More Doctors Sue Illinois to Stop New Assisted Suicide Law
Four Muslim doctors sued Illinois late yesterday over a new law that forces them to help terminally ill patients kill themselves—in direct violation of their religious beliefs. In Ali v. Vohra, Becket is asking a federal court to immediately block the law and protect these doctors from significant fines and penalties for refusing to take part in assisted suicide or for telling a suffering patient that life is still worth living.
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Inspired by the belief that life is sacred, physicians like Dr. Akbar Ali, Dr. Asim Babar, Dr. Omar Hussain, and Dr. Umar Shakur seek to cure and heal their neighbors. Each regularly sees patients facing crises, life-changing diagnoses, and terrifying uncertainty. In these moments, they seek to heal their patients and treat them with the utmost dignity and compassion so no one is left to despair.
Their faith forbids them from prescribing death. The doctors will not prescribe life-ending drugs, direct patients to obtain them, or help facilitate suicide in any way. Islam teaches that every life is a blessing from Allah—even life marked by terminal illness—and that suffering never strips a person of beauty, value, and goodness.
Illinois’ End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act (EOLOA) now forces objecting doctors into the machinery of death. Under the law, doctors who object to participating in assisted suicide must still inform patients about their “right” to kill themselves, help them qualify for lethal drugs, and pass them along to someone willing to help them obtain those drugs—stamping the patient’s ticket for death. The law also risks punishing these doctors for telling a suffering patient, “Don’t kill yourself. God has a plan for you. Your life is worth living.” Becket is asking the court to protect these doctors’ right to continue practicing medicine according to their beliefs, and to spare patients who never asked to be offered death.
Statements for media use:
Dr. Akbar Ali, M.D., internal medicine physician in Evanston, Illinois:
“My patients deserve better than a push towards death at their lowest moment. As their doctor, it’s my job to care for them with compassion and dignity, not to usher them toward suicide. And as a Muslim, I must protect life and heal those who are suffering. Illinois should honor that conviction, not punish it.”
Dr. Asim K. Babar, M.D., cardiologist in Ottawa, Illinois:
“Illinois’ law is cruel and unjust. No physician should be forced to violate their faith by participating in suicide, and no patient should be forced to hear about suicide when they want to live. I’m standing up to protect the religious freedom of doctors like me and the dignity of patients across Illinois.”
Dr. Omar Hussain, D.O., pulmonary specialist in Libertyville, Illinois:
“I became a doctor because I felt called to heal those in pain. I cannot betray that calling—or my Muslim faith—by pushing patients down the path of suicide. The court should ensure that Muslim doctors like me may keep serving our neighbors without violating our religious convictions.”
Dr. Umar Shakur, D.O., cardiologist in Chicago, Illinois:
“The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) stated, ‘Allah has not sent down any disease except that He has also sent down the cure for it.’ This is what motivates me, as an American Muslim physician, to pursue medicine, which is the art and science of uncovering those cures. When patients are at their most vulnerable, they need doctors who will care for them, comfort them, and give them hope—not steer them toward suicide. Death is never the treatment. I pray the court will block this law immediately.”
Mark Rienzi, president of Becket and lead attorney for the doctors:
“A white coat is not a demand that you shed your faith. Yet that’s exactly what Illinois is demanding of these Muslim doctors, all while telling sick and dying patients that suicide is the answer to their suffering. It’s inhumane, un-American, and it won’t stand.”
