The Morgan County Coroner is joining coroners from across Illinois in urging Governor J.B. Pritzker to veto a new right-to-die bill that lawmakers approved at the end of the fall veto session.
Senate Bill 1950 — also known as Deb’s Law — would legalize medical aid in dying for terminally ill adults with less than six months to live. Coroners from every region of the state say the bill, as written, threatens the accuracy and integrity of death investigations statewide.
The Morgan County Coroner’s Office says that after reviewing the legislation, her office and several other coroners from across the state found major conflicts with Illinois’ medicolegal statutes — especially the coroner responsibilities laid out under Illinois law. The law requires coroners to independently determine cause and manner of death and to document those findings for public health records, law enforcement and county reporting.
Coroners warn that SB 1950 would make that job significantly harder. They argue the bill would:
– Undermine statewide epidemiological and public-health surveillance
– Prevent accurate death certification
– Create barriers to information-sharing with law enforcement, prosecutors, and federal agencies
– And expose counties to new and unnecessary legal risks
In a statement, the Illinois Coroner’s and Medical Examiner’s Association says coroners are sworn to provide clear and accurate information in every death investigation — and that Deb’s Law imposes restrictions that would prevent them from doing so. They say the bill could leave families without clarity, investigators without the information they need, and public-health officials unable to track statewide data trends.
Another major concern: coroners say no experts from the death-investigation field were consulted during the drafting of the legislation — not coroners, not forensic pathologists, and not medical examiners. The bill in both chambers were largely drafted by Chicago-area Democrats. The Coroners Association argues that any law involving end-of-life procedures must include input from those who handle death certification and investigate suspicious or unclear cases.
Coroners across Illinois stress that they are not taking a position on the ethics of medical aid in dying itself. Instead, they say their opposition is based solely on unresolved legal and procedural conflicts that directly affect their statutory duties.
The Coroners Association is formally requesting that Governor Pritzker issue a full veto of the bill that was sent to his desk on November 25. At minimum, they say the governor should consider an amendatory veto that would allow lawmakers to address the concerns they have laid out before the law takes effect.
The governor has not yet indicated whether he plans to sign the bill. If the bill is signed into law, Illinois would join 12 other states and the District of Columbia who have a form of right to die laws.