410 ILCS 22/5

(410 ILCS 22/5)

(This Section may contain text from a Public Act with a delayed effective date)

Sec. 5. Findings and intent.

(a) The General Assembly finds that:

(1) Medical aid in dying is part of general medical care and complements other end-of-life options, such as comfort care, pain control, palliative care, and hospice care, for individuals to have an end-of-life experience aligned with their beliefs and values.

(2) The availability of medical aid in dying provides an additional end-of-life care option for terminally ill individuals who seek to retain their autonomy and some level of control over the progression of the disease as they near the end of life or to ease unnecessary pain and suffering.

(3) Illinoisans facing a terminal diagnosis have been at the forefront of statewide efforts to provide the full range of end-of-life care options available in 10 states and the District of Columbia, to qualified mentally capable terminal adults residing in Illinois through the addition of medical aid-in-dying care as an end-of-life option in their home state. Advocates include:

(A) Deb Robertson, a lifelong Illinois resident who has been living with a rare form of her terminal illness, who wants to live but knows that she is going to die, and who has been actively engaged in advocacy to change Illinois law because she doesn't want to move to another state in order to access the end-of-life medical care that would bring her comfort and reduce her fear related to the pain of dying.

(B) Andrew Flack, who could not move back to Illinois to be with his family after his terminal diagnosis and instead had to live hundreds of miles away from his family, in a state that offered medical aid-in-dying care, in order to have a painless death surrounded by his loved ones.

(C) Miguel Carrasquillo, who despite enduring excruciatingly painful treatments to cure his cancer, which spread to his liver, stomach, testicles, and other organs, continued to advocate for a change in the law until his death, so other Illinoisans with a terminal diagnosis would not be forced to suffer at the end of their lives and die in pain as he did but would instead have the option of medical aid-in-dying care.

(4) Illinoisans throughout the State, across demographics, including religion, political affiliation, race, gender, disability, and age, also support the inclusion of medical aid-in-dying care in the options available for end-of-life care. Supporters and advocates recognize that mentally capable adult individuals have a fundamental right to determine their own medical treatment options in accordance with their own values, beliefs, or personal preferences, and having the option of medical aid in dying is an expression of this fundamental right. This includes advocates, like Lowell Sachnoff, who, alongside his wife Fay Clayton, was a tireless advocate for the expansion of end-of-life options for terminally ill adults over the course of a decade, up to and including the day he died.

(b) It is the intent of the General Assembly to uphold both the highest standard of medical care and the full range of options for each individual, particularly at the end of life.

(Source: P.A. 104-441, eff. 9-12-26.)