Since the article is talking about examining the detailed costs of the long, drawn-out process of his slow decline, it is important to note that she says he was

Since the article is talking about examining the detailed costs of the long, drawn-out process of his slow decline, it is important to note that she says he was an overweight ex-smoker, which made him (she says) a prime candidate for kidney cancer. The biggest cost in western-style health care is not end of life care, it is lifestyle-induced illness that leads to an explosion of totally preventable terminal diseases.