoMore,which compassionately chronicledthe efforts of an ALS(amyotrophic lateralsclerosis)victim to be disconnected from arespirator."Right to Die,"a made-for-television film based upon Malcolm'sstory,won critical praise across the country(continued on page 2) Andrew Malcolm Andrew Malcolm “Right to Die”ProducerRecognized by Concern “Right to Die”ProducerRecognized by Concern Karen Danaher,who produced theNBC-TV movie "Right to Die,"was givena special award at the Concen TwentiethAnniversary reception(see relat

FAQs

What is the document’s focus during Concern for Dying’s twentieth anniversary?

It focuses on reflecting on two decades of work in end-of-life decision-making and patient rights, while renewing commitment to address new treatment challenges.

Which achievement is emphasized regarding patient planning for terminal care?

The document emphasizes the unprecedented acceptance of the living will and public education on individuals’ constitutional right to make medical decisions.

Who are honored and why in connection with treatment coverage?

Andrew Malcolm is honored for illuminating the complexities of death and dying, and Karen Danaher is recognized for producing the film “Right to Die” in a mature and complete way that reached a large audience.

Sep 29, 2026

Uploaded by Connor