WARSAW: When Ewa Lutka-Krawczyk was diagnosed with gallbladder cancer, her first thought was for Gaja, a shelter dog she took in three years ago. She asked her doctor to assure her she would live a few more years so the deeply attached Gaja “wouldn’t be left behind.” But the prognosis was grim, and this month the 70-year-old was admitted to the palliative ward of a Warsaw hospital. Left at home with Lutka-Krawczyk’s husband, Gaja was barely eating. “She is waiting for me,” Lutka-Krawczyk said from her bed, where she rested with a draining tube attached to her abdomen.

WARSAW: When Ewa Lutka-Krawczyk was diagnosed with gallbladder cancer, her first thought was for Gaja, a shelter dog she took in three years ago. She asked her doctor to assure…

In Poland, new legislation could allow pets to visit patients in hospices and palliative care wards