{"id":46486,"date":"2026-09-11T07:22:30","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T12:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=46486"},"modified":"2026-09-11T08:09:50","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T13:09:50","slug":"judge-declines-to-block-illinois-medical-aid-in-dying-law-ahead-of-september-12-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/46486-judge-declines-to-block-illinois-medical-aid-in-dying-law-ahead-of-september-12-start\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Declines to Block Illinois&#8217; &#8216;Medical Aid in Dying&#8217; Law Ahead of September 12 Start"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>(THE DIRKSEN FEDERAL COURTHOUSE)<\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Disability rights advocates alleged law is discriminatory, needs more state oversight<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By HANNAH MEISEL<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Capitol News Illinois <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><a href=\"mailto:hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Article Summary<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Illinois is set to become the first Midwestern state to allow terminally ill patients to seek life-ending medication from their physicians when the law goes into effect on Saturday.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A federal judge ruled against disability rights groups that sued to halt Illinois\u2019 End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act, alleging the law is discriminatory and needs more state oversight to prevent abuse.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But U.S. District Judge John Tharp found the plaintiffs failed to prove they\u2019d be harmed by the law, particularly when EOLA is restricted to adults who have less than six months to live and only allows doctors to discuss life-ending medication if the patient brings it up first.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CHICAGO \u2014 A federal judge on Thursday declined to block Illinois&#8217; new &#8220;medical aid in dying&#8221; law from going into effect this weekend, clearing the way for terminally ill adults to legally seek life-ending medication from physicians.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act, or EOLA, which Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law in December after a two-year legislative push, is restricted to adults who have less than six months to live, as determined by two separate physicians. In addition to a mandated waiting period, patients must undergo an evaluation finding they are able to self-administer the drugs, have the mental capacity to make the decision and are not being coerced.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The law also prohibits doctors from broaching the subject without the patient first bringing it up. Even so, a group of disability rights advocates, patients and a doctor sued to halt the law ahead of its Sept. 12 effective date, claiming EOLA will lead physicians to push their disabled patients toward what opponents refer to as &#8220;assisted suicide.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Read more: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/news\/judge-weighing-arguments-to-halt-illinois-medical-aid-in-dying-law-ahead-of-sept-12-start\/\"><b>Judge weighing arguments to halt Illinois\u2019 \u2018medical aid in dying\u2019 law ahead of start<\/b><\/a><b> | <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/news\/advocates-patients-file-lawsuit-to-block-medical-aid-in-dying-law-in-illinois\/\"><b>Advocates, patients file lawsuit to block \u2018medical aid in dying\u2019 law in Illinois<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In courtroom arguments last week, a lawyer for plaintiffs alleged the law will result in the &#8220;severe impairment&#8221; of the relationship a patient with disabilities has with his or her doctors and is tantamount to discrimination.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But U.S. District Judge John Tharp rejected those arguments, writing in his order Thursday that lead plaintiff Ebony Payne, a Chicago resident who is paralyzed from the neck down and suffers from severe asthma, had failed to prove she will suffer irreparable harm when the law goes into effect.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;Ms. Payne\u2019s intangible injuries rest on her speculation that physicians in Illinois will decide, en masse, to abandon their existing duties to their patients,&#8221; the judge wrote. &#8220;She has not persuaded the Court that this is anything other than speculation.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Disability rights advocates and religious groups, particularly those affiliated with the Catholic Church, fought against the EOLA in 2024 and 2025. The statute is also referred to as \u201cDeb\u2019s Law,\u201d named for former social worker Deb Robertson, a Lombard resident living with an aggressive case of neuroendocrine carcinoma.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Illinois is not the only state where disability rights advocates have challenged medical aid in dying laws in court; a similar coalition filed a lawsuit to block New York&#8217;s law on the same day in June, but a federal judge dismissed the case in July and the law went into effect last month.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">EOLA, like other states&#8217; medical aid in dying laws, is modeled after Oregon&#8217;s 1997 statute, but Illinois is the first Midwestern state to legalize life-ending medication for terminal patients.