Why We Treat End-of-Life Differently for Pets vs. Humans
Recurring Themes & Questions Identified:
- Autonomy and Consent: "What if the person is begging to end their suffering?" vs. "Dogs can't express their wishes." People are puzzled by the different ways consent is handled.
- Legal Frameworks & Availability: Discussions about MAID in Canada, "right to die" laws on the US West Coast, and the challenges or ease of accessing these options.
- Family vs. Patient Wishes: "The family doesn’t care and keeps them alive anyway," "Family cancels the DNR she wanted." This highlights the conflicts and power dynamics in decision-making.
- Definition of "Suffering" & "Quality of Life": Users are questioning how we define and weigh suffering and quality of life for humans versus animals.
- Fear of Abuse / "Slippery Slope": "The fear is that it's convenient to end the life of an 'useless' old person, leading to a slippery slope."
- Role of Religion/Morality: "Religion and its influence on politics is the only answer."
- Pain Management Issues: "They wouldn't give my great grandma enough pain relief... worried about addiction."
Content Idea 1: "Whose Life Is It Anyway? Navigating End-of-Life Choices, DNRs, and MAID"
- Explanation: This content would address the confusion around autonomy and consent. It would explain what Advance Directives (like DNRs, Living Wills, POLST) are, how they work, and why they're crucial for ensuring a person's wishes are respected. It would also cover the basics of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) where it's legal, including eligibility and the process. A key part would be contrasting this with the decision-making process for pets, where owners and vets make decisions based on perceived suffering and quality of life, as pets can't give explicit informed consent. It could also touch on the heartbreaking situations where family wishes override a patient's known (or presumed) desires.
- Type of Post it Addresses: "How come...", "What if...", "Someone can explain...", confusion about DNRs and MAID.
- Potential for Virality: High. End-of-life decisions are emotionally charged and affect many families. Clear, actionable information mixed with ethical considerations is highly sought after.
- Target Audience: General public, particularly adults planning for their future, adult children of aging parents, individuals with chronic or terminal illnesses, healthcare advocates.
Content Idea 2: "The 'Slippery Slope' of Compassion: Examining Fears and Safeguards in Assisted Dying"
- Explanation: This piece would tackle the common "slippery slope" argument ("The fear is that it's convenient to end the life of an 'useless' old person..."). It would explore the ethical concerns that lead to such fears, such as protecting vulnerable populations from coercion or ensuring that decisions aren't made out of convenience or financial pressure. Crucially, it would then examine the safeguards and strict criteria typically built into MAID legislation in places where it is legal (e.g., multiple medical opinions, waiting periods, psychological assessments, confirmation of enduring wish). It could compare these to the less formalized (though often ethically considered) process for animal euthanasia.
- Type of Post it Addresses: Concerns about abuse of the system, ethical dilemmas, "why is it different for humans?"
- Potential for Virality: Moderate to High. It addresses a common and often deeply felt fear, offering a balanced look at a controversial topic.
- Target Audience: General public interested in ethics and social policy, policymakers, healthcare professionals, disability advocates, those skeptical or curious about MAID.
Content Idea 3: "Beyond 'Fighting': Redefining a 'Good Death' and the Role of Palliative Care"
- Explanation: This content would focus on the cultural narrative of "fighting" illness until the very end, even when it prolongs suffering, as highlighted by comments like "84-year-old granny 'is a fighter' as she’s on life support." It would explore the concept of a "good death" from various perspectives, including patient comfort, dignity, and alignment with their values. A significant portion would explain what palliative care truly is (often misunderstood as only for the imminently dying) and how it focuses on quality of life and symptom management, and how this can sometimes be a more compassionate path than relentless curative treatment. It can also touch on how our approach to animal suffering (prioritizing relief from pain) sometimes seems more straightforward.
- Type of Post it Addresses: "Why do we keep them alive even if they're in pain?", "Animals get better treatment."
