SPRINGFIELD — Terminally ill Illinoisans may have the legal option to end their own life with the help of a physician next year under a bill approved by lawmakers Thursday.
The procedure, which advocates and the bill call “medical aid in dying,” would give people in a sound mental state with severe health issues the option to end their life with the help of a doctor.
Under Senate Bill 1950, doctors would be allowed to prescribe terminally ill patients a lethal dose of medication that they could self-administer at a time of their choice.
Advocates for the procedure, which is legal in 10 states and the District of Columbia, say it provides agency to people at the end of their life.
“I want to enjoy the time I have left with my family and friends,” Deb Robertson, a terminally ill woman, told lawmakers via Zoom on Wednesday. “I don’t want to worry about how my death will happen. It’s really the only bit of control left for me.”
The measure passed in the House 63-42 after more than an hour of intense, sometimes tear-filled debate. It now awaits action in the Senate. Senators have a matter of hours to pass the bill before their scheduled adjournment Saturday.
The bill outlines a process that includes two doctors recommending the procedure, sometimes referred to as medically assisted suicide, and limits the people who are eligible. People must be of sound mind and have a prognosis of less than six months.
Death certificates of those who use the procedure would also list their underlying diseases, not “suicide,” reflecting the common belief among advocates that the procedure should not be called suicide. Bill sponsor Rep. Robyn Gabel, D-Evanston, noted in debate Thursday that the provision would also “prevent inappropriate suicide investigations.”
But even with these protections, some oppose allowing the procedure.
Medical associations are divided on the issue. The American Medical Association, the largest and most influential medical association, notes an “irreducible moral tension” inherent in the practice.
The AMA’s Code of Ethics, for many years, said the procedure is “fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer.” The association has recently softened its stance, opening the door for physicians to act on their own conscience on the matter.
Rep. Bill Hauter, R-Morton, a practicing physician, opposed the bill and told his colleagues during debate Thursday that it “changes forever the soul of medicine.”
During the House debate, the division among the health care industry reared its head. Rep. Nicolle Grasse, D-Arlington Heights, is a hospice chaplain and was supportive of the bill.
“I've seen hospice ease pain and suffering and offer dignity and quality of life as people are dying, but I've also seen the rare moments when even the best care cannot relieve suffering and pain, when patients ask us with clarity and peace for the ability to choose how their life ends,” she said.
Outside of health care, religious groups and disability rights advocates are also divided. Members of both parties invoked their faith during floor debate, including Rep. Maurice West, D-Rockford, an ordained Christian minister.
“Life is sacred. Death is sacred, too,” West said. “The sanctity of life includes the sanctity of death. This bill allows, if one chooses by themselves, for someone with a terminal diagnosis to have a dignified death."
Republicans, who are generally more aligned with pro-life religious groups, opposed the bill. Catholic groups say procedures like medically assisted suicide violate the church’s teachings and many conservative protestant groups oppose the practice as well.
Rep. Adam Niemerg, R-Dietrich, said the procedure does not “uphold the dignity of every human life.”
“This does not respect the Gospel,” Niemerg, who is Catholic, said during debate. “This does not respect the teachings of Jesus Christ or uphold the values of God.”
Disability rights activists are also split on the issue. Sebastian Nalls, a policy analyst at the disability rights organization Access Living, said that if the procedure is legalized, insurers may pressure some sick people into it instead of expensive treatment.
“This bill carries far too many loopholes and lacks oversight to be safe and equitable, but the bottom line for Access Living is this: The existence of assisted suicide is a threat, to not just the kind of health care we deserve, but a threat to our ability to live and die with dignity,” Nalls said in a committee hearing Wednesday.
Other disability rights advocates, like Beth Langen, note that "disability is not terminal.”
“Death, like life, is easier to navigate when you know you will have options to choose from, even if you never need to,” Langen said at Wednesay’s hearing.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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