Illinois General Assembly - Illinois Compiled Statutes

Updating the database of the Illinois Compiled Statutes (ILCS) is an ongoing process. Recent laws may not yet be included in the ILCS database, but they are found on this site as Public Acts soon after they become law. For information concerning the relationship between statutes and Public Acts, refer to the Guide.

Because the statute database is maintained primarily for legislative drafting purposes, statutory changes are sometimes included in the statute database before they take effect. If the source note at the end of a Section of the statutes includes a Public Act that has not yet taken effect, the version of the law that is currently in effect may have already been removed from the database and you should refer to that Public Act to see the changes made to the current law.

755 ILCS 35/9

(755 ILCS 35/9) (from Ch. 110 1/2, par. 709)

Sec. 9. General provisions.

(a) The withholding or withdrawal of
death delaying procedures from a qualified patient in accordance with the
provisions of this Act shall not, for any purpose, constitute a suicide.

(b) The making of a declaration pursuant to Section 3 shall not affect
in any manner the sale, procurement, or issuance of any policy of life
insurance, nor shall it be deemed to modify the terms of an existing policy
of life insurance.  No policy of life insurance shall be legally impaired
or invalidated in any manner by the withholding or withdrawal of death
delaying procedures from an insured qualified patient, notwithstanding any
term of the policy to the contrary.

(c) No physician, health care facility, or other health care provider,
and no health care service plan, health maintenance organization, insurer
issuing disability insurance, self-insured employee welfare benefit plan,
nonprofit medical service corporation or mutual nonprofit hospital service
corporation shall require any person to execute a declaration as a
condition for being insured for, or receiving, health care services.

(d) Nothing in this Act shall impair or supersede any legal right or legal
responsibility which any person may have to effect the withholding or
withdrawal of death delaying procedures in any lawful manner. In such
respect the provisions of this Act are cumulative.

(e) This Act shall create no presumption concerning the intention of an
individual who has not executed a declaration to consent to the use or
withholding of death delaying procedures in the event of a terminal condition.

(f) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to condone, authorize or approve
mercy killing or to permit any affirmative or deliberate act or omission
to end life other than to permit the natural process of dying as provided in this Act.

(g) An instrument executed before the effective date of this Act
that substantially complies with subsection (e) of Section 3 shall be given
effect pursuant to the provisions of this Act.

(h) A declaration executed in another state in compliance with the
law of that state or this State is validly executed for purposes of this
Act, and such declaration shall be applied in accordance with the
provisions of this Act.

(i) Documents, writings, forms, and copies referred to in this Act may be in hard copy or electronic format. Nothing in this Act is intended to prevent the population of a declaration, document, writing, or form with electronic data. Electronic documents under this Act may be created, signed, or revoked electronically using a generic, technology-neutral system in which each user is assigned a unique identifier that is securely maintained and in a manner that meets the regulatory requirements for a digital or electronic signature. Compliance with the standards defined in the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act or the implementing rules of the Hospital Licensing Act for medical record entry authentication for author validation of the documentation, content accuracy, and completeness meets this standard.

(Source: P.A. 101-163, eff. 1-1-20; 102-38, eff. 6-25-21.)