Illinois’ End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act
(Please note: This Article has been updated and supersedes the original version previously published in the MBF newsletter. Revisions include clarification regarding the Right of Conscience Act, the duties of a health care entity that declines to provide aid in dying services, and enhanced definitions.)
On December 12, 2025, Governor Pritzker signed Public Act 104-0441, the End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act, also known as “Deb’s Law” (“Act”). The Act does not go into effect until September 12, 2026. This delay in the effective date gives affected health care entities (“HCEs”) and health care professionals (“HCPs”) time to become familiar with the Act and to develop policies, procedures and forms to implement their obligations under the Act.
This article provides a brief summary of some key provisions of the Act. The Act imposes obligations and confers rights on health providers regardless of whether they choose to participate in the new care option described in the Act.
The Act provides a new option for end-of-life care that supplements existing care options such as palliative care, pain control, comfort care and hospice services, endeavoring to enable patients to choose an end-of-life experience that is aligned with their individual beliefs and values. The new option, referred to as “aid-in-dying” (“AID”), allows a “qualified patient” as defined in the Act, who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness expected to cause death within six months, to request that the patient’s attending physician prescribe medications that will likely result in the qualified patient’s death (“AID medications”), for self-administration by the patient. A “qualified patient” is an adult Illinois resident with mental capacity as defined in the Act who has satisfied the requirements of the Act to request a prescription for AID medications.
The Act prescribes that a request for AID medications be directed to the attending physician, defined as the physician with primary responsibility for the care of the qualified patient and the treatment of the patient’s terminal illness. The request must be made both verbally and in a written document substantially in the form set forth in the Act. With certain exceptions, the patient must repeat the verbal request after waiting at least five days. After receiving the request, the attending physician must request an evaluation by a consulting physician for written confirmation that the patient has the required mental capacity and has a terminal illness with a prognosis of six months or less to live. If the attending physician or the consulting physician has any concerns regarding the patient’s mental capacity, the patient must be referred to a licensed mental health practitioner, as defined in the Act, for an evaluation and written determination whether the patient has the required mental capacity or suffers from a psychological or psychiatric disorder causing impaired judgment. Assuming that all requirements of the Act are met, the attending physician may prescribe, and a pharmacy may dispense, AID medications for self-administration by the patient.
The Illinois Healthcare Right of Conscience Act applies to and is incorporated into the Act. HCEs may decline to provide AID services, and may restrict their employed or contracted HCPs from providing them while engaged in work for the HCE. HCPs may also decline to participate in AID services. HCEs may not restrict their HCPs from providing AID services in a practice setting independent of the HCE. HCEs must cooperate with a requested transfer of care and may not restrict their HCPs from providing information to patients about AID services or community resources.
The Act contains numerous definitions, detailed requirements and additional provisions not described in this summary. The Illinois Department of Public Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs are authorized to promulgate rules to assist in the implementation and administration of the Act. In ascertaining their rights and obligations, providers should carefully examine the full text of the Act and any rules that are issued. Future articles are planned that will summarize specific aspects of the Act in greater detail and discuss some of the issues and steps that an affected provider should consider.