I read with great interest the Feb. 20 op-eds “Assisted suicide is not health care” by Dr. Errol Baptist and “Our sons’ agony taught us the importance of medical aid in dying” by Nilsa Centeno and Suzy Flack. This is a difficult discussion. The authors do not share a term while discussing the process but rather use terms designed to be emotive — “suicide” versus “aid.”
I understand the issue. I am a retired medical oncologist and bioethicist and spent hours in homes and at bedsides with patients receiving supportive hospice care, making sure I was available to them 24/7. I also have metastatic cancer, have experienced failure with five treatments including experimental therapy, had brain cancer removed and have complications from therapy. I will die from this disease, sooner rather than later.
What is needed in the discussion of the proposed End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act for Illinois is compassion and a comprehensive approach. It is well documented that quality hospice care is not as widely available as it should be. Too often, diagnoses are made at advanced stages of disease due to lack of medical care, leading to few or no options and feelings of desertion and abandonment. Availability of aid in dying/assisted suicide is not uniform in the states that have approved it, and there is nothing new in the proposed legislation to change that for Illinois.
While we may not agree on the appropriate term for the process and the need for the specific legislation, we should agree that we can and should do better with patients who have diseases leading soon to an inevitable death. Expanding and improving hospice coverage throughout the state, eliminating barriers to medications needed to control symptoms and having thoughtful discussions about the wishes and fears of the patient are needed.
Caregivers, both professional and family, need the support this intensive effort would require. Providing medications to end life early is not for everyone; providing quality end-of-life care is.
Greater resources than the proposed legislation would likely be required — but would be the way to make a difference. We all should want this for Illinois.
— Dr. Neal P. Christiansen, Chicago
The patient would be in charge
In his op-ed “Assisted suicide is not health care,” Dr. Errol Baptist makes a significant mistake. In all his examples, he cites family members or friends, not the terminally ill patient, as asking him to let their family member die.
Family members and friends would be prohibited from requesting medical aid in dying on behalf of a terminally ill patient under the proposed End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act (Senate Bill 3499). This bill is similar to laws in 10 other states and the District of Columbia that allow medical aid in dying.
In S.B. 3499, only the patient can request the assistance. Two doctors must confirm that the patient’s disease is terminal and that the patient is expected to live six months or less. After a five-day waiting period, if the patient wishes to proceed, the patient must self-administer the medications that will end their suffering.
In the 25-plus years since Oregon first permitted medical aid in dying in this country, there has been no verified case of anyone being forced to end their life. Baptist can refuse to administer medical aid in dying or to use it himself, but should not prevent this option from being available to all the terminally ill Illinoisans who might want it.
— Jeff Boarini, Evanston
Majority of Illinoisans want law
I strongly object to opinion pieces that erroneously label the end-of-life option of medical aid in dying for terminally ill adults to peacefully end intolerable suffering as “assisted suicide.” Opponents of medical aid in dying use this term to attempt to criminalize it and deter lawmakers from approving it.
First, the option is not suicide. The vast majority of terminally ill patients want to live, but the disease has taken away the option of living. Second, no one can assist the patient. Medicine must be self-administered. Therefore, it is the patient who must make the decision, not the greedy relatives Baptist fears.
Most of us do not fear death as much as we fear the pain and suffering that may result. Even with hospice, not all pain can be controlled. I witnessed this last summer. My dear friend suffered a recurrence of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It returned with a vengeance, attacking her brain and spine. I sat at her bedside in the hospital, day after day, watching her suffer in excruciating pain, unable to even raise her head. No medication or palliative care alleviated this pain, despite Baptist’s insistence that “pain doesn’t exist” due to medical and palliative advances.
Ten states plus the District of Columbia allow medical aid in dying. Thus, about 1 in 5 Americans already have this option. In the 25-year history of this practice in the U.S., there has not been one substantiated instance of abuse.
Although up to one-third of those opting to get the medication never use it, just having access to it can relieve anxiety and fear. Moreover, medical aid in dying laws actually promote patient discussions with doctors and loved ones about the full range of end-of-life care options, including hospice and palliative care, and help families heal.
A February 2023 poll conducted by Impact Research shows that more that 7 out of 10 Illinois voters want our legislature to pass this legislation. Our legislature should honor the wishes of the vast majority of its constituents. It is time!
— Arlene Kallwitz, Arlington Heights
Make humane option available
I was pleased to see Senate Bill 3499, the End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act, introduced in the Illinois Senate on Feb. 9. When passed, this law will finally permit terminally ill Illinois adults to receive prescription medication to peacefully end their unbearable suffering, should they so choose.
When S.B. 3499 is enacted, Illinois will join 10 other states and the District of Columbia that already allow medical aid in dying. Such laws have now been in place for more than 25 years, and there have been no substantiated cases of abuse or coercion. A 2023 poll revealed that 71% of Illinois residents support this legislation, and only 17% oppose it. Among Illinois physicians, according to a WebMD poll, 62% would like to have this option if they become terminally ill, and only 20% would not want it.
Having practiced medicine for the past 35 years, I have been present for hundreds of end-of-life situations. Making this humane option available to terminally ill patients would be a tremendous blessing to many of those patients and their families.
All Illinois adults should have access to the merciful care provided by this legislation. I encourage all readers to contact their state legislators and Gov. J.B. Pritzker to urge them to pass S.B. 3499 into law.
— Dr. David Gill, McLean
Adults should have right to decide
The two op-eds in the Feb. 20 Tribune on assisted suicide have different viewpoints. I was a hospice chaplain for 12 years and dealt with patients who were all terminally ill. Some of them lived as long as two years and were grateful for the added time. Others had only a short time to live, and some were in great pain, despite what was done to help them. What I sometimes heard from them was that dogs in pain are treated better by being put down than people are.
There was no more joy in living, just pain.
I believe every such person has a right to deal with this as they feel is right for them.
— The Rev. Clara S. Thompson, Montgomery, Illinois
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
