Lake County Gazette

A bill that would require nursing homes and other health care facilities to allow residents or patients to have at least one visitor in the event of public health emergencies in Illinois passed the House and Senate on April 6.

“Unfortunate circumstances can lead to positive change by those willing to fight for reform,” Sen. Dan McConchie (R-Lake Zurich) recently posted on Facebook. “A few months ago Kellie Sheridan, one of my constituents, reached out to my office about her grandfather, Robert McGinnis, who had passed away earlier this year. He died alone in the hospital with COVID-19.”

McConchie and others worked on the bill that would allow one visitor to visit dying family members in emergency situations. 

Senate Bill 1405 also stipulates that a member of the clergy would not count as the one visitor. Visitors could be subject to health screenings prior to entering the health care facility.

“Barred from being with (McGinnis), the family experienced the emotional and mental toll this isolation had on their grandfather and were determined to ensure no one else would die alone,” McConchie said.

McConchie was the primary sponsor of the legislation. SB1405 would amend the Medical Patient Rights Act, removing language that gave total power to health care facilities to regulate and restrict hours of a visitation or the number of visitors per patient.

Fox 4 News reported earlier this year on a Libertyville family whose grandfather passed away alone in a hospital. His family was not allowed to visit him because of the hospital's visitor policy.

“He’s everything to our family and he should have been surrounded by people he loved,” one of his grandchildren told Fox 4.

The pandemic is two years old — a time filled with thousands sheltered at home with minimal physical contact. Now, many want to find normality in the COVID-19 world.

Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-St. Charles) spoke to the Illinois House in support of the bill earlier this month, describing the devastation his wife experienced because she wasn't able to be with her mother for more than three months prior to her mother passing away, Kane County Reporter reported.

“If you had any idea — any idea — what that does to an individual — as I’ve watched my wife go through this for the past two years since her mother passed away — you would vote for this bill,” Ugaste said. “Because that is inhumane, in and of itself. It’s not about governors' powers, it’s not about executive authority.”

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has shown a recent increase in COVID-19 cases.