by Timothy Quill, interviewed by Tom Duffy

About the authors: Timothy Quill is a physician and professor at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. He is a leading proponent of the assisted-suicide movement. Tom Duffy is a correspondent and frequent contributor to People Weekly.

For many Americans, Dr. Jack Kevorkian is the celebrity centerpiece of the furious debate over assisted suicide. But a case being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court could have far more impact on how doctors handle terminally ill patients who want to die. Deeply involved in it is Dr. Timothy E. Quill, a respected internist and a professor at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. Quill, 47, risked a 15-year jail term in 1991 when he described in The New England Journal of...