As one who has studied medical aid in dying for over 20 years, I found the editorial “Pritzker should veto ‘right to die’ bill passed in the veto session” (Nov. 4) quite disappointing. The experience in Washington, D.C., and the 11 states that authorize medical aid in dying reveal that it is a compassionate, ethical and safe end-of-life option that benefits patients. These laws have worked as intended. The problems expected by opponents, some of which the Tribune Editorial Board mentions, have not emerged.

That is why in New York, where the bill passed both houses of the legislature and awaits action by the governor, critically relevant organizations, including the Medical Society of the State of New York, the New York State Nurses Association, the New York State Bar Association and the New York State Council of Churches, among some 60 organizations, support the option. Polling in New York and nationwide shows widespread support.

The Tribune Editorial Board’s concerns about the future of medical aid in dying based on what has happened in other countries is pure speculation. The U.S. is different historically, culturally and religiously. The only way medical aid in dying laws could be substantively expanded is by legislation or court decisions. It has been difficult enough to get medical aid in dying laws enacted, and no high state court nor the Supreme Court has found medical aid in dying to be a constitutional right.

Hospice and palliative care are generally excellent and can adequately relieve suffering in most cases. However, about 90% of those who die by medical aid in dying are enrolled in hospice, which means that hospice cannot sufficiently relieve the suffering of all the dying.

Finally, the editorial board asserts that compassion demands caution. In this situation, caution is no longer needed based on the excellent cumulative experience in the U.S. with medical aid in dying. Consider that not one law has been repealed nor successfully challenged in the courts.

Medical aid in dying should be available for dying patients to relieve intolerable suffering and achieve a peaceful death. Gov. JB Pritzker should sign the bill.

— David C. Leven, executive director emeritus and senior consultant, End of Life Choices New York, Pelham, New York 

Protect vulnerable people

The End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act would allow a mentally capable adult with a terminal disease and prognosis of six months or less to request physician-prescribed “aid-in-dying” medication. In a society where health care is expensive, resources limited and stigma against disability pervasive, individuals may feel pressured — consciously or unconsciously — to see themselves as burdens. Disability rights advocates stand united, concerned that assisted-dying laws risk reinforcing that harmful narrative: that life with disability, dependency or declining health is less worth living.

When someone feels like they are costing too much or taking too much time to care for, assisted suicide laws can push them toward a permanent decision they might not truly want. Doctors also make mistakes about how long someone will live — people given “six months” may end up living for years.

Other states that have passed similar laws have seen problems with oversight and reporting. Even when rules look strict on paper, they are hard to enforce in real life.

Instead of legalizing assisted suicide, Illinois should invest in better palliative and hospice care, stronger mental health services and more home-based supports so people can live comfortably and with dignity. No one should feel that death is their only option because help and care are out of reach.

We all deserve to live in a state that protects vulnerable people, not one that makes it easier to give up on them. We are living in a time when Medicaid and other assistance programs that are vital to our health care are at risk — which makes this especially dangerous.

Gov. JB Pritzker should reject this bill and stand up for the dignity and safety of all Illinoisans, especially those living with disabilities.

— Jackie Sundquist, CEO, RAMP Disability Resources & Services, Rockford

Unjust and cruel death

This year, my 90-year-old father entered hospice care after deciding to stop taking life-extending medication. He wasn’t terminal or depressed — he was old, unable to walk easily and experiencing frequent mini-strokes. He felt his best option was to let nature take its course but was dismayed that he couldn’t be guaranteed an easy death, even though we have the medical knowledge to prevent suffering.

Within weeks, Dad became bedridden and required nursing home care. We paid $17,000 monthly — the cheapest decent option in our city — after proving assets exceeding $500,000 just to secure a room.

“How much longer do I have to stay here?” he would ask. He knew he couldn’t go home but hoped for somewhere better. I had to tell him this was it for the duration.

Dad would have gladly taken “the poison pill,” as he called it, but feared the violence and pain of other forms of suicide. When nurses first administered morphine, he gestured behind their backs, exasperated, that they should just give him the whole vial and be done with it. Another time, he asked me directly for that elusive pill. “Why do I have to suffer like this? Why does anyone else care how I die?”

His final day was marked by a sound that will haunt me. His mouth agape, he struggled for air while mucus lodged in his throat filled his lungs. He was unable to speak, but still conscious, and this deep, sludge guttural lowing emanated out of some otherworldly, unfound place in his upper chest. After hours of this, he seized, vomited thick yellow sewage and died while nurses fumbled with a broken suction machine.

He died a wretched death. The best that money could buy.

I refuse to sugarcoat this because the truth is that death in this country is often cruel and unjust, even to those who reach their natural end.

Eleven states currently offer medical aid in dying. Illinois is poised to become the 12th — all that remains is for Gov. JB Pritzker to sign the bill into law. I urge him to follow a core Democratic principle: choice. We should all have freedom over what happens to our bodies in life and in death.

