The Chicago Tribune editorial board is calling on Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker to veto a controversial assisted suicide measure passed by state lawmakers on Halloween. The proposal, known as the End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act, would legalize physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill adults — a policy the editorial board warns could open dangerous ethical and cultural doors.
The bill allows Illinois residents 18 and older, diagnosed with a terminal disease and given six months or less to live, to request and self-administer lethal medication. It includes several procedural safeguards, such as two verbal requests made five days apart, physician oversight, informed consent, and evaluations to confirm mental competence. The legislation also protects healthcare providers who refuse participation and requires state data collection.
Governor Pritzker has 60 days from the bill’s passage to sign or veto it and has stated he remains undecided. If approved, Illinois would become the 12th U.S. jurisdiction — joining 11 states and Washington, D.C. — to permit assisted suicide.
In its editorial, the Tribune board warned that so-called safeguards could erode over time, citing California’s decision to shorten its mandatory waiting period from 15 days to 48 hours as a precedent. The board also highlighted concerns from disability-rights advocates who fear bias within the medical community. A Harvard study found more than 80 percent of physicians surveyed believed people with disabilities experience a lower quality of life, suggesting a troubling bias that could influence end-of-life decisions.
The board further argued that the bill could pressure vulnerable patients to choose death out of fear of burdening their families financially. “You can’t put a price tag on every moment you get with your loved ones,” the editorial stated.
The Tribune also pointed to international cautionary examples. In Canada, assisted dying now accounts for one in twenty deaths, after lawmakers removed the requirement that death be “reasonably foreseeable.” Similarly, in the Netherlands, cases like that of 29-year-old Zoraya ter Beek — who pursued euthanasia due to depression and autism — demonstrate how permissive laws can expand far beyond their original intent.
“Other nations show how swiftly a narrow exception can expand,” the editorial concluded. “Illinois should focus on easing pain, not authorizing physicians to hasten death.”
