TRISH CONRAD (Assisted Suicide Opponent): Well, I think that when a terminally ill patient gets a bottle full of barbiturate pills, they're not going to be wondering what the Catholic Church thought at any particular point. They're going to be wondering whether or not they can get all those pills down, and if they'll work the way that they were promised.
LINEFELDER: Assisted suicide proponents say voters have already spoken on the issue of assisted suicide.
BARBARA COOMBS LEE (Assisted Suicide Proponent): We mean that the measure to repeal the Oregon Death with Dignity Act is fatally flawed. It's flawed that Oregonians should have to vote on this again.
LINEFELDER: But no matter what voters decide November 4, the debate itself already has many doctors placing greater emphasis on pain management and comfort care for dying patients.
Dr.
SUSAN W. TOLLE (Medical Ethicist): It really was a wake-up call in medicine. It got doctors who hadn't been thinking a lot about this issue paying more attention.
LINEFELDER: I'm Jim Linefelder in Portland.