Christian healthcare providers protected from assisted suicide law under court order
A new court ruling protects nearly all healthcare providers affiliated with Catholic and Christian healthcare institutions in Illinois from having to provide assisted suicide or refer patients for it as litigation over the state’s new assisted-suicide mandate continues.
In an order last week, U.S. District Judge Franklin Valderrama of the Northern District of Illinois expanded an earlier order that barred Illinois officials from enforcing the End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act and parts of the Health Care Right of Conscience Act against several plaintiffs. Those plaintiffs are Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, the Lutheran Care Center and several Catholic physicians.
The expanded order covers all members of the Illinois Catholic Health Association, the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, the National Association of Catholic Nurses and the Catholic Psychotherapy Association. The associations joined the lawsuit through an amended complaint filed Sept. 10, after Valderrama’s first order covering the original plaintiffs and just before the law was set to take effect.
In a statement Thursday, the Thomas More Society, which represents the plaintiffs, said the order bars Illinois from enforcing the law "against any member of numerous religious health care associations, including the Illinois Catholic Health Association, whose Catholic hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living centers, and pharmacies represent more than 95% of Catholic health care institutions in the state."
“Three weeks ago, Illinois was poised to force doctors, nurses, and Catholic hospitals to choose between their consciences and their licenses,” said Peter Breen, Thomas More Society’s executive vice president and head of litigation.
“This order lifts that threat for nearly every Catholic health care institution in the state and for the members of the state’s largest Catholic and Christian medical associations. We will keep fighting until that protection is permanent.”
Breen said Catholic and Christian health care providers, including hospitals, nursing homes, physicians, nurses and therapists, seek to "heal" not "harm."
"[F]or generations, [they] have cared for the sick and dying in keeping with their faith," the attorney maintained. “Illinois has no right or authority to coerce them into abandoning that mission. ... For now, this order protects their freedom to continue caring for patients with dignity, without the threat of losing their licenses or their livelihoods.”
The plaintiffs could face fines of up to $10,000, lose their licenses or face “potential criminal prosecution” if the laws were enforced against them, the legal group stated.
The plaintiffs challenged provisions of the two laws that require healthcare providers to tell patients about the “benefits” of assisted suicide and to transfer or refer patients seeking it to medical professionals willing to provide it. They argued that being forced to promote assisted suicide or refer patients for it would violate their deeply held religious beliefs about the sanctity of human life.
The plaintiffs also allege that the laws violate the First and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Valderrama’s order will stay in effect until the court rules on the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction, which would block enforcement of the laws while the case moves forward.
The lawsuit brought by Paprocki, the Lutheran Care Center, the Catholic physicians and the religious healthcare associations is not the only court challenge to the assisted-suicide law. Last month, Valderrama issued a separate order barring Illinois officials from enforcing the same laws against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, a Catholic pharmacist and groups of Catholic nuns.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
