PROFESSION

Lethal dose waiting, doctor dies after stopping dialysis

Oregon's Dr. Willeford was heralded by some for bringing credibility to assisted suicide; others say personal choice was his real cause.

By Andis Robeznieks, AMNews staff. Nov. 17, 2003.

Allison B. Willeford, MD, 79, a former family physician, surgeon and an activist for Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law, died in his home Oct. 23, about six days after deciding to discontinue dialysis.

Dr. Willeford received attention for publicizing his decision to go through his state's physician-assisted suicide process and obtain a lethal prescription for Nembutal. In the end, he decided not to take it. After his death, his son Tom said the lethal drug went down the drain along with his father's supply of Roxanol and oxycodone.

Although Dr. Willeford's activism put him under the media spotlight, Tom Willeford said his father didn't talk much about assisted suicide. During his final days, the issue was never discussed. "I really did not think of his dose of Nembutal, and he didn't bring it up at all," said Tom Willeford, a registered nurse. "He got a lot of press coverage, but he didn't talk about it much with friends and family. He told me about it after he made the decision" to go through the process.

The process includes being diagnosed by two doctors as having less than six months to live. Physicians can refer patients to a psychiatrist if they judge them to be mentally impaired. Dr. Willeford scoffed at notions that people considering assisted suicide must be clinically depressed.

"If you're dying and with all the suffering you're going through, there'd be something wrong with you if you weren't depressed," Dr. Willeford said earlier this year. "I'm not talking about being clinically depressed but, if you're dying, there's very little that can make you happy."

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