Letter to the Editor: Affirm inherent Dignity
Tom Brejcha writes on assisted suicide legislation, to the Editor of the Chicago Tribune.
The following was published as a Letter to the Editor in the Chicago Tribune on September 24, 2025. It is reproduced below.
Earlier this month, we observed National Suicide Prevention Week, reaffirming our social commitment to protect and honor the inherent dignity of every person’s life.
Yet, Illinois lawmakers are poised again to consider assisted suicide, with proponents wrapping their advocacy inside the euphemisms “death with dignity,” “autonomy” and even“mercy.”
But such phrases are fraught with deception. Dignity is not diminished by dependency, illness or incapacity. One’s inherent worth doesn’t depend on youth, health or autonomy. Nor can human dignity be regained by one’s self-induced or medically assisted demise.
Dignity is not a privilege bestowed by youth, health, beauty or capacity. It is inherent in every person, rooted in our creator’s endowing each of us with natural rights — to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. As proclaimed in our Declaration ofIndependence, this truth is America’s cornerstone that defines the essential worth and equality of all our citizens.
The experiences of states that legalized physician-assisted suicide reveal the consequences of abandoning this truth. Promised comprehensive safeguards have been routinely undermined by woeful failures, as reported by UnHerd: Washington lost track of over 500 compliance forms, Colorado lost nearly 1,800, and Oregon officials confessed to not knowing if 178 patients lived or died after receiving lethal prescriptions.
Worse, in 2023, half of Washington patients who sought assisted suicide and died, cited feeling like a burden as an end-of-life concern. These are not the fruits of mercy.
Our society is being tempted to reinforce this misguided message. As more suffering and marginalized citizens internalize this message, that their lives are burdensome on others, they, too, may increasingly opt for assisted suicide to undo their perceived“burden.”
We have a responsibility instead to respond by enacting policies that reaffirm their inherent dignity and strengthen our commitment to palliative care.
Every person’s dignity is inherent and essential, not bestowed by mere “choice” nor diminished by suffering, and surely not salvaged by suicide. Our Land of Lincoln must renew its commitment to protecting and caring for every member of our society, especially the suffering, weak and vulnerable.
