AzPHA Breakfast & Learn:
Dying in America: Care Options at the End of Life
Learning Objectives:
1. Briefly review why dying peacefully in America is often difficult
2. Discuss the care options available at the end of life
3. Provide a more detailed review of Medical Aid in Dying
Tom Fitch, MD, went to medical school at the University of Kansas, completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan, and fellowships in Medical Oncology and Hematology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
He practiced at Mayo Clinic’s Arizona facility for 30 years, where he cared for many patients from time of diagnosis through the end of life. He became convinced that patients with advanced cancers need more open and empathetic communication about their illness and prognosis, better supportive/symptomatic care, and truthful, compassionate, and grace-filled care as they approach the end of life. For those reasons, he became a Hospice and Palliative Medicine physician.
With a wealth of first-hand experience, Dr. Fitch believes medical aid in dying (MAID) is ethical, and should be legally available—with stringent safeguards—to competent adults who find themselves near the end of life due to a terminal illness complicated by unbearable, refractory suffering to use as their last act of free will to die with dignity.
He has joined Arizona End of Life Options to advocate for Arizona to join the other ten states (plus Washington DC) to make MAID a choice in Arizona. He himself has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma and lymphoma. See Dr. Fitch’s Arizona Republic op-ed of 5/20/20: “I’m an oncologist with terminal cancer, and I support medical aid in dying. Here’s why.”
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