Joanne Lynn is Director of The Washington Home Center for Palliative Care Studies, Senior Scientist at the RAND Corporation, and President of Americans for Better Care of the Dying. She is the coauthor of Improving Care for the End of Life: A Sourcebook for Health Care Managers and Clinicians (2000) and Handbook for Mortals: Guidance for People Facing Serious Illness (1999), among other books. She has coedited several books, including A Good Dying: Shaping Health Care for the Last Months of Life (1998) and By No Extraordinary Means: The Choice to Forgo Life-Sustaining Food and Water (1986). She has also been a physician serving people living out the end of life in hospices, nursing homes, home care, and hospitals.