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It appears some health issues are still up for debate --- From :Medscape's Medpulse News Senate Could Still Debate Assisted Suicide Bill, but Not Stem Cells WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) Oct 11 - Although the 106th Congress is in its final days, backers of a bill to block Oregon's landmark assisted suicide law still say that they expect a vote on the measure before the end of the session. The Senate was expected to take up the "Pain Relief Promotion Act" sometime in September, after its sponsor, Senate Majority Whip Don Nickles, R-Okla., reached an agreement with its lead opponent, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Wyden said that he would not try to filibuster Nickles' attempt to take the bill up for debate, although Wyden did reserve his right to try to talk the bill to death once it was formally before the chamber. A majority of the Senate is thought to back the measure, which would make it illegal to use drugs on the federal list of controlled substances to aid a suicide, thereby blocking Oregon physicians from exercising their discretion under that state's "Death with Dignity Act." But Wyden benefited from Senate Democrats' desire to use the measure to force votes on other health issues, including a Medicare prescription drug benefit and a managed care "patients' bill of rights." Republican leaders' desire to avoid such votes has thus far helped keep the measure from being brought up. Now Nickles is taking another tack, trying to append the measure to another bill, preferably a remaining "must-pass" spending bill. But a Nickles aide denied that such an action would be taken to avoid discussing the bill on the Senate floor. "We want a good, full debate," the aide said. Wyden opposes the measure not only for its effect on the Oregon law, but because, he says, it could also deter doctors from providing suffering patients with adequate pain relief for fear of being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration. He said that he will not let Nickles attach the bill to another measure without a fight. "Senator Wyden has an obligation to defend Oregon's vote and to defend the right of doctors and patients in every state in this country to preserve aggressive pain care for the dying," said a Wyden aide. One health-related bill that will not see debate on the Senate floor, however, is a measure that would explicitly make it legal for the National Institutes of Health to fund research using stem cells derived from human embryos. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who heads the subcommittee that oversees the NIH budget, said that he agreed not to include the controversial language in the spending bill in exchange for being promised a vote on the stand-alone measure in September by Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss. But that vote did not happen, and will likely not happen before Congress leaves, said a Specter spokesman. "We are not expecting a vote this session," said the spokesman, who declined to elaborate further.