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Life insurance, living benefits, and physician‐assisted death
Author(s) -
Parker Frederick R.,
Rubin Harvey W.,
Winslade William J.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
behavioral sciences and the law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.649
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1099-0798
pISSN - 0735-3936
DOI - 10.1002/bsl.614
Subject(s) - poison control , life insurance , suicide prevention , injury prevention , human factors and ergonomics , occupational safety and health , medical emergency , medicine , gerontology , actuarial science , business , pathology
One of the most significant concerns about the legalization of physician‐assisted death in the United States relates to the possibility that a chronically or terminally ill person would choose to end her or his life for financial reasons. Because we believe that the life insurance industry is uniquely poised to help minimize any such incentive, we submit that it has a moral obligation to do so. In particular, we propose that the industry encourage greater flexibility in the payout of policy benefits in the event an insured should be diagnosed with a terminal illness or suffer from intractable pain. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.