Medically assisted death is a situation where a qualified/licensed doctor or physician provides a patient with the information and means to end their life. Typically, there is reason to do so such a thing: relieving the suffering of terminally ill individuals or, as the Assisted Dying Bill puts it,” ending a grievous and irremediable condition” where the death is “reasonably foreseeable.”
There are many other terms for medically assisted death, and they all basically mean the same thing:
Yes. There is a difference between euthanasia and medically assisted death. Euthanasia assumes that a doctor/physician is actively involved in providing dying assistance, e.g. via a lethal injection. Physician-assisted death or physician-assisted suicide means that a doctor provides the means for the suicide but does not execute it personally.
This difference, though, is not relevant for life insurance providers. As long as the health and legal conditions for the medically assisted death are fulfilled, life insurers treat euthanasia and medically assisted death in the same way.
Currently, there are only few countries that legally allow medical assistance in dying and/or euthanasia. Here is a brief overview:
| Country | Details | |
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Canada | All provinces in Canada allow euthanasia and all but Quebec allow medical assistance in dying. |
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United States | Not all states in the U.S. treat doctor-assisted death in the same way. It is legal in California, Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Vermont and Washington State. |
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Switzerland | It is the only country providing medical assistance in dying not only to its own citizens, but also to foreigners. |
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The Netherlands | Individuals are not legally required to be terminally ill to request euthanasia or medical assistance in dying. Also, children age 12 years or older can request euthanasia, given they have a parental consent. |
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Belgium | Euthanasia can be performed both to terminally ill and not terminally ill people, but there is a waiting period of one month in the second case. |
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Columbia | Unlike most other countries where medically assisted death is legal, a special panel must approve it. |
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Luxembourg | Euthanasia has been legalized here since 2009. |
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It depends on how long a policy has been in place. In general, if a policy has been in place for less than two years, insurers WILL NOT pay for a death by suicide, and will only return paid premiums. If a policy has been in place for at least two years, insurers will typically treat suicide cases like any other death and WILL pay the death claim. It is important to know that insurers investigate most claims and will try to determine if misrepresentations were made when getting the policy. For example, if a policyholder had a history of depression or mental instability and did not reported it, the insurer may decide not to pay the claim. |
Expert tip from Mathieu Leblanc “The criteria that someone must meet in order to be eligible for medically assisted death is complex. It includes having a grievous and irremediable medical condition which is in an advanced state of decline that cannot be reversed (amongst a host of other criteria). That being said it falls outside the suicide clause included in a life insurance contract. Evidently, should a claim arise in the first two year of the policy after a client has gone through with a medically assisted death it would be reviewed to ensure there was no material misrepresentation at time of application. If such a death occurred after the contestability period has run the insurer would need to prove that there was fraudulent misrepresentation when the application was underwritten. Essentially, as long as all symptoms and investigations occurred after the policy was in force and there was otherwise no material or fraudulent misrepresentation an insurer would pay out a claim as the client would otherwise have passed away in the near term due to the medical condition.” |
It depends on how long a policy has been in place. In general, if a policy has been in place for less than two years, insurers WILL NOT pay for a death by suicide, and will only return paid premiums.
If a policy has been in place for at least two years, insurers will typically treat suicide cases like any other death and WILL pay the death claim.
It is important to know that insurers investigate most claims and will try to determine if misrepresentations were made when getting the policy. For example, if a policyholder had a history of depression or mental instability and did not reported it, the insurer may decide not to pay the claim.
“The criteria that someone must meet in order to be eligible for medically assisted death is complex. It includes having a grievous and irremediable medical condition which is in an advanced state of decline that cannot be reversed (amongst a host of other criteria). That being said it falls outside the suicide clause included in a life insurance contract. Evidently, should a claim arise in the first two year of the policy after a client has gone through with a medically assisted death it would be reviewed to ensure there was no material misrepresentation at time of application. If such a death occurred after the contestability period has run the insurer would need to prove that there was fraudulent misrepresentation when the application was underwritten. Essentially, as long as all symptoms and investigations occurred after the policy was in force and there was otherwise no material or fraudulent misrepresentation an insurer would pay out a claim as the client would otherwise have passed away in the near term due to the medical condition.”
It is interesting to note that nearly all life insurers treat physician-assisted death/euthanasia in a similar way. If there is a clear case of MAID (medical assistance in dying) where both health preconditions (terminal disease/palliative condition) AND legal requirements are met, life insurance companies will pay claims in full – it does not matter how long the policy was in place.
