This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The human-animal bond is often so strong that pet owners may delay or forgo medical treatment or leave a health care facility against medical advice if they have no one to care for their pet at home. A perspective paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine explains why pet owners may need different approaches to care when hospitalized, according to an Emory University physician and an Ohio State University veterinarian.
Reshma Jagsi, MD, DPhil, the Lawrence W. Davis Professor and chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Emory University, and Rustin Moore, DVM, Ph.D., Rita Jean Wolfe Endowed Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at The Ohio State University, began a conversation at a conference earlier this year. In her presentation, Jagsi spoke about her appreciation of veterinary medicine after her Goldendoodle, Daisy, became seriously ill last year.
Daisy has since recovered. That led Moore to ask whether pets are included in conversations when someone is hospitalized. "We started talking about how caring for animals is such an important part of the core identity of many human patients and yet is often overlooked by physicians," Jagsi says.
"We discussed the interdependency of human and animal health and realized that we had complementary perspectives on a challenge that is seen in human patients, but with limited solutions." "From that conversation came the idea for this manuscript: to raise awareness among human health care providers about the importance and impact of the human–animal bond and to encourage health care systems to embrace a more complete concept of family-centered care—one that recognizes that, for millions of people, family includes pets," Moore says. Surveys show that about two-thirds of U.S. households include at least one pet. Nearly all pet owners consider their pets to be part of their family, with about half indicating that pets are as much family as human members, according to the researchers.
Research has shown that pet companions contribute to reduced stress, increased physical activity, improved cardiovascular outcomes, enhanced emotional stability and social connection in their humans. Pets also depend on their owners for care. "When people become seriously ill, their animals do not suddenly become less important.
In many cases, the bond becomes even more consequential," Moore says. "However, illness and hospitalization can abruptly disrupt access to that relationship, creating two interconnected concerns: the welfare of the animal and the well-being of the person." "Yet these critical relationships are rarely discussed or considered in clinical care, leading to missed opportunities to improve patients' health or misinterpretation of decisions that are constrained by competing obligations to patients' pets," Jagsi notes. The researchers highlight that this disconnect occurs because relevant questions about pet responsibilities are rarely asked in health care settings.
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