PROTECTING PATIENTS FROM
GREEDY RELATIVES
FINANCIAL MOTIVES FOR CHOOSING AN EARLIER DEATH
The right-to-die
might sometimes become the duty-to-die
when the dying patient has a significant estate
that will pass to the named heirs at death.
Usually these heirs are family members.
And usually they know in advance what they will receive
in terms of wills, trusts, life-insurance,
and/or the normal operation of inheritance law.
In some cases, the medical care of the patient
is being paid for (at least in part) from the assets of the patient,
the remainder of which will pass to the relatives upon death.
Putting this another way, the potential estate
is being used for the terminal care for the patient.
The relatives worry that these assets will be wasted in useless
terminal care.
They have in mind better uses for the cash, farm, business, stocks,
& bonds.
If the patient is married, the financial cost to the other spouse
is even more obvious and direct:
Sometimes medical bills are being paid for from their joint assets.
Pure greed is seldom the sole motive for wanting an
earlier death.
But every person who stands to benefit financially from the death of
another
has thought at least briefly about that fact.
When the beneficiary is a family member,
that heir might have dismissed the monetary motive as soon as it
appeared.
But the amount to be inherited did appear in the thought of the
relative,
even if the primary feeling of the relatives is love and compassion
for the person who is dying.
Few heirs are completely unaware
of what they stand to gain by the death of the relative.
Only rarely does a 'rich uncle' leave some money
that the heir did not know was coming.
Thus financial gain is at least one part of the
mixture of motives
that happen in the process of deciding the best time for the patient to
die.
PROTECTING
AGAINST GREEDY RELATIVES
Careful safeguards can help to prevent premature
deaths motivated by money.
The safeguards that would counter-balance the financial incentives
call for the considered judgment of neutral persons who will not
benefit
financially.
Here are nine safeguards that will be most effective
against greed,
listed in order of effectiveness, beginning with the most powerful:
REPORT TO THE
PROSECUTOR BEFORE THE DEATH TAKES PLACE
CIVIL AND
CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR CAUSING PREMATURE DEATH
A
MEMBER OF THE CLERGY APPROVES OR QUESTIONS THE CHOICE FOR DEATH
REQUESTS FOR
DEATH FROM THE PATIENT
INFORMED
CONSENT FROM THE PATIENT
UNBEARABLE
SUFFERING
PHYSICIAN'S
STATEMENT OF CONDITION AND PROGNOSIS
ETHICS
COMMITTEE REVIEWS THE LIFE-ENDING DECISION
STATEMENTS FROM
ADVOCATES FOR
DISADVANTAGED GROUPS
IF INVITED BY
THE PATIENT AND/OR THE PROXIES