- Potential for Virality: Moderate to High. Many people have experienced or witnessed prolonged suffering at the end of life and are looking for alternative perspectives and better ways to care for loved ones.
- Target Audience: General public, caregivers, individuals with chronic illnesses, healthcare professionals (especially those outside palliative care), ethicists.
Origin Reddit Post
r/nostupidquestions
How come it's considered kind to put a dog to sleep when it's old and suffering, but with people, we usually do everything we can to keep them alive - even if they're in pain?
Posted by u/chaosotonin•05/31/2025
Top Comments
u/GroundhogDayLife
Well here in Canada we have the MAID program where if you qualify under special conditions, you CAN be put to sleep. So in some places in the world, it does happen.
u/Bkraist
In the experience I constantly hear from nurses: the family doesn’t care and keeps them alive anyway. We can justify all we want, but it’s simply extreme selfishness.
u/whereisgia
Completely agree. I think it’s very tragic that people have to even resort to such extreme and violent means in just the attempt to end their lives (hanging, gun shot, jumping off a building/
u/Independent-Arm-6369
A dog doesn't even have a self conception. I love them but let's be real, they are just in the moment and reacting instinctively. Ending it's life is obviously going to be a much simpler ma
u/terpsykhore
This is why I wasn’t sad when my grandmother died. She had literally expressed over and over she was done with life. She was 91, had had a great life but the last few years were full of suffe
u/humbugonastick
I wondered that a lot. This insistence of making suicide illegal never made sense to me.
Someone is so desperate/depressed/or whatever other reason you can think of that they rather end their
u/SignificantOffice600
My friend's father died at 96 and he asked me about suing because he thought the doctors didn't care and do enough. Now, he's going through the same thing with his 98 year old mother in law
u/AnxiousBrilliant3
Mostly because if a human is dying, often the person or their family wants any extra moments they can get with each other even if your in pain. While with a dog, it is impossible to know if t
u/mercifulalien
Because human life, even if it's a miserable one, is considered more important.
u/Pulmonary007
Because 84 yo granny “is a fighter” as she’s on crrt, vented, trached, and 3 vasopressors and the family cancels the dnr she wanted and makes us crack every fucking rib on her. People are jus
u/Emotional_Moosey
I always thought this was the way. At the end a kind nurse will give you a large morphine dose. I really think this is how a lot of people go at the end. When you get the choice
u/Woodfordian
I have very strong feelings about letting a person die with dignity.
A friend had medication forced on himself by his family even though he begged them to "just let me die". He was a devout
u/Severe_Literature567
and we don't inherit things from dogs while we do so from relatives. thus, as conflict of interest might be at play, lawmakers very often refrain from opening the gate to a slippery slope of
u/imperfectchicken
My thoughts, too. Someone can't be 100% ethically, morally, etc., sure if killing someone is only benefitting next of kin, particularly if assets are involved.
Even nursing homes, where some
u/Bkraist
In the experience I constantly hear from nurses: the family doesn’t care and keeps them alive anyway. We can justify all we want, but it’s simply extreme selfishness.
u/YouRGr8
Because humans are asshats.
u/SowMuchChaos
They wouldn't give my great grandma enough opiates when she was dying. They were concerned about the risk of addiction. 😬 My grandmother removed her from the hospital and took care of the dos
u/Megalocerus
The fear is that it is convenient to kill the useless old person, so it is a slippery slope. People can specify DNR. And people in hospice can usually self administer as much opiates as the
u/Megalocerus
The fear is that it is convenient to kill the useless old person, so it is a slippery slope. People can specify DNR. And people in hospice can usually self administer as much opiates as the
u/Megalocerus
A doctor told me there always has to be a plan for how you get the person off the opiates. Their dying is an acceptable way. I've seen someone after a massive stroke who was kept unconscious
u/deepestfear
I think a big part of it is that we feel a responsibility to do everything for a person, even if they’re suffering, because we can talk to them and they can sometimes still express what they
u/Rescuepets777
It's horrific, isn't it? Terminally ill people should get as much pain medication as is needed so they don't suffer.
