CHICAGO, IL – Nearly every Catholic health care institution in Illinois, along with individual religious health care practitioners across the state, are now protected from the state’s assisted suicide law under an expanded federal court order in Mary Keen Kirchoff, M.D., et al. v. Treto, et al., the Thomas More Society lawsuit challenging the law.

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. It also protects members of the Catholic Medical Association, the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, the National Association of Catholic Nurses, and the Catholic Psychotherapy Association; the physicians and institutions named in the case and those providing care on their premises; and Catholic health care entities in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois under Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki’s authority.

“Three weeks ago, Illinois was poised to force doctors, nurses, and Catholic hospitals to choose between their consciences and their licenses,” said Peter Breen, Executive Vice President and Head of Litigation at Thomas More Society. “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.”

U.S. District Judge Franklin U. Valderrama of the Northern District of Illinois entered the Stipulated Amended Temporary Restraining Order with Illinois agreeing to its terms. It replaces an August 21 order that protected only the original plaintiffs.

Thomas More Society filed the lawsuit on August 11 on behalf of four Illinois physicians, Bishop Paprocki, and the Lutheran Care Center. On September 10, two days before the law took effect, an amended complaint added the religious health care associations and two more health care professionals. The suit challenges EOLO’s requirements that health care professionals tell patients about the supposed “benefits” of assisted suicide, refer patients seeking it to willing providers, avoid information the state deems “misinformation,” and record deaths from lethal prescriptions as caused by the underlying illness. Violations carry fines up to $10,000, loss of licensure, and potential criminal prosecution.

“Catholic and Christian health care providers, from hospitals and nursing homes to physicians, nurses, and therapists, strive to heal, not harm, and for generations, have cared for the sick and dying in keeping with their faith,” Breen continued. “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.”

Under the order, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation and the Illinois Department of Public Health may not enforce the “End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act” or related provisions of the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act against covered parties, nor treat their refusal to comply as grounds for liability, discipline, or licensure action under any law.  

The order remains in effect until the court rules on the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, which will be briefed after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issues its decision and mandate in the related cases NIFLA v. Treto and Schroeder v. Treto.

Read the Stipulated Amended Temporary Restraining Order in Mary Keen Kirchoff, M.D., et al. v. Treto, et al., here, and the corresponding Second Stipulated Motion for Temporary Restraining Order, here.