Pritzker is a presidential contender, and his choice here will tell us what his principles are when the issue before him is controversial and the winning political decision is at best unclear.

— Isabelle Dienstag, Chicago

Editorial offers insight

Thank you very much for publishing the editorial urging Gov. JB Pritzker to veto the “right to die” bill in Illinois. I am immensely grateful for the Tribune Editorial Board’s courage in publishing it.

I am one of those loved ones the editorial speaks of who was, indeed, fortunate to have had many moments with my mother, in fact a full six years. This was after my sister and I were told that her “quality of life” would be bad because she would likely be incapacitated and on a feeding tube for the rest of her life. While our mother was, in fact, incapacitated, unable to talk and with a feeding tube for the rest of her life, she communicated with us extensively and smiled a lot. We were grateful for the time we had to show her even just a sliver of appreciation for having taken care of us our entire lives.

It was difficult, no doubt about it, as we became her de facto 24/7 nurses, therapists and nutritionists, but it lasted a relatively short period as compared to how long she sacrificed for us as a single mother.

What I enumerate does not even touch on the effects on the medical community of aiding suicide. This takes a tremendous toll on doctors who take seriously their call to heal and care for their patients. This also erodes trust between patients who rely on their doctors to consider their best interests and their doctors who dedicate their craft to healing.

Palliative care is, indeed, a good choice for alleviating pain and reducing suffering since it also takes a multidisciplinary approach to care that considers the total human being physically, psychologically, mentally, socially and spiritually and also provides support for caregivers.

Again, thank you for the editorial. I sincerely hope it provides much needed insight for our state on the dire consequences of legalizing medically assisted death.

— Nicole Orendain, Chicago

A ludicrous contrast

Am I the only one to see how ludicrous it is that in Illinois, abortion is legal, which allows no choice to the healthy fetus involved, but we are questioning if a dying adult has the right to die?

— Joan Murphy, Northfield

Give patients options

Anyone who has sat with a loved one and watched them decline and deteriorate will tell you that terminally ill patients should have the right to control how long they suffer. If a person is wasting away in agony, they should have the right to assisted death by choice. Let individual physicians decline to assist if they so choose, but patients should have options.

Once again, the U.S. is behind in the worldview on this topic. Many countries offer assisted death in terminal cases. It is inhumane not to offer this.

— Beth Myburgh, La Grange

Do right thing, Governor

I was appalled to read the editorial urging veto of the “right to die” bill. My father, who was denied medical assistance to end his life, was forced to take matters into his own hands. He had to do it surreptitiously rather than openly with his family surrounding him.

Please, Governor, do the right thing and sign this bill.

— Deanne Born, Barrington

Unimaginable suffering

I’m writing from Hartford, Illinois, where I watched both of my parents die painful deaths from cancer — without the option of medical aid in dying. My mom was only 57 when she passed from lung cancer in 2014. My dad died from pancreatic cancer in 2023. Both endured unimaginable suffering, and both were denied the autonomy to decide how their final moments would unfold.

If Illinois had allowed death with dignity then, my parents could have had the choice to end their suffering peacefully and on their own terms. I can’t say for sure what they would have chosen — but they deserved that choice. Everyone does.

That’s why I’ve been fighting for the End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act, also known as Deb’s Law. On Oct. 31, the Illinois Senate passed this compassionate bill, which would finally allow qualified terminally ill adults the right to request medication to end their life peacefully. Now, it’s up to Gov. JB Pritzker to sign SB1950 into law.

I urge Pritzker to sign Deb’s Law. No one should have to watch a loved one suffer needlessly, and we should all have this option for when our time comes. Medical aid in dying isn’t about giving up — it’s about giving people control, comfort and dignity when they need it most.

— Kimberly Shoemaker, Hartford, Illinois

Editorial’s arguments

The editorial about the “right to die” bill opines that people who are dying should not be allowed to elect for an easy exit. The Tribune Editorial Board dismisses the agony that some experience by being “passionately supportive of palliative care.” I’m afraid I have spoken to too many people who say that palliative care failed a loved one to believe that it’s the answer for every person. In truth, if palliative care was so effective, then very few patients would go through the somewhat arduous process of applying for humane euthanasia in the first place.

The vast majority just want to end their own suffering, except for one group: Some may choose to die in order to prevent financial devastation of their families. And what a terrible dilemma it is. Putting myself in that position, would I rather die quickly and easily while saving my family from ruin or should I hang on to a few more days, weeks or months of a life with no purpose other than seeing if I can make it to the next day and the next and so on, all while destroying my family financially?

Again, what a terrible choice to make, but it’s my life and my family. Why remove my choice and make sure my family’s finances are reduced to ashes? The board’s answer is that “you can’t put a price tag on every moment you get with your loved ones.” If that’s really true, then why do so many of us spend massive amounts of time away from our families in order to support them? After a lifetime of work in order to make my family secure, why would anyone force me to throw all of that away in order to prolong the most miserable experience of my entire life?

— Craig Zabel, Sugar Grove

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