I'm not sure where you're reading "above human dignity" into the comments. In many situations, companies will try to accommodate people who are having issues of whatever sort; it's not always red of tooth and claw. But sometimes it does just have to be "just business," especially at the macro level for the benefit of not only investors but also other employees.
It's not that different if someone is just doing some work for me personally. If they have a personal issue someday, by all means they should go deal with it. But I'm not going to cut endless slack for poor workmanship or whatever just because I know they really need a job.
> In many situations, companies will try to accommodate people who are having issues of whatever sort
That's probably because it's easier and cheaper to accommodate people to an extent rather than replace them. Think about how little tolerance minimum wage food service jobs have for peoples' personal life. That's because you can literally replace those people off the street and a brand new employee is extremely productive relative to an experienced employee in a very short time. None of those things are true in a professional environment.
There's certainly some truth in that--although I'm not sure how unique to business relationships it is. The more one has invested in a relationship generally, the more they'll generally put into smoothing over a rough patch or making changes that allow the relationship to continue. Conversely, the more transactional the arrangement is, the more likely you are to terminate it if the immediate benefits aren't worth it. This applies whether employees, suppliers, plumbers, or whatever.
It's not that different if someone is just doing some work for me personally. If they have a personal issue someday, by all means they should go deal with it. But I'm not going to cut endless slack for poor workmanship or whatever just because I know they really need a job.