It is different for a suicide death – if it happens in the first two years while the policy is in place, insurance companies do not pay the claim and only return paid premiums. After two years, suicide is treated as a usual death and insurers will pay.
| Scenario 1 | Scenario 2 | Scenario 3 | Scenario 4 | |
| How does the situation look like? | Medically Assisted Death/Euthanasia | Medically Assisted Death/Euthanasia | SUICIDE | SUICIDE |
| How long was policy in place? | Policy in place for LESS than 2 years | Policy in place for MORE than 2 years | Policy in place for LESS than 2 years | Policy in place for MORE than 2 years |
| What do insurers do? | Paid in full, treated as a usual death case | Paid in full, treated as a usual death case | No claim is paid, only paid premiums will be returned | Paid in full but insurer will thoroughly investigate the case to make sure there were no special pre-conditions like mental instability |
It is important to mention that all claims are typically subjected to thorough investigation and, if an insurer suspects misrepresentation, can be voided. A typical example could be a previously known mental disorder or pre-condition that has not been disclosed to an insurer. A suicide claim, even after the policy has been in place for two years in this case, will not be paid.
That’s in line with CLHIA (Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association) guidelines on Medical Assistance in Dying: “The industry’s position is that member companies would not treat deaths resulting from MAID as a “suicide” for policy purposes provided the legislated process has been followed. Other defences (such as misrepresentation or other exclusions) would remain open. As it will be important to be aware of the underlying cause of death in the circumstances, we continue to recommend to provincial governments that they implement requirements that the underlying cause of death be recorded on death certificates issued in the circumstances of a MAID death…”
| CLHIA guidelines on Medical Assistance in Dying as PDF |  |
Here are how various insurers see medical assistance in dying – these are verbatim responses of insurance companies.
Life Insurance Company #1 and Medically Assisted Death
Life Insurance Company #2 and Medically Assisted Death
If no material misrepresentation was found and the loss did not meet the MAID definition, the suicide benefit would be paid.
If no material misrepresentation is found and the death meets the definition of medical assistance in dying, at this time and based on current legislation, the death would not be considered a suicide, and thus the claim would be paid accordingly.
This response is not meant to be a waiver of any of our company’s rights to investigate future claims.”
Life Insurance Company #3 and Medically Assisted Death
While we are anticipating changes to provincial insurance legislation to address medically assisted death in relation to suicide provisions in a life insurance contract, it is not known when this will occur or how the changes will be worded.
We would adjudicate the claim to ensure there was no non-disclosure or misrepresentation as we normally would.
This is a TENTATIVE assessment only and is subject to full underwriting review and decision. In our company, any and all underwriting opinions on inquiries will be subject to review of a fully completed application within 30 days of this message, as well as routine age and amount requirements requested by the Underwriting Department to finalize.”
Life Insurance Company #4 and Medically Assisted Death
Providing all of the criteria outlined in the Criminal Code (noted above) are met, at claim time
Life Insurance Company #6 and Medically Assisted Death
“Where an insured person dies as a result of a medically assisted death in accordance with the rules and processes set out by the appropriate government in relevant legislation, we will not consider the medically assisted death to be a “suicide” for the purposes of life insurance.
We will also need to know the medical cause that led up to the MAID.
Please note, that our company will still adjudicate any claim in accordance with other contract provisions that may be applicable. For example,
Life Insurance Company #7 and Medically Assisted Death
Not being able to sign the consent: If the insured is unable to sign the consent, then the person signing on their behalf or acting as an independent witness cannot be a beneficiary to the policy or in their will. In other words, they cannot benefit financially from the death in any way.
Misrepresentation: Any insurance company will very likely investigate any claims for misrepresentations to find out if a policyholder had known health preconditions but did not report them to the insurance company when buying the policy. This can void the policy.
Should you have any further questions, our licensed life insurance brokers are happy to advise you and your family in these important matters.
“We do not treat doctor-assisted death the same way as suicide, therefore we do not consider the 2-year period.
Typically, in these doctor-assisted death situations, it’s to relieve the suffering of terminally ill individuals. Doctors are still required to respect certain criteria and laws for these situations. The laws are really strict in where people would be eligible to receive doctor assisted deaths.
We do adhere to the CLHIA (Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association) guidelines on Medical Assistance in Dying: The CLHIA also affirmed its position that life insurance claims in cases of physician assisted dying should not be denied as long as the processes set out in the law are followed. We also indicated that the industry will work towards complying with any changes in the legislation when the time comes.
In saying this, at time of claim, like all of our claims, there may be additional information that would be required, example a completed Physician Statement or supporting medical documents. These are done on a case by case basis.”