"Do More Harm": The Trends at the End of Life

A friend of ours found out their dog had severe osteoarthritis of the hip. The vet suggested that he could either give the dog a hip replacement (at a cost of approximately $5,000) or euthanise the animal for a much lower cost. Our friend really loved his dog, so he opted for the surgery.

The dog actually recovered pretty well initially. It appeared the pain was manageable, and the dog was starting to move around more easily. A week later, however, the dog was acting listless and appeared to be breathing rapidly.

Our friend took the dog to the vet, and the dog was diagnosed with pneumonia requiring treatment with IV antibiotics and another inpatient kennel stay.

The cost of this stay, including x-rays, etc. was about $800.

The dog went home, and had diarrhea everywhere. It quickly became dehydrated and died.

Was suffering, multiple hospitalizations, and ultimately death...with a lot of expense for the owner...ultimately worth it?

Our friend was paying for the bills out-of-pocket, of course. What about if someone else were paying for it?

It has been said that the majority of an individual's health care costs are spent in the last six months of life. It has also been said that this doesn't correlate with a better quality of life during this time.

If this is all true, why don't we have the guts to talk about it?