State Sanctioned Murder in Illinois?
By Cory Franklin
July 15th, 2026
The truth about the medical euthanasia movement has always been that once it begins no one can tell where – or whether – it will end. Recently, a government official in the Netherlands told the Dutch legislature that a physician “assisted” (quotes indicate “assisted” is a euphemism for “actively caused”) the death of a terminally ill child who was older than 1 but younger than 12 . This marked the first time that a child in this age category was put to death since the country sanctioned pediatric euthanasia in 2024 for those between 1 and 12. Medical euthanasia is scheduled to take effect in Illinois in September. Governor J.B. Pritzker, take note of the Netherlands experience.
In 2001, the Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalize medical euthanasia, approving a permissible age limit for subjects to be killed restricted to those over 12. Shortly after, a protocol was adopted to allow the killing of babies under the age of 1. That meant in the Netherlands an age gap existed between 1 and 12 where it was impermissible for doctors to terminate children’s lives.
The Dutch government, obviously concerned about this inequity, addressed it in 2024 by extending medical euthanasia to those children. Expressed in coolly bloodless terms on the Dutch government’s web page “Termination of life for terminally ill children aged 1 to 12”: “This decision [to terminate the child’s life] is always made in consultation with the parents and, if possible, also with the child.” No mention of a child’s consent. The doctor simply has to believe “that the termination of life was not being carried out against the child’s will.” This aligns the Netherlands with neighboring Belgium, the second country in the world to legalize euthanasia, which abolished all age restrictions in 2014.
The permissive attitude in the Netherlands toward assisted suicide – even for children – has become so accommodating that this Dutch child’s death generated little reaction in the country. Business as usual, while assisted suicide becomes “standard operating procedure” in the Low Countries, where the current death rate due to medical suicide has risen to around 5% of all deaths, the highest percentage in the world except for that in Canada. In the 12 US states that allow assisted suicide the percentage runs lower, in most just under 1% of all deaths. But this still means come September, Illinois is likely to experience hundreds of deaths by medical suicide annually.
In the past decade, 100,000 Canadians have died from medically assisted suicide, a rate slightly more than 5% of all deaths – and rising. Children in Canada are not eligible for MAID (the Canadian acronym for medical assistance in dying) but those with disabilities are and terminal illness is not a requirement. Meanwhile, religious opposition, once the bulwark against any type of suicide, is vanishing. The Canadian Anglican Church recently approved of medical euthanasia as a solution to the tragedy of human suffering. Suicidal people, who once looked to the Church for succor, may now receive a tacit death sentence.
All this means that the longstanding rationale that assisted suicide is an issue simply between a patient and his or her caregiver is no longer viable. The new and more permissive personal autonomy argument is embodied in the question, “Why should the Government stand in the way of my personal choice to die exactly when and how I want?” This type of moral shortsightedness appeals to many, including politicians like Governor Pritzker.
The State inevitably becomes involved when patients, including those with mental illness – and now children – become eligible for assisted suicide. Regarding children, few cultures in history have treated sick children with the disregard being shown the Netherlands, a notable exception being Nazi Germany.
Ethicists in favor of pediatric euthanasia frequently mention that the Greek philosopher Plutarch recorded in his writings how disabled babies in Ancient Sparta were abandoned and left to die of exposure. Recent discoveries, however, have debunked this belief; even the Spartans did not kill unhealthy children.
Far from being a sign of progressive enlightenment as its proponents portray it, medical euthanasia for children is more indicative of a gradual cultural decay. This devolution to casual erasure of admittedly difficult lives puts our supposedly sophisticated society on par with primitives who believed human sacrifice would bring better weather.
As the euthanasia movement grows, the avenue to protect children must be on emphasizing the prohibition on their killing and offering better care for those disabled and severely ill – bearing in mind that nearly everyone experiences pain or suffering in life. The healthcare community cannot shrug its shoulders and evade responsibility for any child – Down syndrome, severe prematurity, terminally ill, behavioral disability – whether treatable or not. They still have meaning to our society.
In a 2023 statement, the American College of Pediatrics called upon the “medical profession in the United States to reject euthanasia and assisted suicide for minors and return to its pro-life Hippocratic roots to uphold the ancient medical ethics principle of first, do no harm.”
The Dutch experience with pediatric euthanasia highlights the immutable reality about human nature that Hippocrates understood: once you legitimize the power to kill for any reason, it’s difficult to control how that power is used.
I want to thank Victoria Tiller MSN for her contribution to this article.
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Dr. Cory Franklin
Cory Franklin, physician and writer, is a frequent contributor to johnkassnews.com. Director of Medical Intensive Care at Cook County (Illinois) Hospital for 25 years, before retiring he wrote over 80 medical articles, chapters, abstracts, and correspondences in books and professional journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA. In 1999, he was awarded the Shubin-Weil Award, one of only fifty people ever honored as a national role model for the practice and teaching of intensive care medicine.
Since retirement, Dr. Franklin has been a contributor to the Chicago Tribune op-ed page. His work has been published in the New York Times, New York Post, Washington Post, Chicago Sun-Times and excerpted in the New York Review of Books. Internationally, his work has appeared internationally in Spiked, The Guardian and The Jerusalem Post. For nine years he hosted a weekly audio podcast, Rememberingthepassed, which discusses the obituaries of notable people who have died recently. His 2015 book “Cook County ICU: 30 Years Of Unforgettable Patients and Odd Cases” was a medical history best-seller. In 2024, he co-authored The COVID Diaries: Anatomy of a Contagion As it Happened.
In 1993, he worked as a technical advisor to Harrison Ford and was a role model for the physician character Ford played in the film, The Fugitive.
