Describing Death in America, a new Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, examines the data available to track and evaluate the quality of life and quality of care experienced by Americans in the months immediately preceding death. It explains why better information about that care is needed if Americans are to attain what we all wish for: a decent and dignified death, free from avoidable distress and suffering for our families, our caregivers and ourselves. Anecdotes and a variety of studies provide convincing evidence that for a significant proportion of Americans, that ideal is not met. But we have few benchmarks to say how close we are to achieving it as a nation, nor do we have the means to monitor our progress toward it.