CHICAGO — Lawmakers are considering legalizing a controversial medical practice that proponents say could ease suffering for the terminally ill.
It’s sometimes called “assisted suicide,” although physicians and advocates for the practice prefer the term “medical aid in dying,” or MAID.
While Compassion & Choices — a group that advocates for medical aid in dying policies — found a majority of Illinois voters supported legalizing MAID in a 2023 poll, some critics call the process “barbaric.”
I am writing as a medical doctor with board certifications in internal medicine, hospice and palliative medicine, and addiction medicine. I work as a hospital physician, a hospice consultant, and provide primary care to an underserved population suffering from mental illness and addiction. Due to the Illinois Senate’s recent efforts to legalize “medical aid in dying” (aka, physician assisted suicide or euthanasia), I feel compelled to voice the opinion of many in the medical community regarding our opposition to empowering medical professionals to prescribe death.
The bill [SB 3499] is based on several flawed assumptions. Firstly, it overestimates the accuracy of a physician’s ability to predict a patient’s death within six months. Over the years, I have witnessed numerous patients who, despite meeting the six-month prognosis criteria for hospice care, have survived well beyond this period. Published studies confirm the high variability of physician prognostication.