Comments 22
Thank you Dr. Franklin. It does seem that we are ruled by ghouls who peddle death and our populace only has selected outrage depending on who is killed,
Pritzker has no soul. Neither do any of the black politicians who run Chicago, the County of Cook, the CPD, CPS, CTU, they allow for murder on a daily basis.
Despite Victor Davis Hansen’s moral ethical and moral jujitsu, It seems that the live of kids in Gaza and Iranian school children do not deserve similar type of concern.
The I heard Dan Proft who had religious types on his low rated morning show talking about a “just war”. If the media and the pentagon can manufacture consent, and it’s for Israel, we can kill as many innocents as we need to.
I need to be fearful of Zohran, AOC, a handful of pols Zohran endorsed who won, but I need not fear any ICE agents in the street who can abduct anyone, anytime, without identifying themselves.
It’s a combine in DC too, and they peddle death as well.
DOGE cut daily food inspections, clean water, upped the use of chemicals in our food, but they’re “saving the country”.
God Help Us
Is it possible that you could address the substantive issue raised by Dr Franklin in his article rather than your repetitive sanctimonious windbaggery? You Sir are an idiot.
Illinois is run by idiots. Good writing John. Keep up the good work.
Good morning have a great Day.
Sir:
I am learning how powerful the written word is. Thank you getting this down on paper.
Yes, this feels quite wrong. What parent says “kill my child”? Parents can be selfish and, quite frankly, very stupid. Once the child becomes of legal age to make their own decision, then it’s their responsibility. Same thing goes for sex changes, when the child becomes of legal age to make their own decision. Whether a doctor or parent, first do no (irreparable) harm.
We need to euthanize Jag Bag Prickster
Amen.
Socialized medicine is EXPENSIVE, not cheap. Sure, it’s “free”, but it comes with a lot of other costs like euthanasia. Suppose you get cancer in Canada or someplace like that. Can you get treatment? No, you get in line. You wait. Do they give you pain medicine while you wait, or do you suffer? Pain medicine costs money and the bureaucrats do not care about “humanity”. They do care about money, but more in terms of how much they can stuff in their pockets or crony pockets.
Remember when Obamacare was sold. Ezekiel Emanuel said no one should live past 75. You can’t “productive” anymore.
Families and parents are put into an impossible choice, they are told by bureaucrats they have to wait or cannot get care because it is too expensive and rationed. They could travel to another country to try and get care, but that’s prohibitively expensive for most people.
American medical care, systems, and insurance are not free markets. They are heavily regulated and despite that it is the best care in the world. It’s why wealthy people come to America to get treatment when they can’t get it at home.
Amen Jeff. At my age I’m no longer an asset. I’m a liability.
Getting old folks off SS or Medicare rolls open room for more illegal immigrants to vote.
JB. I will not comply.
The modern Aztecs still sacrifice preborn, born or unwell babies to their gods of convenience and happiness.
Illinois will become the latest jurisdiction to validate the slippery slope argument against euthanasia. The justifications for it metastasize, just like a physical malignancy.
Thank you, Cory, for shining the spotlight on pediatric euthanasia occurring in countries with socialized medicine. (Free care is inaccessible and NO!, but free death is immediate and YES!)
Another tragedy occurring in Canada is the ability of young adults suffering from situational, hormonal or seasonal mental illnesses like depression to self-refer for euthanasia. No psychological evaluation or treatment plan is required or encouraged. Medical providers, like Dr. Ellen Wiebe, aggressively pursue these young people and in one case flew, at her expense, a 26-year old young man with seasonal depression to her province and euthanized him. She ghoulishly describes her work as the “most satisfying of her career!” Young women are disproportionately being put to death as they more frequently suffer from depression and anorexia.
Yes, one can make a case for assisted suicide in cases of uncontrollable pain or incapacitation in an adult who can give informed consent. But history proves that laws can expand and safeguards can erode if we are not attentive.
We are entering a new era of end-of-life care and the fabric of society is never going to be the same.
Francine Palma Long, MD
Thank you Dr. Franklin for writing about this issue.
Euthanasia is indeed a catch word on the slippery slope.
The term alone, pediatric euthanasia, is abhorrent!
Seems like “pediatric euthanasia” is obviously not suicide since a minor cannot make that decision………what is it then? Murder. Evil.
“…what is it then?”
Abortion until the 57th trimester/18th birthday?
And, could/should a fetus be allowed to declare its independence at any time after, say, the 51st trimester/16th birthday? And, whose decision would take precedence during that period- the mother’s decision to abort, or the fetus’ decision to declare independence?
Send the telegram: “Can open. Worms everywhere…”
Illinois growth (favored by The Party) industries:
Video gambling,
Sports betting,
Dope,
Abortion tourism,
Suicide tourism, and when JB is reelected,
Prostitution.
Illinois rejected (unfavored by The Party) industries:
Corporate HQ’s,
Banking,
Financial Services,
Public Accounting.
Sad but very true Mr. Eitel.
Great and very timely article Dr. Franklin. Has anyone thought to inquire as to what happens to the euthanized persons organs once they’re pronounced? Is this legalized organ harvesting? Just wondering….?
Dr Franklin thank you. It is encouraging to hear from a member of the medical profession speak out in opposition to assisted euthanasia.
Tell us how how agreeing to perform such an act squares up to the taking of the Hippocratic oath ?
Dr Franklin thank you. It is encouraging to hear from a member of the medical profession speak out in opposition to assisted euthanasia.
Tell us how how agreeing to perform such an act squares up to the taking of the Hippocratic oath ?
I guess our society has arrived at a place where morality is no longer in vogue.
Nice work Doc. Thanks.