The measure was included with a food sanitation measure, referred to as Senate Bill 1950, that was approved by a 30 to 27 vote.
Senate Bill 0009, also known as the End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act, outlines a detailed step-by-step process by which the patient with a terminal disease can request the life ending medication. The process is there to ensure the patient’s autonomy, to gain informed consent, and to protect against acts of coercion.
It would allow mentally competent adults with terminal illnesses and a prognosis of six months or less to ask for life-ended medication after two oral and one written requests that are verified by two physicians. The attending physician is required to give detailed information regarding the patient, and two witnesses have to sign the request form, one of which is not a family member or estate recipient.
Supporters of assisted suicide say it's a matter of personal autonomy or freedom, but critics say this is not right.
Barbara Lyons, special projects coordinator of Patients Rights Action Fund, spoke with AFN.
"Assisted suicide, first of all, violates the very premise of medicine — that you are supposed to be there to heal and comfort people rather than to take their lives. It also, most importantly, puts many vulnerable people at risk, people who are easily coerced and who could not understand what is happening," says Lyons. "We're especially concerned about older people and people with disabilities."
If signed into law by Democrat Governor J.B. Pritzker, Illinois would be the first midwestern state to have an assisted suicide law.
"He's most likely going to sign it into law," states Lyons.
As a result, Lyons predicts other neighboring states will follow suit.
"That influences the people in Wisconsin and Minnesota and Michigan because now they have a neighboring state that has legalized it," says Lyons.
