May 6, 2021

CALL YOUR LEGISLATORS: SB 109 Passes House Committee


On the afternoon of May 6, SB 109  passed out of the Illinois House of Representatives Health Care Licenses Committee. This bill would amend the Health Care Surrogate Act to no longer require a witness to sign the Practitioner Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form. 

The POLST form is used when a patient is deciding what kinds of treatments they would approve of if they are unable to make decisions. SB 109 would also allow a national POLST form to be used instead of the Illinois POLST form. That form similarly does not require a signature from a witness.

Proponents of this legislation argue that because some patients don't have anyone to sign as a witness for them, the current law should be amended. This reasoning is faulty because the majority of patients do have others available to be witnesses for them. Furthermore, the current requirement does not require that the signing witness be close to the patient. The witness can be anyone.

Witness signatures on POLST forms provide valuable protection that should not be taken away.

Please call your legislators and tell them to oppose SB 109.

To find out who your legislator is, visit the Illinois State Board of Elections website here and type in your address. The website will provide you with the names and contact information of your state senator and state representative.