The story was confirmed by April Margera, the mother of Jackass co-star Bam Margera, who shared a close relationship with Dunn. A second person, whose identity is unknown, also died in the accident.

How Will This Impact His Family?

The premature death of Ryan Dunn reminds us of the necessity of life insurance, especially for middle-class Americans.

For the average American family, the death of a breadwinner can be financially devastating. Not only is the primary income lost, but access to health insurance and other necessities could disappear, too. The mortgage, the car payment, household bills, credit card payments, groceries—the day-to-day expenses are endless.

It’s a sad fact that millions of American adults do not carry any form of life insurance, and for a variety of reasons—cost, a misconception that life insurance is too complicated, unwillingness to consider one’s own mortality—some consumers are hesitant to purchase coverage.

Ryan Dunn and other film stars may have the financial means to support their loved ones even without life insurance, but most Americans aren’t so fortunate. That’s why purchasing life insurance is so important.
photo credit: Kevin Hutchinson

Euthanasia’s Implications for Life Insurance

During all his years as a doctor Howard Martin made no secret of his belief in euthanasia – a belief which was tested to the utmost in 1988, when he helped his son Paul , who was terminally ill with cancer, die. Euthanasia, however, is illegal in the UK and Dr Martin, who is now 75 years old, said that in making his recent confession he was doing so with the full knowledge that he may have to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Life insurance companies will not pay out if suicide is found to be the cause of death, even if the person is terminally ill. Assisted suicide in these types of cases can be difficult to prove however if the person’s life was hanging in the balance anyway due to their illness. If suicide is suspected, then life insurers will insist on an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

Dr Martin Acted Autonomously in Administering Fatal Drugs

The police believe that Dr Martin may have been involved in the deaths of up to 30 patients, and he has stated that he acted in accordance with their wishes, in terms of carrying out assisted suicides. However there were apparently two exceptions to this where the drugs administered by Dr Martin – those which killed the patients -were administered without their having given their consent, effectively making Dr Martin’s involvement in their deaths murder.

Many people back the right of the terminally ill to choose when to die, including some of the relatives of those assisted by Dr Martin, who called him an ‘angel of mercy.’ Other relatives, however, said they felt betrayed by him.

This recent case illustrates how the debate over assisted suicide continues with opinions divided on the issue. The government in the UK has tried to bring in a bill to legalize euthanasia three times and three times it has been defeated. Very few places in the world have a form of legal euthanasia, and they include: The Netherlands, Belgium and the American states of Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Texas. Life Insurers will have policies which reflect the legality of these practices in these areas.

photo credit: Sarah G…

Alan Duvall, 61, died at his home in Columbus back in 2007 and the cause of death was initially determined to be alcohol poisoning. Tami Duvall confirmed these findings, stating that she believed he had ‘drunk himself to death.’ But Mr. Duvall’s blood also had a high level of morphine in it at the time of death – around 82 times the recommended therapeutic level.

Increasing Suspicion from Life Insurance Company and Victim’s Family

The presence of drugs in his system made Mr. Duvall’s family suspicious: Duval’s stepbrother stated that Alan Duvall enjoyed his drink but strictly abhorred the use of drugs – he told the Republic newspaper that “if someone walked in his house and had drugs, he would throw them out.”

Working at a local nursing home, Tami Duvall would have easy access to certain drugs such as morphine, which killed her husband. Prosecutors affirm that the cause of death was drugs which were placed in Alan. Duvall’s food by Tami Duvall on the night he died.

Life Insurance Policy Worth $100,000 Believed to be the Motive

The prosecution reported that just a month prior to his death Tami Duvall persuaded her husband to take out a life insurance policy of $100,000 naming her as the beneficiary, even though she had recently told friends that she intended to divorce her husband.

Duvall Anxious to have Life Insurance Payout Released

Tami Duvall began acting suspiciously after her husband’s death; she became anxious to get the body cremated as quickly as possible and asked investigators several times how much longer they were going to take since she needed to collect on a life insurance policy.

Tami Duvall later changed her statement to police about what happened the night of her husband’s death. She stated that Alan Duvall had taken the morphine himself in order to commit suicide.

Tami Duvall has been charged with murder, insurance fraud and obstruction of justice. A plea of ‘not guilty’ has been entered for her at a preliminary hearing and the trial date is set for January 2011.

Source: Chicago Tribune August 2010

We’ve all heard the main and obvious reasons to quit smoking. Heart disease and cancer are two of the biggest killers of people in our time and two of the most preventable as well. World Health Organization studies indicate that if left unchecked, smoking could easily wipe out more than a billion people in this century. If the Titanic sank with all hands every 24 minutes for the next 100 years, that would be close to the number of deaths from smoking.

