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Illinois

Status of End-of-Life Legislation

The Illinois End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act (SB 3499), that would authorize medical aid in dying in Illinois, was introduced in the Senate on February 8, 2024 by Assistant Majority Leader Linda Holmes (D 42). The legislation is summarized here.

The majority of Illinoisans support medical aid in dying. In a 2023 poll, 71% of likely Illinois Voters supported this compassionate legislation. The majority of Illinois physicians also support this option with the key safeguards in the legislation

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 are partnering in the Illinois End-of-Life Options Coalition to advocate for the end-of-life care option of medical aid in dying for qualified terminally ill Illinoisans. If you would like to get involved in this movement, please sign up here.

Polling

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.

5 charts showing support for Medical Aid in dying across demographics in Illinois

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Hear from Illinoisan Deb Robertson

Nilsa Centeno is the mother of the late Miguel Carrasquillo, a Chicago chef who died in his native Puerto Rico in 2016 of brain cancer while advocating for medical aid in dying.

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Tools and Resources

Illinois Newsletter Archive, issues linked below

Fall/Winter 2022
Summer 2022
Spring 2022
Fall 2021

 

simple blue medical cross graphic.For Patients Access the Illinois Advance Directive  

 

 

tools for end of life planning and decision making.End-of-Life Planning Use our step-by-step guide to chart your journey.  

 

 

advance care planning and resources in Spanish, espanol.Los recursos en Español Los recursos en Español.  

 

 

answers to questions about COVID-19, including treatment and end of life.COVID-19 Toolkit Get answers to your questions about COVID-19 and end of life care.  

 

 

tools for end of life planning and decision making.Resources for Providers Find resources tailored to the needs of healthcare providers.     

 

 

"I wanted to die the way I lived: with purpose and intention."

Miguel Carrasquillo wrote this piece a few days before his death and asked that it be shared with lawmakers from across the nation in the hope that his story could help give others the option for a peaceful death he wanted for himself.

By the time you read this piece, I will be dead.

But unlike Brittany Maynard, the 29-year-old woman with terminal brain cancer who inspired the passage of California’s End of Life Option Act, I am unlikely to die peacefully from my brain tumor as she did after moving with her family to Oregon to utilize its death-with-dignity law.

I did not live in a U.S. state or territory that gives terminally ill adults the option to get a prescription for aid-in-dying medication I could decide to take to die peacefully, as Brittany did, to end unbearable suffering.

As a result, I lived my last days with every horror that Brittany feared most: mind-splitting headaches, blackouts, blindness, convulsions and electric shocks from the incurable brain tumor that spread to my liver, stomach, testicles and other vital organs.

I didn’t want the tumor to dictate how I would die. I wanted to die the way I lived: with purpose and intention. I wanted to die gently and avoid the terrifyingly painful death that doctors said I would experience.

Unfortunately, medical aid in dying is not authorized in my native Puerto Rico, where my Catholic parents cared for me during the last days of my life.

For more than a year, I watched Brittany Maynard’s videos. I researched moving to one of the states that authorize medical aid in dying: Oregon, Washington, Montana, Vermont — or California, where the End of Life Option law took effect on June 9.

But my family didn’t have the resources to move 2,000 miles or more to one of these five states. As a result, I had to live and die with this horrible pain.

It is clear we have an issue in our country, where it is not affordable or practical for the vast majority of terminally ill people to move to another state, establish residency and find a medical team in order to die peacefully.

We shouldn’t have to die in unbearable pain and suffering.

So we must take action. We must email our legislators and our doctors to urge them to support broader end-of-life options.

And we Latinos must drop our cultural taboo about discussing death and the option of medical aid in dying.

I had numerous conversations with God throughout my life, especially during my illness. I could not understand why people judged me a sinner for wanting to die peacefully rather than enduring severe seizures and excruciating pain until the end of my life.

As a Catholic, I was taught it is wrong for anyone to judge someone else.

I was proud to learn I was Compassion & Choices’ first terminally ill Latino advocate for medical aid in dying when I recorded videos in English and in Spanish. Some media outlets referred to me as the “Latino Brittany Maynard.”

I am no longer alive to tell my story.

But my mama will not go silent. She will continue to be a loud, powerful voice so other terminally ill Latinos don’t have to suffer as I did. We need to keep fighting and fighting until somebody listens to us.

Click here to read a Spanish-language version of this piece.

An edited version of this op-ed was originally published in El Diario.

News About Miguel

Miguel's story was covered in publications across the country and especially in Spanish language media. Below are some of the highlights.

A Chicago man's wish: 'I pray to God that He takes me soon'

Cancer Is My Prison, and Intolerable Suffering Is My Sentence

El último deseo de Miguel Carrasquillo: “Para cuando usted lea este escrito, estaré muerto”

One Year Without My Son, Miguel

Seis años sin mi hijo Miguel

Miguel's Videos

Miguel's videos were viewed widely among the nation's lawmakers and the Latino community. His impact was immense and these heart-wrenching videos are reminder why.

Miguel's Plea

Miguel's Plea (Spanish)

One Year Later (English)


The Compassion & Choices family comprises two organizations: Compassion & Choices (the 501(c)(3)), whose focus is expanding access, public education and litigation; and Compassion & Choices Action Network (the 501(c)(4)), whose focus is legislative work at the federal and state levels.

 

Supported in part by Compassion & Choices Action Network.

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