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From: donn@neurad.UUCP (Donn S. Fishbein)
Newsgroups: net.legal
Subject: Re: life insurance and disconnecting life-support devices
Message-ID: <206@neurad.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 26-May-85 21:54:01 EDT
Article-I.D.: neurad.206
Posted: Sun May 26 21:54:01 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 30-May-85 20:33:02 EDT
References: <616@wanginst.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: Natl Inst Health, Bethesda, MD
Lines: 27

> 	 ...  a man has been in a coma for two years, medical diagnosis
> 	 is no hope for recovery (brain dead)... all agree that he wouldn't have
> 	 wanted to remain connected to life-support...
> 	 hospital is refusing to disconnect.  Obviously (this is America),
>	 its in the courts now.
> 
> 	 My question is this:  suppose that the courts rule that he can be
> 	 disconnected.  If he has life insurance, will the company pay up?
> 	 ...life insurance policies exclude pay-off for 'suicide'.

Brain death has more or less been explicitly accepted as indicating death
of the person in a series of U.S. court cases.  18 states have enacted
statutes accepting the diagnosis of brain death as death of a person.
Regardless of the legal questions, a person who is brain dead will develop
failure of the cardiovascular system and cessation of the heartbeat within
several days, or rarely, within several weeks (note that brain death implies
cessation of spontaneous respiration).  Accepting brain death as legal
evidence of death avoids prolonging a hopeless struggle for the patient,
his/her family, and the medical staff, and allows organ transplantation
while organs are still viable,
  [REF: Plum and Posner, The Diagnosis of Stupor and Coma, 3 ed., pp313-323]

The original question would be more challenging if the diagnosis
left no hope for recovery for some reason other than brain death.
-- 
Donn S. Fishbein, MD  (N3DNT)   (301)496-6801
..!{harpo,allegra,decvax,ihnp4}!seismo!neurad!donn