(The Center Square) – Legislation that would make Illinois the 11th state in the country to allow medical-aid in dying is facing a stiff challenge.
A measure being considered in Springfield would create the End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act. Senate Bill 9 sponsor, state Sen. Linda Holmes, D-Aurora, said she became an advocate of the idea after she lost both parents to cancer.
“You think the toughest thing you go through is watching somebody die,” said Holmes during a Senate Executive Committee hearing. “You know what, it’s not. It’s not as tough as watching somebody you love suffer.”
The measure would limit the option to adults 18 or older who have a prognosis of six months or less to live and who are mentally capable of making an informed health care decision, as confirmed by two physicians.
Dr. Kevin Garner, a Granite City physician, said he has trouble with the medical profession being involved in such an act.
“Allowing active participation in death by doctors and the government essentially to allow who decides who dies and when is unacceptable,” said Garner.
According to a poll by the End-of-Life Options Coalition, seven out of 10 likely Illinois voters want the Illinois legislature to pass medical aid-in-dying legislation.
The group Illinois Right to Life said the legislation puts Illinois’ most vulnerable at risk, including the elderly, the chronically ill and individuals with disabilities.
“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 president Mary Kate Zander in a statement.
Oregon became the first state to implement medical-aid in dying in 1997. If adopted, Illinois would become the first state in the Midwest to allow the practice.