Candleflame,
There has been a big to do (in the U.S.) about this woman from Florida. In a nutshell she suffered severe brain damage in 1990 and has been in a permanent vegetative state since then. She can respond to people but doctors have said her brain has the development of a 6-11 month old person. In other words she doesn’t really talk or anything, but she knows when people are around her and can respond in some ways.
She has been on a feeding tube for the last 15 years while in this vegetative state that she will most likely never recover from.
She is married to a man named Michael Schiavo who wants to remove her feeding tube (which will essentially starve her to death) and has stated repeatedly that Terri (before the accident in 1990) had said she would never want to be kept alive on life support. Terri’s parents disagree with that and want to keep her connected to the feeding tube.
There has been court action sicne as early as 1998 when Michael wanted the feeding tube removed and her parents did not. Michael, since he is her husband, is the legal guardian for her.