(The Center Square) – Illinois lawmakers are pushing patient “end-of-life” bills for the second year in a row, but a coalition opposed to the legislation says people who are disabled would be harmed.
Stop Assisted Suicide Illinois Coalition members say Senate Bill 9 and House Bill 1328 would legalize assisted suicide.
Disability policy professional Jules Good said many disabilities can become terminal due to lack of access to appropriate care. Good said there has been a push by some doctors to reclassify treatable conditions like anorexia as terminal.
“I cannot overstate how dangerous this is. When I was at my lowest, if a doctor had told me I could just end it all, I absolutely would have,” Good said.
Good added that it was only through years of compassionate treatment, therapy and support that she is now in recovery.
Good said too many people struggling with eating disorders are denied care in a profit-driven healthcare system.
“If an insurer can choose between covering years of complex health care or a lethal prescription, no amount of safeguards in this bill could ever prevent a situation where someone will be pressured to die because they’ve been denied care,” Good said.
State Senator Linda Holmes, D-Aurora, filed Senate Bill 9 in January after sponsoring similar legislation last year. State Rep. Robyn Gabel, D-Evanston, filed matching House Bill 1328. The measures would create the End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act.
Sebastian Nalls is a healthcare policy analyst at Access Living, a disability service and advocacy center. According to Nalls, the bills discriminate against prison inmates suffering from illnesses and disabilities. He said the measures would allow insurance providers to use coercive tactics by denying coverage while offering physician-assisted suicide, or PAS.
Nalls said the state already struggles to provide adequate medical care for the elderly, disabled and terminally ill in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
“Cases such as Dean v. Wexford, insignificant hospice care in Illinois prisons and low amounts of releases via the Joe Coleman Act all point to PAS becoming a preferred option for end-of-life health care within IDOC, effectively instituting the death penalty for those incarcerated,” Nalls said.
Nalls said Black people with disabilities experience double discrimination.
Dr. Kevin Garner of Granite City is certified in internal medicine and hospice and palliative care. Garner said there is no guarantee that patients who opt for assisted suicide would have a peaceful death. He pointed to cases in Oregon where the dying process took several hours, with choking, vomiting and seizures also reported.
Garner said drugs used for PAS were approved for other purposes and not for ending lives.
In addition, Garner said the American College of Physicians and the Illinois State Medical Society strongly oppose assisted suicide, and he pointed to the American Medical Association’s code of ethics.
“Euthanasia is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as a healer. It would be difficult or possible to control,” Garner read.
“Legislators, please pay attention! It would be difficult or impossible to control or regulate,” he emphasized.
“Don’t turn doctors into killers,” Garner pleaded.
The national suicide and crisis lifeline can be reached by calling or texting 988. The service is free and confidential.
Kevin Bessler contributed to this story.
###
