Compassion Legal: The End-of-Life Justice Center at Compassion & Choices, along with pro bono partners at WilmerHale, led by Ryan Chabot, filed a motion to intervene and asked the court to consider our opposition to the preliminary injunction on behalf of four Illinois residents in a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the recently passed and signed Illinois End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act (also known as ‘Deb’s Law’). The lawsuit, Payne v. Pritzker, aims to prevent the law from taking effect. Deb’s Law remains on track to become effective for qualified Illinois residents on September 12, 2026.
Payne v. Pritzker was filed on June 11, 2026 in federal district court in Illinois. The lawsuit is similar to legal challenges to medical aid-in-dying laws in California, Colorado, Delaware, and New York. On August 19, 2026, four Illinois residents, with the assistance of Compassion Legal and Compassion & Choices Action Network, filed a motion to intervene in Payne v. Pritzker in defense of Deb’s Law.
Deb Robertson (for whom Deb’s Law is named), a former social worker living with an aggressive case of neuroendocrine carcinoma in Lombard, Ill who began advocating in support of medical aid in dying in 2022, is one of the four intervenors in the case.
“My advocacy to help pass and protect the Illinois End of Life Options for
Terminally Ill Patients Act has given me clarity and direction as I face a terminal
illness. I believe that I have beat the odds and survived as long I have so that I could help
pass — and now fight to protect — medical aid in dying as an end-of-life healthcare option.” said Robertson. “I may never use the prescription if I ever choose to obtain it, and I know there is no obligation that I use it if I do qualify. But knowing that this healthcare option is available allows me to enjoy my life now; to walk, hike, write, paint, and spend time with my wife, without constant fear about how I will die, because I have the option of controlling that.”
Maureen Statland, another intervenor, lives with permanent heart damage and a diagnosis of advanced congestive heart failure. She has dedicated her life to working with seniors and facilitating intergenerational relationships, along with teaching young people at her synagogue and working as a hospice volunteer.
“If and when I am ever faced with medical circumstances that qualify me for a
prescription under the Act, I want this important healthcare option available to me. I do not wish to spend my final months struggling to breathe in hospice, whether from end-stage heart failure, end-stage liver failure, or something else.” said Statland. “I want to have a safe, legal, and effective way to peacefully end my life at the time of my choosing, after saying goodbye to my loved ones.”
Sophie Meyn has lived with an incurable brain tumor for over ten years that has resulted in epilepsy, weakness and seizures on the right side of her body, and mobility issues.
“Having an incurable brain tumor means needing to be thoughtful and honest with
myself about the reality of facing the end of my life earlier than I would like. ” said Meyn. “I understand that my disability does not automatically or presumptively qualify me for access to medical aid in dying. If and when I qualify, though, I want it available to me as one of the many end-of-life options I can choose from. I want to have the ability to die surrounded by my loved ones. I live my life intentionally, and I want to die with the same amount of intention. Deb’s Law ensures that I will be able to experience the end of my life with the same care, thoughtfulness, and intention that are core values in my life.”
Brenda Boutte is a stage 4 thyroid and metastatic lung cancer survivor, fighting the disease since being diagnosed in 1996 and now living with resultant disabilities. She became an advocate for medical aid in dying while living in Colorado, and is glad that she will have the option available to her in Illinois, where she spends time with her kids and grandkids.
Boutte said, “Having faced two different stage four cancers, I aim to get the most out of life. While I do not currently have a terminal illness with a prognosis of six months or less to live nor does my disability qualify me for the prescription, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders with the knowledge that if I qualified for medical aid in dying, I would have the ability to better control my end-of-life process. I am not afraid that I or others will be coerced or compelled into pursuing medical aid in dying, but rather I am afraid that my pain at the end of my life would be unmanageable. I want to fight and try every treatment I can—but when I can no longer continue, I want to be able to decide when it is my time and to have a peaceful end.”
“Working with these clients, some of whom identify as living with disabilities, has underscored the importance of our work to protect the rights and dignity of people facing terminal illness,” said Amy Subach, Associate Staff Attorney with Compassion Legal.
“Deb’s Law is clear and unequivocal that disability alone does not automatically qualify someone for access to this healthcare option,” Subach stated. “These laws are about compassion, dignity, and respecting the healthcare choices of terminally ill adults when it matters most, not discrimination.”
Compassion & Choices Action Network, whose mission is to promote end-of-life autonomy, and to empower people to select care that honors their unique values and priorities regardless of race, religion, party affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity and age, is also intervening.
Payne v. Pritzker includes organizational plaintiffs from the previous lawsuits including the anti-medical aid-in-dying group Institute for Patients’ Rights, Not Dead Yet, United Spinal Association and National Council on Independent Living.
Anti-medical aid-in-dying groups have been attacking state medical aid-in-dying policies in the courts since the late 1990s without success. Courts have consistently held that medical aid-in-dying laws do not discriminate on the basis of age or disability, and that the laws simply serve to increase end-of-life care options for people who qualify.
Most recently, a similar lawsuit was dismissed in New York and the law went into effect as scheduled on August 5, 2026.
Since the 1997 implementation of the nation’s first medical aid-in-dying law — the Oregon Death with Dignity Act — medical aid in dying remains completely voluntary for patients and healthcare providers alike in all authorized jurisdictions.
The Compassion & Choices family comprises two organizations: Compassion & Choices, a 501(c)(3), which educates, empowers, and advocates to improve care and expand options at life’s end; and our advocacy and political arm, the Compassion & Choices Action Network, a 501(c)(4).