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The Insurance Times

Proximate Cause
The proximate cause can be defined as:

"The active efficient cause that sets in motion a train of events which bring about a result,
without the intervention of any force started and working actively from new and
independent source".

You might think it is a simple matter to determine what insuring against the perils of
sickness actually means. The question we need to ask is 'where does the operation of
these perils start and when does their effect end?' All contracts are subject to some
conditions. Sometimes these will be specifically included in the contract and sometimes
these will be implied.

Often in insurance contracts, they will state that certain causes of loss are excluded or
that certain results of a peril which is otherwise insured are excluded. There are a number
of reasons why this may be so. The extra cover might warrant an additional charge or
the peril may be one which the insurers regard as a fundamental risk and therefore not
acceptable such as the risk of war.

The proximate cause is not necessarily the first cause or the last cause: it is the dominant
cause. We might describe it as the efficient or operative cause. If there are several
causes operating, the proximate one will be the dominant one or the most forceful one
operating to bring the result.

In most cases there is no problem. For example a person suffers from a car accident

308 Guide for Health Insurance