‘Die before their time’: Terminally ill face new threat from own relatives seeking insurance payout after ‘assisted’ death

There’s a new threat developing to those individuals who are terminally ill, and live in jurisdictions where assisted suicide is legal: Coercion from family members who are looking for an insurance payout after the death.

A report in the Telegraph explains, “It is understood that the insurance industry will treat an assisted death in a similar manner to a death from any other illness, meaning that policies would typically be expected to pay out.”

So, pro-life activists and doctors have begun warning that “families might coerce elderly relatives to opt for an assisted death in order to secure swift life insurance payments.”

The Christian Institute explained that Bill Noble, former chief of the Association for Palliative Medicine, expressed concern “if end-of-life protections were removed, the behavior of unscrupulous relatives could see some patients ‘die before their time.'”

And Gordon Macdonald, of Care Not Killing, noted the risk of coercion for monetary gain through insurance payouts typified the ‘inherent dangers of legalizing assisted suicide.”

An official for Zurich Insurance explained, “In practice we would expect the large proportion of those considering assisted dying would be likely to have arrived at the terminal illness benefit stage and have claimed under that benefit.”

And officials with Royal London explained, “If the individual who has passed away following an assisted death would likely have died naturally during the term of their plan, Royal London would likely pay such claims.”

Macdonald pointed out that means, “there will be nothing to stop those with greedy motives from seeking a financial windfall by putting pressure on those who are vulnerable to opt for assisted suicide or euthanasia.”

According to the Telegraph, there is particular concern if someone experiences certain circumstances just as a policy is nearing expiration.

The Telegraph pointed out, “Polling by Action on Elder Abuse has previously found that almost 10% of those aged 65 and over in the UK report experiencing some form of elder abuse.”