All Illinois requires to become the 12th state to legalize physician-assisted suicide for people who are terminally ill is Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature on a bill the state’s senators passed early Oct. 31 “under a cloud of darkness.”
If Pritzker signs Senate Bill 1950, which passed the Senate 30-27, it will become effective in nine months.
Should he sign it, it would fly in the face of actions he’s taken as governor to protect people who are suicidal. Pritzker launched a public education campaign in 2022 to help prevent suicide among the Illinois military community, joining a national campaign, according to an Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) press release; signed the Illinois First Responders Suicide Prevention Act into law in 2019, as the Peoria Journal Star reported; and, in May of this year, both signed a bill implementing mental health screenings at Illinois public schools, according to a press release from his office, and declared May Mental Health Awareness Month in Illinois, according to the IDHS.
The bill
The “End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act,” which is now on his desk, applies to patients who are Illinois residents and have “mental capacity,” “the ability to make and communicate an informed decision,” and a prognosis of no more than six months to live.
It states that an attending physician must inform a patient of “all appropriate end-of-life care options, including comfort care, hospice care, palliative care, and pain control, as well as the foreseeable risks and benefits of each, so that the patient can make a voluntary and affirmative decision regarding the patient’s end-of-life care.”
The patient who verbally requests a prescription for the “medication” must also make it in writing and repeat the request verbally at least five days after the first verbal request. If the patient’s doctor determines the patient may die within those five days, the patient can make the second verbal request more quickly. After the second verbal request, the doctor will tell the patient that they can change their mind. At least two witnesses – at least one of whom can’t be a relative, beneficiary of the patient’s estate, or staff member at the health care entity where the care is taking place – must be present when the patient signs the written request, and they must affirm that the patient is mentally capable and free to make the choice. An interpreter or the attending doctor can’t be the witnesses.
A patient can have their medical records immediately sent to another doctor, and the doctor will note that the patient has asked about “aid in dying.” Patients who request physician-assisted suicide remain legally protected from neglect or elder abuse, and the request can’t be the only reason why they would be appointed a guardian.
Health care professionals and health care entities are not legally required to kill their patients and may not be disciplined by health care entities or licensing boards, but the patient can ask them to send the medical records to a new health care professional, and the health care professional can’t try to mislead the patient regarding their willingness to qualify the patient or complete the procedure, according to the bill.
The death would be attributed to the underlying terminal disease, and euthanasia remains a criminal act, the bill says.
Health care entities also are allowed to forbid their staff — and fire them if they violate the policy — from performing the procedure while on the premises, working for the entity, and must notify staff upon hire and then annually. If the health care professional or entity can’t or won’t perform the procedure, it is required to inform the patient of that position, refer them to someone who will do it or help the patient find someone who will, and note the patient’s request and that it won’t be fulfilled.
If the bill becomes law, the Illinois Department of Health must create and post on its website a checklist and follow-up form for physicians to complete, and the department will annually report nonidentifying statistics regarding the people who died and the number of prescriptions and physicians involved.
According to the bill, insurance companies can’t alter what they charge and whether they offer the patient a policy based on the patient’s interest in or ability to access to physician-assisted suicide — otherwise they would be violating the Illinois Insurance Code.
Pro-life outcry
Several Catholic organizations and people are hoping Pritzker will veto the bill.
Dr. Mary Elizabeth Keen, the Illinois state director of the Catholic Medical Association, told CatholicVote that Illinois legislators betrayed the state’s citizens by giving insurance companies even more power — especially over vulnerable people, such as the poor and people with disabilities — and the legislation’s restriction on insurance companies does not address the real issues.
According to Keen, if an insurance company delays or denies authorization for chemotherapy, for example, appeals can take weeks. In the meantime, families who hope the insurance will help pay for it accumulate expenses.
“They can’t wait forever but insurance companies can delay and delay and ask for more information and more information, so families are forced to give up on the appeals for fear of bankruptcy,” she said.
The most common reason for bankruptcy in the U.S. is medical bills, she said.
“Insurance companies don’t even have to say ‘no.’ They say ‘maybe,’ and families are stuck — unless they are rich of course,” she said.
She said that the bill shows how out of touch its crafters are.
“This bill was designed by comfortable men and women who have been pampered so much of their lives that they don’t think they would want to survive if they had to live like so many others do every day,” she said. “They are afraid of losing their power and autonomy and are trying to guarantee that they will never have to suffer – but some suffering is inevitable. We are supposed to love and help those who suffer, not kill them. So the already privileged will get another ‘right’ and impose the foreseeable consequences on those who are disadvantaged and disenfranchised – the poor and those with disabilities.”
The Catholic Conference of Illinois’ Oct. 31 statement regarding the bill’s passage also emphasized how it harms the vulnerable. In addition to asking Pritzker to veto the bill, the organization asked him to examine how similar laws have impacted other states and countries, compassionately explain why some people see assisted suicide as their only path forward, fuel and improve palliative care programs.
“These programs support caregivers and help ensure patient care is coordinated with other services,” the organization said. “And they represent a compassionate and morally acceptable alternative to assisted suicide.”
The organization asked people to pray for the sick and dying, their caregivers, and everyone who is risk of suicide.
In a statement the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, shared on Facebook, Bishop Thomas Paprocki urged people to pray for Pritzker to veto the bill.
“It is quite fitting that the forces of the culture of death in the Illinois General Assembly passed physician-assisted suicide on October 31—a day that, culturally, has become synonymous with glorifying death and evil,” he said. “It’s also ironic that these pro-death legislators did it under the cloud of darkness at 2:54 a.m. Make no mistake: killing oneself is not dying with dignity. Doctors take an oath to do no harm. Now, they can prescribe death.”
According to the bishop, patients could be coerced into physician-assisted suicide, and patients have been denied treatment and offered the lethal drug instead.
“Illinois should be a state that offers compassion, care, and hope — not death — as the answer to human suffering,” Bishop Paprocki said.
In an e-newsletter, Illinois Right to Life President Mary Kate Zander urged people to pray, contact Pritzker, and avoid giving up on defeating the bill.
“We may not always see the fruits of our efforts to defend life in Illinois. But, rest assured, our treasures are in heaven,” she added. “Don’t be discouraged. Keep fighting with us.”
In May, Delaware became the latest state to legalize similar laws, The Hill reported. The others are California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington — plus Washington, D.C.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul may sign a similar bill that her state’s Legislature has passed, as CatholicVote previously reported.