The Coloradans Exercising Their Right To Die—and a Doctor Who Helps Them Find Peace
October 02, 2025 at 11:19PMMore Americans are seeking expanded end-of-life options, and interest in Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) is increasing, with the practice now legal in 11 states. In Colorado, about 1,100 people have used MAID, and recent state legislation has increased access for its sickest patients. 5280‘s Robert Sanchez explores what this actually looks like, having spent time with Kerri Mason, the medical director of the MAID clinic who consults with patients and their families about whether the option is right for them—and in many cases delivers the lethal dose of medicine for patients to self-administer. Sanchez observes families in their most intimate moments—a man who takes his last drink after a final family photo, a woman with ALS pressing a syringe with all her might. “How much control should we have over the terms of our deaths?” asks Sanchez. After reading this story, you’re sure to contemplate this question, too.
Logistically, Mason admitted, this was a difficult case. She worried Astrid would be unable to hold a cup and then lift it to her mouth—and it was illegal for someone to physically assist her. Even if Astrid could do those things, she might regurgitate the liquid. Mason decided the safest way would be a rectal catheter attached to a large plastic syringe. If Astrid didn’t have enough strength to depress the plunger, the doctor said, she could lean her weight against it and release the drugs that way.
“Astrid, I promise you we will figure this out,” Mason said. “Can you tell me when you want me there?”
Astrid pecked out a text. Her daughter read it: “She says as soon as possible.”
“Is it going to happen today?” Sam continued. “Like, can she breathe a sigh of relief that she’ll be free today?”
Mason promised she’d drive down that afternoon. “I’ve got you,” the doctor said.
Tears began to run down Astrid’s face.
“I think that’s—I think that’s happy, right?” Mason asked.
Astrid looked into the camera and gave a thumbs-up.
“All stories need to have an ending, and we want our stories to matter,” Mason says. Her work with MAID has taught her something she thinks can’t be learned elsewhere in medicine: that letting go is its own kind of control. “With [MAID], I feel like it gives you the last page,” Mason says. “You get to finish that story, and your ending matters.”
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2025/10/02/medical-aid-in-dying-colorado/
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