I’m a nurse and I’ve seen cases where the family refuses to accept the inevitable fact that their loved one is terminal.
I took care of a young woman who had suffered a cardiac arrest after discontinuing dialysis voluntarily. She persisted in a vegetative condition. The family just couldn’t come to accept the fact that she was never going to recover. Finally the nephroligist stopped the dialysis.
She suffered so much during the 6 months I took care of her. I felt so bad for her and her family.
How exactly was this patient suffering if she was in a "vegetative" condition, as you put it? How can any person in the sub-animal state you describe feel any pain or anguish?