Three quarters of smokers today are trying to kick the habit which is up 32 percent from twenty years ago. The reasons for quitting have only gotten more prevalent as health issues have connected cigarette smoking to everything from diabetes to blindness and everything in between. It’s not just about heart disease, stroke and cancer anymore. Now, the health issues associated with smoking can even harm your children and those around you. Here are a few other quality of life issues associated with smoking that you may not know about.

Smoking and Life Insurance Premiums

Smoking not only affects your health and quality of life, but it also affects your finances.  Take the example of a 56-year-old smoker shopping for a 15-year term life insurance policy. The cheapest policy on the market for a preferred smoker’s term life policy is $3555 annually from Transamerica and Western Reserve. In fact, preferred smoker’s life insurance rates could run as high as $4865 annually.

So how much would a similar policy for a non-smoker cost? $1160. That’s right – a smoker’s policy is as much as five times the average non-smoker’s policy. Try smoking that.

Smoking and the Mind

Smoking cigarettes may actually work to cloud the mind, in middle aged subjects. Nicotine has been associated, in recent studies, with memory problems and a decrease in reasoning abilities. This risk is apparently lessened in those subjects who’ve quit smoking long ago. This is important because other studies have shown that people who develop mild cognitive problems in midlife are more prone to developing conditions of dementia in their later years.

Smoking and Your Vision

Several studies have also found a definite link between smoking and degenerative eye disease. Age-related macular degeneration, which can cause permanently-blurred vision or blindness, is one of the chief eye conditions caused by smoking cigarettes. A 2005 study presented in the journal Eye reported that active smokers are three times more likely to develop eye disease compared to those who have never smoked.
photo credit: P/UL

It is hard to believe that it has been over a year since the tragic loss of one of the scariest “Jokers” in “Batman” history. One of the first Jokers, Jack Nicholson, warned Heath Ledger about the emotional drain the part of the “Joker” can put on an actor. It wasn’t until audiences flocked to the box office to see the new Batman movie that they realized just how serious Ledger took on the role.

“His voice sent shivers through my bones,” an audience member was quoted as saying after seeing the Batman thriller. There are very few actors that can transform a role like Ledger did in The Dark Knight and his films live on in the hearts of audiences around the world. He took on a powerful role as a gay cowboy in “Brokeback Mountain” in which he kissed Jake Gyllehnaal and won an Oscar for his performance.

Ledger’s Suicide and Life Insurance Woes

During the filming of The Dark Knight , Ledger was found dead and at the time his life insurance company, ReliaStar wanted to perform an investigation as to whether it was a suicide. Friends, family, and fans of Ledger felt that it was preposterous for ReliaStar to accuse Ledger of lying on his insurance application. The $10 million life insurance policy whose only beneficiary is Ledger’s three-year-old daughter reached a confidential settlement in court, where both parties were pleased according to a spokesperson for Ledger’s attorney.

See our original coverage of the Heath Ledger Life Insurance controversy here.

photo credit: John Griffiths

The headline “suicide” probably jumped out at you like a red flag in front of a mad bull. Suicide is nothing to take lightly, and it certainly isn’t in this case here. Chantix, an anti-smoking drug created by the pharmaceutical mega-giant Pfizer, has been linked to cases of depression, psychiatric problems and even suicide. Maybe you have never heard of the drug, but you probably know someone in your life who is a smoker. If they have ever thought of quitting, pass this vital information along to them.

What is Chantix?

According to drugs.com, Chantix “is used as a smoking cessation medicine or treatment. It is used together with behavior modification and counseling support to help you stop smoking cigarettes. Chantix works in the brain to block the pleasurable effects of smoking. This helps to decrease your desire to keep smoking.” That right there might be a warning sign for some: “works in the brain.” Taking a drug like this is no lighthearted undertaking; it literally affects the way your mind thinks and feels about smoking, and obviously other things in your life as well, and as you will see below, has had disastrous side effects.

In the last reported quarter of 2007, Chantix accounted for 988 serious injuries in the US reported to the FDA, more than any other individual drug in this time period. By comparison, the FDA received a median of five reports of serious injury for 769 different drugs. Following that fatal quarter, the total of 20,745 cases reported from January to March was 38 percent higher than the average for the previous four calendar quarters, and the highest for any quarter, a report by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices stated. Fatalities accounted for 23 percent of the cases.

