Does MAID Affect Life Insurance?

MAID is a popular acronym for medical assistance in dying. Medically assisted suicide, or medically assisted death, became legal in Canada in February 2015. As a legal right granted to Canadians, insurers have had to make provisions for this in their life insurance policies. Although there is no “death with dignity life insurance” specifically, insurers do honour death benefits in situations where the policy holder has opted for end of life insurance or MAID.

Refusing one’s autonomy to end their own life is seen as contradictory to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Further to this, people in dire medical situations should not be forced to seek illegal means to end their own suffering or put their family through a traumatic and scary event to achieve it. As such, law makers passed bill C-14, which allows physicians and nurse practitioners to provide the medical means required to end one’s own life, or to assist in the administration of the means required. 

Doctors, or any other medical professional involved in a MAID event, cannot be prosecuted so long as the patient passed all the eligibility criteria to receive MAID. These eligibility requirements are strict, include a 10-day waiting period between a request and having the life ending treatment administered, and two independent witnesses must sign the paperwork. Further to this, informed, uncoerced consent must be provided by the patient.

Patients must note that despite all of these legal changes, doctors are also free to choose whether or not they will support or participate in providing MAID. Your physician is under no legal obligation to assist you in dying and may very well deny your request. In lieu of their participation, physicians who do not support MAID practices are required to refer you to a medical doctor or registered nurse who is likely to support and assist your wishes.

Since MAID has become legal, insurers have taken a very logical stance on the topic, given the stringent criteria required to receive MAID in the first place. If you are unfamiliar with the criteria, here it is.

1. Be eligible for government-funded health insurance in Canada;
2. Be 18 years of age or older;
3. Have a grievous and irremediable condition, as defined by Section 241.2, para. 2 of the Criminal Code;
4. Have made a voluntary request for MAID that was not made as a result of external pressure;
5. Give informed consent to receive MAID after having been informed of the means that are available to relieve their suffering, including palliative care.

In order to have a “grievous and irremediable medical condition,” as defined by Bill C-14, a person must satisfy all the following requirements:

1. Have a serious and incurable illness, disease, or disability;
2. Be in an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability;
3. Endure physical and psychological suffering that is intolerable to them; and
4. Their natural death has become reasonably foreseeable.

As mentioned earlier, insurers have responded logically by determining that if the illness is terminal, and will result in your death, then using MAID to die or succumbing to your illness/condition is one in the same thing. Therefore, physician assisted deaths – or euthanasia – will have no impact on your end of life insurance.

Here, it is important to note that the difference between a physician assisted suicide and euthanasia depends on whether the doctor administers the lethal medication themselves, or if they only prescribe it. It is only euthanasia if the doctor administers the medication themselves, but this distinction also will not impact your life insurance.

If you have any questions about death with dignity voiding your life insurance or have questions about assisted suicide and life insurance, contact LSM Insurance  to speak to an experienced broker.