Someone with, for instance, older kids who could get themselves into a situation (and only communicate by text) and a parent in a different time zone who’s got Alzheimer’s and is being cared for by a stressed-out sibling who needs support and agreement from the rest of us by group email.
Yes. Android for example has an option to allow starred contacts or certain conversation notifications to always ignore do not disturb, as well as letting calls through if the same number calls twice during 15 minutes.