The total number of deaths, 4,824, was an increase of nearly 3 percent from the last calendar quarter of 2007. According the a Public Health Advisory issued last year by the FDA, from May 2006 through December 2007, they received 227 reports of suicidal acts, thoughts or behaviors, 397 cases of possible psychosis and 525 reports of hostility or aggression. These included 28 cases of suicide and 41 mentions of homicidal ideation, 60 cases of paranoia and 55 cases of hallucination.

Your Life and Life Insurance Are in Your Hands

The terrifying thing about studies and drugs like Chantix is that the power of your rationale and subsequently, life, are placed in someone else’s hands. In the cases of drugs that work miracles to help with cancer and diabetes, this might be a good thing, because you are being healed. With Chantix, the drug seems to be doing harm to innocent people only seeking to kick an addiction, and despite positive results in some patients, the possibly fatal side effects cannot be ignored. These statistics should help prompt you to think about the value of your own life, whether you are seeking to quit an addiction to smoking or not. Having a life insurance policy is one of the smartest steps you can take to protect yourself and your family.

You never know what life is going to throw at you, how certain medications may affect your body, or even how poorly people are going to be driving on the roads any given morning. If you were to suddenly and unexpectedly pass away and you were without a life insurance policy, your loved ones would be left with nothing. Life insurance policies are designed to protect the family you leave behind in the case of an unexpected death. Funds from a life insurance policy can be used to help cover any funeral or memorial costs or to simply help with everyday things like mortgage payments, a child’s tuition, groceries.

Life insurance policies can normally be as flexible as you need them to be: you can decide your premium (the amount you pay per month) your beneficiaries (who the money would go to if you died) and even determining a cash value that you could potentially draw out of if there was an emergency while you are still alive. There are various types of life insurance plans to consider: Temporary insurance, whole life coverage, universal life coverage, limited pay and accidental death. This only a small smattering of what is available to you; life insurance specifically for smokers is available, and this http://www.my-life-insured.com has a number of special topics designed to help you learn more about what policy might work best for you.

photo credit: aprilzosia

photo credit: Daquella manera

Outbreaks of resurging or new infectious diseases – many from foreign countries – kill more than 170,000 people in America each year. That’s a pretty scary statistic. Newly discovered global pandemics or even bio-terrorist attacks, are a real threat to the security of the nation. How would you be prepared for such a medical catastrophe should it happen? What would you do to protect your family in the case of a bio-terrorist attack? These are questions that our parents and grandparents didn’t have to deal with. It’s only in the past decade or so that these outbreaks have become a viable threat to our life.

Even the Plague Can Happen Here

Something as medieval as the plague can happen again. There have been recent outbreaks of pneumonic plague even in the United States. While the cases were diagnosed and quickly treated, there’s no way of predicting what would happen if it occurred in another country where the medical treatments couldn’t handle the problem quickly enough. The disease would spread at a phenomenal rate and eventually end up on our shore. Pneumonic plague is usually fatal in 65% of cases – even with proper medical treatment. Epidemics such as influenza, HIV, West Nile virus and SARS have become real medical threats in the past few years, with varying success of treating and slowing the spread of the diseases.

Recent studies suggest that as many as 60% of epidemics start when microbes pass from animals to humans. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease reports that the 1918-1919 influenza outbreak killed nearly 100 million people globally. In relation, the Black Plague of medieval times killed a mere 25 million people. The AIDS epidemic continues to spread, especially in developing countries where medical aid is almost non-existent. The SARS epidemic spread so quickly, that it infected 8,275 people and killed 775 – in just six weeks. The next emerging disease or epidemic will be the one that we least expect and are least capable of dealing with.

How will an Epidemic Affect Insurance

The Insurance Information Institute (III) found in their report, Pandemic: Can the Life Insurance Industry Survive the Avian Flu, that a moderate flu epidemic, similar to the flu outbreak of the late-60s would cost U.S. life insurers an estimated $15 billion – similarly, a severe epidemic, similar to the 1918 influenza outbreak could cost up to $155 billion.

Such an occurrence would have a severe effect on the industry, and many insurers would have asset depreciation to the point that they’d need to declare bankruptcy.

How to Choose a Life Insurer that Survives a Flu Pandemic

As you seek a life insurance policy in your class, you want to be aware of the financial strength of your insurer. The III report concludes that large life insurers, with solid balance sheets and a high AAA, Fitch, S&P, or A.M. Best rating could hold up to the rigors of an infectious disease outbreak. However, smaller companies will find themselves strapped, and may even end up unable to pay out policy benefits.

You also want to be sure that your life insurance covers you for infectious diseases, or death by illness. Most Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&D or ADD) policies will not provide benefits for infectious diseases. Still, by making sure that you’re protected with life insurance, you can ensure that your family is protected should anything happen to you in the way of a pandemic outbreak.