History
Life’s End Institute, formerly The Missoula Demonstration Project, was founded in 1996 by Barbara K. Spring, PhD and Ira Byock, MD to research the experience of dying persons and their families and to demonstrate that a community-based approach of excellent physical, psychological and spiritual care improves the quality of life among those who are dying and their families. The most basic assumptions under which the Institute operates are:
- Dying is a part of living and encompasses both the potential for suffering as well as possibilities for personal growth;
- Quality of life’s end involves expanding the prevailing conceptual model, in which dying is viewed as a medical event, to encompass a full range of human needs and experiences; and
- Improved care for the dying expands services beyond the framework of individual institutions and ensures seamless, coordinated care for both patients and families.
The Institute focuses on a small western city, Missoula, Montana, as a proving ground for a new way of thinking. We do not advance any specific vision for a "good death" or any agenda regarding the "right way" to die or to grieve. We exist instead to explore how we die, how we care for one another as we die, and how we mourn, and to foster avenues for improvement.