Religious, medical professionals challenge Illinois doctor-assisted death law

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(The Center Square) – A group of medical professionals, a nursing home and a Catholic bishop from Illinois are suing two state department heads in an attempt to block a law set to take effect next month they say forces doctors to promote assisted suicide to terminally ill patients.

The law set to take effect Sept. 12, known as the End-of-Life Options Act, gives terminally ill patients with less than six months to live the choice to end their life medically, but only after they meet multiple requirements and pass medical evaluations.

The plaintiffs and the Thomas More Society, a nonprofit law firm, are challenging the law on religious grounds in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Illinois, according to the filing.

They contend that the law forces faith-based hospitals in the state to take part in administering the option, even if it goes against their beliefs and medical understanding.

Dr. Mary Keen, a psychiatrist with Northwestern Medicine, is one of four doctors listed on the lawsuit. 

“Until this law came up, doctors and other healthcare professionals like nurse practitioners were taught that suicidal ideation is always a sign of psychosocial disturbance or distress,” Keen said. 

Michael McHale, senior counsel, said the Illinois law differs from medical aid in dying laws in other states.

“This requirement to discuss with patients the so-called benefits of assisted suicide without any exception appears to be unprecedented,” McHale said.

When the law was up for debate in the Illinois House last year, Rep. Ryan Spain, R-Peoria, argued the law may present a financial reason for patients to choose to end their life if they can’t afford other palliative or hospice care.

“A month of hospice care costs approximately $15,000. And we have to understand then what an impact of having a $500 to $700 end of life option could be in the wrong hands. It's important that we're sensitive to this very issue,” Spain said.

The law doesn’t require Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance to cover a patient’s prescription, though it does include a provision that a life insurance policy must be paid out as if the patient died from their underlying illness.

Similarly, the group also alleges that doctors would be forced to falsify death records under a provision of the law.

Keen explained that the law doesn’t require psychiatric evaluation unless other practitioners feel it could be necessary.

“I work with many patients who have profound impairment,” Keen said. “Many physicians assume that if a person has a need for assistance in going to the bathroom, for example, that it would be such an affront to dignity that of course they don't want to live anymore.”

The group seeks a temporary restraining order and injunction from a federal judge to block the law from taking effect and allowing patients to begin the process of their medically assisted dying.

McHale noted a similar law in the state requiring medical professionals to explain the benefits of treatment options they disagree with was recently blocked from taking effect, pending another legal challenge. 

He said the other lawsuit provides a similar example to their own.

Neither the Illinois Department of Health or Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, whose department heads are listed on the lawsuit, responded to a request for comment.