[actually_a_dog]

> In each case the doctor's asked, "do you want to give him/her a fighting chance?" Of course, no one wants to say 'no' to that question, because they don't really understand what's possible and don't understand what "winning" actually looks like.

Right, and people don't generally think to ask those questions because, at that point, they're not in an emotional state that is conducive to stopping and asking questions. That said, the phrase "fighting chance" is absolutely terrible here. It's far too loaded to convey what would actually be meant here.

[amatecha]

Yeah, some might describe it as something more like "drawing it out as long as possible", from what I've observed of some people in their last days/weeks/months.