u/NewRelm
Here on the west coast, the right to die is cherished. My doctor bugs me every time I go to complete an advance directive.
u/Layer7Admin
Amd if the government can't figure out how to install a chair lift they recommend maid too.
u/Brooooooke30
Yes having to watch my dad be unresponsive and dying for 8 days was the worst memory I never can forget. I just was shocked we just let them not eat or drink or anything for days and wait for
u/Indigo-Waterfall
Most people DO think euthanasia IS the kind thing to do. However, the problem is creating laws and protections to make sure people really are dying from their own choice and not being murdere
u/Hot-Situation-8953
Religion
u/BumbleBeezyPeasy
I personally believe in a human's right to choose their own expiration date, for any reason.
Everyone in my family, including my 73 and 78 year old parents, agree.
My state allows medical
u/deepestfear
I think a big part of it is that we feel a responsibility to do everything for a person, even if they’re suffering, because we can talk to them and they can sometimes still express what they
u/9Lives_
What if the persons saying “kill me, kill me now”?
u/rogueIndy
There's a few reasons. There are a bunch of ethical issues around assisted suicide, particularly that the subject can feel pressured into it eg. by costs or not wanting to be a burden. It's a
u/SowMuchChaos
They wouldn't give my great grandma enough opiates when she was dying. They were concerned about the risk of addiction. 😬 My grandmother removed her from the hospital and took care of the dos
u/Elegant_Arugula_955
Basically because dogs can't talk
u/GeneralEl4
I get all that but the slippery slope fallacy is called a fallacy for a reason.
Also, most people are still competent while dying, they're just in agonizing pain. If they are for sure dying
u/9Lives_
What if the persons saying “kill me, kill me now”?
u/SignificantOffice600
My friend's father died at 96 and he asked me about suing because he thought the doctors didn't care and do enough. Now, he's going through the same thing with his 98 year old mother in law
u/OvenAssailant
When my grandma got to the no food or water phase of dementia, her care nurse walked in and handed our family a vial of morphine. She explained the dosage for pain relief, and then she explai
u/NewRelm
Here on the west coast, the right to die is cherished. My doctor bugs me every time I go to complete an advance directive.
u/Pulmonary007
Because 84 yo granny “is a fighter” as she’s on crrt, vented, trached, and 3 vasopressors and the family cancels the dnr she wanted and makes us crack every fucking rib on her. People are jus
u/yogigirl125
This happens often and in palliative patients. We live in Canada where we have MAID but once you are actively dying it’s too late to start the process. The doctors had my family member on eve
u/Various_Summer_1536
I really don’t understand why animals get better treatment than people do.
u/yogigirl125
This happens often and in palliative patients. We live in Canada where we have MAID but once you are actively dying it’s too late to start the process. The doctors had my family member on eve
u/RockApeGear
In Westerners, the humane thing to do is leave them a gun.
u/punarob
Religion and the control it has over politics is the only answer
u/ShadedSpaces
Hi, I'm a nurse who is certified in hospice and palliative care.
I'm commenting just in case it brings you any comfort about your dad's death. And I'm incredibly sorry no one explained this
u/GroundhogDayLife
Well here in Canada we have the MAID program where if you qualify under special conditions, you CAN be put to sleep. So in some places in the world, it does happen.
u/Poverty_welder
We care more about our animals than people in our life usually
u/GroundhogDayLife
There’s a long ass wait list for critical surgery and you end up dying before getting it done. But the wait for MAID is very brief. I think they just want people dead. I know someone who was
u/PositiveAtmosphere13
The last time I was in the hospital. I was given a big red wrist band with big DNR on it.
Do Not Resuscitate.
u/BumbleBeezyPeasy
I personally believe in a human's right to choose their own expiration date, for any reason.
Everyone in my family, including my 73 and 78 year old parents, agree.
My state allows medical