For sure. During my mom's cancer treatment, these things came up too. E.g., In going through some options, her neuro-oncologist mentioned one drug, Avastin I think, which would have been something like $100k. In his estimation was unlikely to make any difference in her prognosis, and at best would have been a difference of days of lifespan. She was on Medicare, so it was no cost to us either way, but we all felt like it would have been a waste of money.
At some point during this process it became clear to me that a "whatever the cost" approach is understandable but wrong. We're all going to die. If an intervention can restore somebody to health, to give them years of a good life, that's great. But an awful lot of money is spent on what seemed to me like prolonging the misery. That's not something I want for myself, and it's definitely not something my mom wanted. So as long as there was some hope of more good time, we fought and fought hard. But when hope ran out, we were off to hospice with no regrets. She died peacefully, surrounded by loved ones. It was a much better death than having a lot of futile last-minute interventions.
Speaking of which, if this makes sense to you, make sure your loved ones know your preferences. We had all done living wills years before, and it was such a balm to know exactly what she wanted. I've used Five Wishes for this, and I'm told there are other, possibly better options now too.
At some point during this process it became clear to me that a "whatever the cost" approach is understandable but wrong. We're all going to die. If an intervention can restore somebody to health, to give them years of a good life, that's great. But an awful lot of money is spent on what seemed to me like prolonging the misery. That's not something I want for myself, and it's definitely not something my mom wanted. So as long as there was some hope of more good time, we fought and fought hard. But when hope ran out, we were off to hospice with no regrets. She died peacefully, surrounded by loved ones. It was a much better death than having a lot of futile last-minute interventions.
Speaking of which, if this makes sense to you, make sure your loved ones know your preferences. We had all done living wills years before, and it was such a balm to know exactly what she wanted. I've used Five Wishes for this, and I'm told there are other, possibly better options now too.