He claimed to be dying. He went online and posted the news: "On Tuesday I'll finally end my battle with cancer thanks to Oregon's Death with dignity act." Calling himself "Lucidending," he told the world to ask him anything.



More than 9,000 people responded Saturday night on the social networking site reddit.com. They shared personal stories, uploaded photos and videos, and asked questions about death and dying.



But one of Lucidending's statements suggests he may not be someone who has received a prescription to hasten death under Oregon's law. When asked about the details of a lethal prescription, Lucidending indicated he would take the drug intravenously, which is not allowed under the Oregon law.



"I'm given medication by the doctor to self administer. I already have the iv so it should be easy," he said.



Under Oregon's Death with Dignity Act, the patient must be able to self ingest the medication by swallowing or taking it through a feeding tube if that is their established way of eating. The law does not allow intravenous injections. Lucidending did not respond to personal messages sent Monday.



Authentic or not, the story triggered an immense outpouring of empathy and attempts to comfort a dying man with hours to live. Someone with the online name Honkytonk recorded and uploaded a guitar song. Well-wishers from as far away as Hong Kong, India, Japan and New Zealand joined the conversation. Lucidending responded for about an hour then went silent.



Compassion & Choices of Oregon, an advocacy group that each year works with many of the terminally ill people who use the Oregon law, declined to comment on Lucidending's story. A spokesman said the group is not in contact with any patients who are preparing to use a prescription this week.



Reddit community manager Erik Martin said the company doesn't attempt to verify the stories of social networking participants who choose to post anonymously. He noted that Lucidending's post is the third most popular since reddit.com started its "IAmA" forum a year ago.



Oregon officials have recorded 525 deaths by patients ingesting medications prescribed under Oregon's Death with Dignity Act since it took effect in 1997. Last year physicians wrote 96 prescriptions for lethal medications and 65 patients used a prescription to hasten death. About 70 percent were over age 65, and a majority had cancer.



-- Joe Rojas-Burke





