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Assisted suicide insurance payouts raise the specter of coercion

Assisted suicide insurance payouts raise the specter of coercion

“Unexpected benefits” from insurance could prompt relatives to pressure older people to opt for assisted suicide, campaigners have warned.

Professor Bill Noble, former president of the Association of Palliative Medicine, fears that if end-of-life safeguards are removed, the behavior of unscrupulous relatives could cause some patients to “die prematurely”.

Dr. Gordon Macdonald of Care Not Killing expressed similar concerns, arguing that the risk of coercion for monetary purposes from insurance payouts highlights the “inherent danger of legalizing assisted suicide.”

Political decisions

Zurich Insurance, although it does not have an assisted suicide policy, says it will consider any life insurance claim “compassionately.”

The spokesman added: “In practice, we would expect that a large proportion of people considering assisted dying would likely have reached the terminal illness benefit stage and be claiming benefits under this benefit.”

Royal London stated: “If a person who dies as a result of an assisted death is likely to have died naturally during the term of the plan, Royal London will likely cover such claims.”

Coercion

Dr. Macdonald noted: “If insurance companies pay out in circumstances like this, there will be nothing to stop greedy people from seeking financial windfall by pressuring vulnerable people into assisted suicide or euthanasia.”

Professor Noble said: “My concerns arise from my experience of several families asking, manipulating or misrepresenting my patients’ wishes for them to die or be killed as a result of medical intervention.”

He explained: “If a policy does not provide coverage for a terminal illness and the coverage is about to expire, this may be a motive both for coercion and for the patient to choose assisted dying.”

Public reservations

A new survey has found that more than half of adults who support assisted suicide say they would probably change their mind if someone were forced to kill.

Of 2,063 adults in England and Wales surveyed by Focaldata, 63 percent said they wanted Parliament to legalize assisted suicide in the next five years. However, 55 percent of them said they might withdraw their support if “someone is forced to undergo assisted death.”

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