Authors note that the legal framework courts use for analyzing patients' decisions to refuse treatment does not accommodate the ethical issues arising when such decisions are made by patients in correctional settings. In lieu of the traditional model, they propose a more cautious approach when inmates refuse life-sustaining medical treatment.
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.
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