Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, joined the Lutheran Care Center and a group of physicians to sue the state over its new assisted suicide law, the “End of Life Options Act.” The coalition argues that the law requires doctors to facilitate patient suicides in violation of the Hippocratic Oath and their sincerely held religious beliefs.
The Thomas More Society, which is representing the plaintiffs in the suit, issued a press release summarizing their concerns: “The law commands Catholic hospitals, religious nursing homes, and faithful doctors to promote suicide’s alleged ‘benefits,’ refer patients to suicide drug prescriptions, and then lie on death certificates to cover it up. This immoral scheme flagrantly violates religious liberty and free speech rights, and we intend to stop it.”
Bishop Paprocki mentioned that Illinois’s assisted suicide law was contrary to Catholic teaching, because “at the heart of the Catholic Church’s healthcare ministry is the healing work of Christ, to stand with the suffering, to comfort the dying, to affirm the God-given dignity of every human life.”
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