Colorado’s aid-in-dying law and the death of Kurt Huschle

“’We were each in our own minds thinking: How is this going to happen?’” Dec. 17 news story.

I knew Kurt Huschle. I worked with him for a number of years. After reading the article, I was heartbroken and angry by his suffering and the length of time it took him to die after taking an end-of-life medication. (He died more than eight hours after taking the medication.) I knew Kurt had Stage 4 cancer, but I and maybe many others were unaware that his life ended in such a horrible struggle, because a law that was passed a little over a year ago did not provide him or his family the support they desperately needed. It seems that the law lacks the provisions necessary to fulfill its intent.

The argument is not whether the law is just or not; that has already been decided by the voters. When a veterinarian can administer a life-ending drug to a family pet that takes less than a minute to take effect, but it takes a human eight or more hours to die, something is seriously wrong. It seems to me that our medical community let Kurt down. Kurt was also an Army veteran and so, in some small way, we all let him down. Surely we have the technology and compassion to make sure this suffering doesn’t happen again.

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I would like to express my condolences to Susan Huschle on the anguishing death of her husband from biliary cancer and assisted suicide. Unfortunately, Kevin Simpson’s article does not explore all the ramifications of Kurt’s diagnosis and death.

Should Kurt’s symptoms have been attributed to irritable bowel syndrome or diverticulitis? If he had been diagnosed earlier, would he have had more therapeutic options? Were Kurt’s only two choices dying with severe pain or assisted suicide? If Kurt’s pain was uncontrolled by opiates, what adjuvant analgesics were available? Should he have been offered advanced palliative techniques by oncology, interventional radiology, or anesthesiology? What are those techniques? Was Kurt depressed by his cancer diagnosis? If depression was treated, would he have chosen to end his life by suicide? Was Kurt’s manner of death really the most “compassionate” and “dignified” way to die, as the proponents of physician-assisted suicide have suggested? ●●●

I respect the very private decision that the Huschles made to end the life of Kurt. Agonizing decisions are made at the time of death. My concern is that when people make a decision to end their lives, those left behind have to go on. God did not give man the option of deciding when life is over. God didn’t come up with death; it is a consequence of sin on this planet. Pain is a horrible thing. I cannot judge anyone’s pain. I pray that suffering in disease ends, but not at the cost of life. Send letters of 150 words or fewer to openforum@denverpost.com or 101 W. Colfax Ave., Suite 800, Denver, CO, 80202. Please include full name, city and phone number. Contact information is for our purposes only; we will not share it with anyone else. You can reach us by telephone at 303-954-1331.