The Denver Post described the 2017 assisted suicide death of a Colorado man diagnosed with cancer, which took over 9 hours, like this:​

“On the day of Kurt’s death, Susan [his wife] mixed the liquids prescribed as directed and Kurt began drinking the compound. ‘But with every sip,’ Susan says, ‘he’s choking and coughing, choking and coughing.’ It went on for nearly 20 minutes…

Although he never regained consciousness, the gasping, uneven breathing continued. Two hours passed. Then 4 hours. ‘At 4:15,’ Susan says, ‘I started to majorly panic’’.As she tried without success to reach a doctor, a couple more disturbing thoughts crossed her mind: She feared that Kurt, despite his unconsciousness, could hear everything — the calls, the desperation in her voice. And she wondered if his choking when he first took the medication meant that he had aspirated enough to delay its effect.

Around 7 pm, she asked the hospice to send a nurse. Shortly after the nurse arrived, a doctor called and suggested some additional measures. Soon after, Susan saw her husband sit up slightly and appear to retch three times. She ran to his bedside. Then he slid back into his pillows and stopped breathing.