General Information
Welcome to Arizona End of Life Options (AZELO). Our mission is to educate Arizonans about Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) as a compassionate end-of-life option for the terminally ill.
We are an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) charitable organization that operates throughout the state. Our activities include on-line and in-person education of end-of-life options as well as support for advocacy for expanded end-of-life options.
Below you will find links to the resources that we discuss in our in-person educational events. These should give you a broad overview of the options that we all have for end-of-life care.
If you find this type of information to be useful and are interested in advocating for expanded end-of-life options, then please take the pledge and join our list of supporters by providing your name and email address below.
By providing your email you will also receive an email version of the resource links that are shown below and will be signed up for our monthly newsletter
Overview – AZELO’s Dr. Tom Fitch discusses the options that we all have for end-of-life care (45 minutes)
- The Six Choices We Have at the End of Our Lives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpK2H1eFWp8
Starting the conversation about death – Even the best end-of-life plans are useless if they are not properly communicated to caregivers and medical professionals. Death is not an easy topic to broach so we have provided links to several resources that discuss ways to start this conversation:
- Death over Dinner: https://deathoverdinner.org/
- The Conversation Project: https://theconversationproject.org/
Finding the right place for care – We each require various levels of care and support at each stage of our life. Making the decision on where to find this care in a residential setting can be overwhelming. One of our AZELO supporters runs a service that helps to match people with care facilities and solutions:
- TLC Senior Placement Solutions: http://www.TLCSeniorPlacement.com.
Patient Advocacy – In our educational programs, we discuss the vital importance of having an advocate as one goes through the process of end-of-life care. If you don’t have a friend/relative who can function in this capacity the following link contains information on people who you can hire to fill this role:
- AZ Association of Patient Advocates: https://www.arizonaapa.org/find-an-advocate
Documentation – It is essential to have your wishes for end-of-life care well documented. “Advance Directives” is a broad term that includes documents such as a Living Will, Power(s) of Attorney, etc. The following links provide more information on this process and the associated documents:
- AZELO Advance Directives webpage: https://azendoflifeoptions.org/advance-directives/
- Compassion and Choices – Advance Planning Guide and Toolkit: https://www.compassionandchoices.org/resource/eoldgt
Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking (VSED) is one of the end-of-life care options that we discuss in our educational programming. While simple in concept, VSED requires significant planning and detail in its execution. The following can help you to evaluate VSED as an option and to prepare for it if it is something that you would like to consider:
- VSED Resources Northwest: https://vsedresources.com
- End Of Life (EOL) Oregon VSED overview: https://eolcoregon.org/end-of-life-choices/voluntarily-stopping-eating-and-drinking-vsed/
- Recorded webinar by Arizona Bioethics Network on VSED: https://azbioethicsnetwork.org/sites/default/files/webinar/recordings/PopeJun2021.mp4
Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) is not currently available in Arizona. However, several states where it is legal do not require one to be a resident of that state to access it. The following links will provide information for non-residents who wish to consider MAID: