Illinois Compiled Statutes

755 ILCS 35/1 (2026)

Purpose

✓ current as of May 2026
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(755 ILCS 35/1) (from Ch. 110 1/2, par. 701)
    Sec. 1. Purpose. The legislature finds that persons have the fundamental right to control the decisions relating to the rendering of their own medical care, including the decision to have death delaying procedures withheld or withdrawn in instances of a terminal condition.
    In order that the rights of patients may be respected even after they are no longer able to participate actively in decisions about themselves, the legislature hereby declares that the laws of this State shall recognize the right of a person to make a written declaration instructing his or her physician to withhold or withdraw death delaying procedures in the event of a terminal condition.
(Source: P.A. 85-860.)

    
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 7 cases, 1996–2019 · leading case: Ficke v. Evangelical Health Sys., 674 N.E.2d 888 (Ill. App. Ct. 1996).
Ficke v. Evangelical Health Sys., 674 N.E.2d 888 (Ill. App. Ct. 1996). · cites it 4× “Under the Will Act, individuals can document their wishes concerning life-sustaining treatment before they develop a terminal condition and lack the capacity to make such a decision.”
People v. Caldwell, 692 N.E.2d 448 (Ill. App. Ct. 1998). · cites it 2× “” 755 ILCS 35/1 (West 1992). A “[t]erminal condition” is defined as “an incurable and irreversible condition which is such that death is imminent and the application of death delaying procedures serves only to prolong the dying process.”
Pilarski v. Schmidt, 699 N.E.2d 1123 (Ill. App. Ct. 1998). “(West 1996)) or has no operative living will pursuant to the Illinois Living Will Act (755 ILCS 35/1 et seq. (West 1996)). Section 25(a) of the Surrogate Act directs that, when a patient has a qualifying condition and lacks decisional capacity and no health care agent is…”
Mohiuddin v. Nw. Med. Cent. DuPage Hosp. (N.D. Ill. 2019). “§ 1395dd, and the Illinois Living Will Act (“ILWA”), 755 ILCS 35/1 et seq., Doc. 26 at pp. 10-11, ¶¶ 13-14; add several pages of allegations concerning Defendants’ employees acts and omissions in treating his mother; and allege that the employees acted “negligently and…”
Ficke v. Evangelical Health Sys. (Ill. App. Ct. 1996). · cites it 2× “Under the Will Act, individuals can document their wishes concerning life-sustaining treatment before they develop a terminal condition and lack the capacity to make such a decision.”
People v. Caldwell (Ill. App. Ct. 1998). · cites it 2× “" 755 ILCS 35/1 (West 1992). A "[t]erminal condition" is defined as "an incurable and irreversible condition which is such that death is imminent and the application of death delaying procedures serves only to prolong the dying process.”
In re Schmidt (Ill. App. Ct. 1998). “(West 1996)) or has no operative living will pursuant to the Illinois Living Will Act (755 ILCS 35/1 et seq . (West 1996)). Section 25(a) of the Surrogate Act directs that, when a patient has a qualifying condition and lacks decisional capacity and no health care agent is…”
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