Compassion & Choices-Montana

08/10/2026

We are so grateful for all volunteers who helped make our presence known at this year's Missoula Pride earlier this summer. Mark Connell and team, your community spirit and advocacy shine! Thank you. 😎🌈

08/05/2026

Billings volunteer Lori Hartford tabled for Compassion & Choices at Billings Pride earlier this summer, on June 20. Thank you, Lori, and thanks to all the fabulous folks who stopped by to grab some resources and Pride swag!

04/06/2026

Mark Connell lives in Missoula and has been volunteering with Compassion & Choices for more than 16 years.

"Every two years since the Baxter case was decided in 2009, our Montana volunteers have faced the recurring prospect of our legislature taking up one or more bills seeking to overturn the legal protections that medical aid in dying currently provides to suffering, terminally ill patients in our state. To date, through vigorous lobbying and with the help of Compassion and Choices, we’ve defeated these bills in eight separate legislative sessions in a row, and hope to continue to do so as long as opponents keep stepping forward to challenge the current state of the law. 'Who gets to decide?' is often cited as the key issue. Lawmakers who don’t know anything about a dying individual’s medical circumstances, spiritual life, and values shouldn’t be entitled to make these critical decisions for them. 'It’s my life, my body, my suffering, and my death that are involved,' one often hears in the legislative chambers, 'and so like every other medical decision it should be my decision, when I’m about to die, as to how much suffering I should have to endure before my death finally arrives.' And so, I believe with all my heart and mind, it should be."

We are so grateful for Mark’s support and hope you’ll be inspired by Mark and our many dedicated volunteers to join us. https://compassionandchoices.org/volunteer/

02/19/2026

We’ve defeated harmful legislation every year so far, but we need to keep fighting for Montanans like TJ Mutchler.

In 2009, the Montana Supreme Court's Bob Baxter v. Montana decision authorized medical aid in dying. In 2017, Bob Baxter's own grandson, TJ Mutchler, used this compassionate end-of-life care option to end his suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer.

TJ Mutchler grew up exploring the mountains outside of Billings. He worked as a plumber, a welder, worked on a ranch and he worked on a fishing boat.

Today, on the 9th anniversary of TJ's death, we invite you to learn more about his story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8PZdwZdvTM&t=112s

02/10/2026

We are so thrilled for New York!

After more than a decade of work, we are thrilled to say that medical aid in dying is signed into law in New York, expanding end-of-life care options for terminally ill New Yorkers and affirming their right to make informed, compassionate decisions at the end of life. We want to thank our team on the ground, volunteers, advocates who wrote and called their representatives time and time again, and the bill champions and lawmakers who saw this legislation through.

12/30/2025

Tomorrow, December 31st marks the 16th anniversary of the landmark Baxter v. Montana ruling, which authorized medical aid in dying in Montana.

Bob Baxter, a Marine veteran and long-haul trucker driver, volunteered to be the lead plaintiff to bring this option to terminally ill Montanans. While he died before the option he fought for became available, his daughter, Leslie Mutchler, says, “He decided that he was going to continue on because he wanted it to be available for other people; it was that important to him that people have a choice.”

Bob never could have known how personal the impact of his fight for this option would be: his grandson, TJ Mutchler, utilized medical aid in dying at the age of 36 in 2016.

We hope you've been inspired this past month to join our many dedicated volunteers. https://compassionandchoices.org/volunteer/ Stay tuned for what’s to come in 2026 as we continue our work to protect Montanans’ end-of-life options.

12/29/2025

Roberta King lives in Missoula and is one of Bob Baxter's daughters. Here is her story.

My father was Bob Baxter, the plaintiff in Baxter v. State of Montana. He was terminally ill with chronic lymphocytic leukemia when joined the lawsuit.

He wanted to be able to decide, with the help of his family and his doctor when he had endured enough. He wanted the option to die peacefully at home, surrounded by the people he loved.

Over the years, as efforts to criminalize this care continue to arise, I remind myself that he kept on going with the case even though it was clear the decision wouldn’t come in time for him.

