Beloved Chicago Radio Host Judy Markey, 82, Chooses to End Life with Medical Aid in Dying

The longtime radio personality traveled to Switzerland to end her own life

NEED TO KNOW

  • Judy Markey, a longtime WGN Radio host, chose medical aid in dying after suffering from a degenerative neurological disorder
  • She traveled to Switzerland, where medical aid in dying has been legal since 1942, to end her life
  • Markey’s death came one day before Illinois legalized medical aid in dying, a cause she strongly supported

A beloved Chicago radio host traveled to Switzerland to end her own life with medical aid in dying.

On Friday, Sept. 11, Judy Markey — an 82-year-old longtime WGN Radio host — died after choosing medical aid in dying (MAID), her co-host Kathy O’Malley announced on air. Markey wanted to die “on her own terms” after suffering from a degenerative neurological disorder.

“After some years with her body in decline, she made the choice she always supported – going out on her terms with a voluntary assisted death in Switzerland,” her obituary read. “This choice was made having lived a full and rich lifetime in which she got ‘more from it than she ever imagined.’”…

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