Illinois lawmakers consider assisted suicide bill

Lawmakers in Illinois’ General Assembly are currently considering legislation that would legalize physician-assisted suicide in the state.

Both the Senate (SB 9) and House (HB1328) filed identical bills this session called the “End of Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act,” which would allow a person considered “terminally ill” to receive and self-administer lethal drugs after a physician determines they are mentally sound and have less than six months to live.

Notably, in an effort to diminish the act of physician-assisted killing for what it really is — suicide — the legislation stipulates that these deaths “do not, for any purposes, constitute suicide, assisted suicide, euthanasia, mercy killing, homicide, murder, manslaughter, elder abuse or neglect, or any other civil or criminal violation under the law.”

In testifying against the bill, Dr. Kevin Garner, a fellow of the American College of Physicians and a member of the Illinois State Medical Society, slammed the bill’s attempt to erase ‘suicide’ language.

“The euphemism promoted in Senate Bill 9 does not change the fact that participants would be voluntarily killing themselves,” he explained. “And that’s committing suicide.”

A hospice and palliative care doctor, Garner went on to explain that there is no way to accurately predict when a person will die, and patients often live past a six-month prediction. He also debunked the common belief that assisted suicide deaths are ‘peaceful,’ citing studies that show the dying process can actually take several hours. During that time the patient can vomit, struggle to breathe, and have seizures.

Other groups in the state are also actively lobbying against the legislation.

“This ‘End-of-Life Option’ is nothing more than doctor-prescribed death; it leaves our communities’ most vulnerable members to die in isolation and risks the termination of their legitimate palliative care treatments purely on the basis of cost. We cannot allow this barbaric procedure to become legal in our state,” said Mary Zander of Illinois Right to Life.

The state’s Catholic Bishops are calling for better palliative care instead of killing.

“The Catholic Bishops of Illinois oppose any legislation that would legalize assisted suicide as there is a better way forward for our State,” the bishops wrote in a letter, adding, “A better way forward is to expand the number and availability of palliative care programs throughout Illinois.”

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Robert Gilligan, director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois, warned that coercion is a serious risk when assisted suicide laws are passed.

“Even in other states where this has passed, the law does very little to prevent coercion and exploitation because I’m not sure they [legislators] want to know. There’s no oversight. There’s no ombudsman. There’s no 1-800 number,” he said, warning that safeguards initially put in place are often later removed as laws are relaxed.

“My point is, once you put this on the table as an option for end-of-life care, that is a very slippery slope. And, unfortunately, I think it leads to a situation where killing has become the solution to alleviate pain,” he said.

Dr. Garner summed up his testimony, “Allowing active participation in death by doctors and the government essentially to allow who decides who dies and when is unacceptable.”