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Article Excerpt
Byline: Randi Bjornstad The Register-Guard
MOLALLA - Sitting on the pharmacy counter, the cherry-red bottle looks as innocuous as cough syrup. But if retired doctor Allison Willeford decides to drink it, the liquid will end his life.
Willeford, 79, knows he'll die soon anyway. Kidney cancer diagnosed several months ago has spread to his lungs. He gasps at the frequent stabbing pains in his kidneys, and he appears more frail with each passing week.
He doesn't know if he'll ever take the lethal prescription, but he's glad to have it, just in case.
At the end of July, he paid a visit to Dr. Frank James, one of his former medical partners and now his personal physician, to get the written prescription.
Several months ago, James agreed to act as Willeford's primary and prescribing doctor, as required by Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law, the only one in the United States.
"This law allows you to live your life and die the way you want," James said as he looked through Willeford's chart. "But it contains a lot of checks and balances so people can't just indiscriminately act - are all your kids aware of what you may do?"
All five - four sons and a daughter - have been informed, Willeford assured him. "I've filled out the form for cremation already, but I also...
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