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Legal arguments<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thomas Geoghegan, an attorney representing Payne and the other plaintiffs in the lawsuit, argued to Tharp on Friday that a physician who prescribes lethal medication to a patient represents the upending of the Hippocratic oath, a millennia-old pledge doctors make to \u201cfirst do no harm.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the judge countered Geoghegan&#8217;s impassioned courtroom assertion that &#8220;this is not medicine&#8221; with the language of the law, which defines life-ending medication as \u201cpart of general medical care.&#8221; Tharp pointed to the examples of three patients cited in the law, &#8220;one still living and two who have died, who wished for Illinois to permit&#8221; medical aid in dying &#8220;so that they could avoid suffering and pain during their final days.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;Under this view, providing end-of-life care promotes the duty to &#8216;do no harm&#8217; rather than erases it because failing to alleviate pain and suffering would itself be a cause of harm,&#8221; the judge wrote.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Plaintiffs also claimed EOLA doesn&#8217;t have strong enough oversight from the state to ensure that doctors aren&#8217;t cutting corners or coercing their patients into choosing lethal medication over palliative care, despite the law&#8217;s mandate on discussing the pros and cons of all end-of-life options with their patients.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Read more: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/news\/pritzker-signs-medical-aid-in-dying-bill-amid-religious-opposition\/\"><b>Pritzker signs \u2018medical aid in dying\u2019 bill amid religious opposition<\/b><\/a><b> | <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/news\/legislature-passes-medical-aid-in-dying-bill-that-governor-says-he-will-review\/\"><b>Legislature passes \u2018medical aid in dying\u2019 bill that governor says he will review<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But Tharp didn&#8217;t buy that argument either, reasoning that the plaintiffs &#8220;cannot show that doctors will act &#8216;predictably&#8217; in response to the Act because of the broad discretion it gives doctors.&#8221; The judge pointed to &#8220;an entire section&#8221; of the law that spells out physicians&#8217; rights to decline participating in prescribing life-ending drugs \u2014 and not face any discipline for their choice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He also noted Payne&#8217;s strong opposition of EOLA in a personal capacity and her conviction to never choose it for herself.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;Thus, there is no basis on which to speculate that any doctor, let alone one who encounters Ms. Payne or disabled members of the plaintiff organizations, will even be a provider of end-of-life care under the Act,&#8221; Tharp wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Payne, who attended last week&#8217;s arguments wrapped in a blanket in her wheelchair, said in a statement Thursday that she was &#8220;disappointed&#8221; in Tharp&#8217;s ruling, maintaining it &#8221; removes the duty of physicians in Illinois to &#8216;do no harm&#8217; and sets up a system where a physician can assist in killing a patient without oversight or accountability.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In ruling against their motion for a preliminary injunction Thursday, Tharp gave plaintiffs 30 days to make their arguments for why the case shouldn&#8217;t be dismissed altogether.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Separate religious challenges<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a separate challenge to EOLA filed last month by religiously affiliated healthcare systems and doctors, another federal judge in Chicago approved a temporary restraining order agreed to by all parties. The stipulated TRO exempts the plaintiffs from having to discuss lethal medication with patients until the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals decides a case concerning similar themes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In that case, stemming from a 2016 law requiring that, if requested by the patient, providers who don\u2019t perform abortions must refer, transfer to or give patients written information about providers who do. A federal judge in Rockford issued a mixed ruling in the case last year, which the parties swiftly appealed. The appellate panel heard arguments this spring and could issue a ruling any time now.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Read more: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/news\/7-years-after-passage-illinois-first-in-string-of-recent-abortion-protections-gets-day-in-court\/\"><b>7 years after passage, Illinois\u2019 first in string of recent abortion protections gets day in court<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Also last week, the Midwest&#8217;s highest-ranking Catholic official, Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, filed a separate lawsuit on the same grounds. In court filings Thursday, attorneys for all parties indicated the two cases would likely be consolidated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Capitol News Illinois<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(THE DIRKSEN FEDERAL COURTHOUSE) Disability rights advocates alleged law is discriminatory, needs more state oversight By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com\u00a0 Article Summary\u00a0 Illinois is set to become the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":46494,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Judge Declines to Block Illinois&#039; &#039;Medical Aid in Dying&#039; 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