Dying Fort Collins doctor sought end of life reforms
Dr. Charlie Hatchette's home is still alive with details of his life.
There's the broken airplane propeller from when he built an experimental aircraft that he flew exactly once. There are pictures he took of the microscopic world that look like modern art. Bronze sculptures he made stand out in the backyard of his idyllic East Elizabeth Street house.
Hatchette, who opened the first walk-in family medicine clinic in Fort Collins, died in January. His widow calls his a "life well lived," and one filled with art, side projects and a career dedicated to affordable health care. Before he died he wanted to leave one more mark on Fort Collins and Colorado.
In a two-minute video in which Hatchette is visibly ravaged by the neurodegenerative disease ALS — also called Lou Gehrig's disease — he made his plea.
"I believe Colorado should adopt a death with dignity law modeled after the Oregon legislation," said Hatchette, a medical doctor who practiced for decades in Fort Collins. "There is more to life than increasing its length and death with dignity offers a humane option when faced with difficult end of life choices."
The disease took Hatchette's life after a seven-year fight and before a bill modeled after Oregon's was formally introduced this year to the Colorado Legislature. The proposal by Rep. Joann Ginal, a Fort Collins Democrat, would have allowed terminally ill patients — those doctors give less than six months to live — the ability to request life-ending medication.
Patients would have needed to request medication multiple times and be able to administer it on their own.
Last Friday, a House committee ended the bill's chances of becoming law this year with an 8-5 vote. But Hatchette's widow, Gwen, testified in the measure's support Friday and plans continued support.
"I just think it needs more discussion," Gwen Hatchette said. "I didn't think of it as a defeat. It was a start of the conversation."
Ginal, the bill's sponsor, said the day after its defeat that she'll bring the proposal backnext year. She said she needs to review the 12 hours of testimony and debate, and to find ways to address issues brought raised about the bill.
Ginal plans to re-introduce right-to-die bill
A continued fight over the emotionally charged topic also called "assisted suicide" and related "right to die" legislation is certain.
Even the day after her bill's defeat, at Ginal's regular constituent meeting in Fort Collins, two opponents attacked the idea. One lambasted right-to-die legislation for holding life as less than sacred; the other, also a Fort Collins doctor, was more ready for genial debate. For him, chief among the issues was muddying the relationship between doctors and patients.
"To me, it's the total antithesis of the role of a healer," Dr. Chris Tsoi said, adding that everyone should be compassionate toward those facing the end of their life.
Doctors who testified against the bill in the Legislature said allowing dying patients to seek life-ending medications cut off the possibility of recovery should a prognosis be wrong. Five states allow patients to seek aid in dying: Oregon, Washington, Montana, Vermont and New Mexico.
Gwen Hatchette mulled over the question of the proposal's potential to negatively impact doctors like her late husband and was almost apologetic when she didn't have an answer. But her support for the law didn't waver — she cites statistics of how many who are prescribed life-ending doses of barbiturate don't take the drug. It's presence as a symbol of control, she said, can give peace of mind to the terminally ill.
"When the time comes, it's the person who is sick that makes the decision," she said.
Hatchette knows her husband wouldn't have used a lethal prescription early. Even as ALS sapped his strength and motor control, she described the last year of his life with fondness.
"We were taking the time to enjoy every moment," Gwen Hatchette said. "Just sitting in the backyard, watching the seasons change … even with this horrible disease, it was one of the best years of our life."
The difference, she said, would have been the very end. The medication would have carried him to sleep, where his last moments could be surrounded by friends and family, before passing on.
"It was very, very hard, those last few months," she said. "Even though I wish he were here, I am so glad his suffering is over."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.