I share this with gratitude for my dad’s courage, for all of the advocates over the years who keep on showing up, and for the Montanan’s whose lives have been touched because my dad kept on going.

We are so grateful for Roberta’s support and hope you’ll be inspired by Roberta and our many dedicated volunteers to join us. https://compassionandchoices.org/volunteer/

12/22/2025

Dick Barrett lives in Missoula and is a former State Senator. Here is his story:

"My commitment to medical aid in dying goes back a long way, to when it was discussed in my family as one of the many social and political issues we were concerned about. Then, when the Baxter case was decided in 2008, the plaintiff physicians and their attorney, Mark Connell, were all personal friends and later, when I was elected to the Legislature, constituents.

"My activity in support of aid in dying has been mainly to oppose legislative attempts to reverse the Baxter decision. As a legislator, I carried bills to provide guidelines for the provision of aid in dying, as well as opposing bills to criminalize it, which have been introduced in every session since 2009. Since being termed out of the legislature in 2019, I have continued to oppose those bills, working with the very effective group of citizen lobbyists organized by Compassion and Choices.

"I like to think that debate in the legislature can make a difference - that words and ideas can move votes. I’m not sure that that is always true, but I believe that the best I ever did at moving my fellow legislators and getting their votes was when I opposed criminalization, speaking on the floor of the Senate."

We are so grateful for Dick’s support and hope you’ll be inspired by Dick and our many dedicated volunteers to join us. https://compassionandchoices.org/volunteer/

12/15/2025

Ron Waterman lives in Helena and has been volunteering with Compassion & Choices for 16 years. Here is his story.

“In 2007, a close friend was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer. She was a single woman with no immediate family, and my late wife Mignon and I supported her. She fought courageously for 16 months, but eventually, the chemo treatments stopped working and she was in extreme pain, ready to die. This was just before the Montana Supreme Court's Baxter decision. Hospice staff worked to control her pain to no avail. She wanted to die at home surrounded by her friends, with her dog at her side, but she did not have the option.

“She did not want to die, but she did not want to suffer. If she had had the option of medical aid in dying, she would have chosen it.

“After the Baxter ruling, former Sen. Dick Barrett introduced legislation to enshrine the decision in Montana law. There was also an attempt to criminalize medical aid in dying. I testified in favor of end-of-life options, as did my late wife, who had served in the legislature for 12 years. We testified against criminalization every session except 2017, and I have continued to do so ever soon.

“In late November, 2016 my late wife was diagnosed with an aggressive form of stage four pancreatic cancer. After a brief sampling of chemo, my wife concluded that there were only two buckets, life longevity and quality of life. To get one, you needed to forego the other. Her cancer was so advanced that we were told that she might live 4-6 months without treatment, but perhaps only 9 months with treatment, but with all of its side effects. Mignon entered hospice in late December, and we managed her pain and the disease until early April, 2017. While she had a prescription for drugs to assist in her death, in the end, she succumbed to the cancer.

“I have testified during all of the sessions since her death in opposition to criminalization.”

We are so grateful for Ron’s support and hope you’ll be inspired by Ron and our many dedicated volunteers to join us. https://compassionandchoices.org/volunteer/

12/08/2025

This December marks the 16th anniversary of the Baxter v. Montana ruling, which authorized medical aid in dying in Montana. As we close out 2025, we are reflecting on the many champions of end-of-life options across Montana Each week, we'll shine a spotlight on one of our fabulous volunteers and the work they do in the Big Sky State.

This week, we highlight champion Lori Hartford.

“I choose to volunteer, as my best friend’s niece — a young woman who was diagnosed with ALS in her late 20’s and lived in Seattle — chose to use medical aid in dying to end the relentless loss of her bodily functions at the time of her choosing, “ Lori shared. “She was surrounded by loved ones and, after she said her last goodbye, she died peacefully.

“My favorite activities as well as memorable moments as a volunteer with Compassion & Choices have been tabling at the Montana Healthcare Conference and providing education regarding medical aid in dying in Montana to a large group of diverse folks in Red Lodge.”

We hope you’ll be inspired to join Lori and our many dedicated volunteers. https://compassionandchoices.org/volunteer/