The End-of-Life Options Act (SB 3499) would authorize medical aid in dying in Illinois. It was introduced in the Senate on 2/8/2024 by Assistant Majority Leader Linda Holmes. The legislation is summarized here.
In a 2023 poll, 71% of likely Illinois voters supported this compassionate legislation, and the majority of Illinois physicians also support this option.
Survey of Illinois Physicians’ Attitudes Toward Medical Aid in Dying as an End-of-Life Option
Illinois Legislative Campaign Overview
The Compassion & Choices Action Network Illinois team and the ACLU of Illinois partner in the Illinois End-of-Life Options Coalition. If you would like to get involved, please sign up here.
Tell your lawmakers to support SB 3499 by sending them an email using our simple form. It takes less than one minute to send!
Legislation to allow medical aid in dying, an option for mentally capable, terminally ill adults to peacefully end unbearable suffering, is supported by a wide majority of Illinois voters, regardless of political affiliation, disability, race, gender identity, age or religion.
A Chicago mother, Suzy Flack has recorded a Mother’s Day video to urge legislators in Illinois to pass medical aid-in-dying legislation as quickly as possible to honor her only son, Andrew ‘Drew’ Flack, who died from cancer. The video comes as Illinois legislators consider the End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act (SB 3499) which…
Compassion & Choices is proud to announce that Deb Robertson of Lombard, Illinois is the 2024 Allyne Hammer Excellence in Advocacy Award recipient. The award was created after the death of Compassion & Choices’ supporter Allyne Hammer last year to honor volunteers who work within their communities and exemplify the values of the end-of-life care…
A bill introduced in the Illinois Senate two weeks ago that would allow medical aid in dying for those suffering from terminal illnesses is supported by the principal officers of both the Chicago Federation of Labor and the Illinois chapter of the AFL-CIO on Tuesday. The legislation—SB3499, the End of Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients…
Una medida presentada hace dos semanas ante el Senado de Illinois que permitiría la ayuda médica para morir para las personas con enfermedades terminales, fue apoyada el martes por los principales funcionarios del Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL) y el AFL-CIO de la sede de Chicago. El End of Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act…
Terminally Ill Illinoisans, Advocacy Groups Praise Bill to Allow Terminally Ill to Avoid Needless End-of-Life Suffering Terminally ill Illinoisans and advocacy groups praised lawmakers on Friday for introducing compassionate legislation that would allow mentally capable, terminally ill adults to have the option to get prescription medication to peacefully end unbearable suffering. Illinois residents who support the End…
This piece was originally published by The Illinois Times on May 10, 2018. My grandmother, whom we called “Nana,” always loved children. Many times, she asked me to give her great-grandchildren. In 2000, the moment finally arrived. But it didn’t seem to matter. Eagerly, tenderly, I lay my newborn son in her arms. She sat motionless, her…
An excerpt from the Forest Park Review article by Tom Holmes, published September 19, 2023: When Jimmy Carter entered hospice care, it made the national news. And it made people across the nation and here at home start thinking about what to do when it’s their time to go, too. Just talking about such decisions is hard. Forest Park has…
An excerpt from the Chicago Tribune commentary, “The painful realities of getting old,” by Stephen J. Lyons, published September 16, 2023: “On the occasion of my mother-in-law’s 100th birthday, I asked for her thoughts as she contemplated a second century. ‘Keep your mind open and your mouth shut!’ she quickly replied. I disagreed with the latter part…
Excerpts from Chicago Tribune letters to the editor published September 23, 2023: Medical aid in dying in Illinois I was moved by author Stephen J. Lyons’ telling of his mother-in-law’s prolonged, agonizing death (“The painful realities of getting old,” Sept. 16) and the powerful case he made for why Illinois lawmakers should introduce and pass a medical aid-in-dying…
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