In both cases the parents had unrealistic expectations of what therapy could accomplish. The guys had essentially been in a vegetative state for 2-3 years. Both families seemed to believe that if only the young men received enough therapy they'd be back to some semblance of normal. Medicaid and most insurance companies won't pay for treatment that doesn't document true functional progress. I find it really hard to believe that Terry had NO MEDICAL TREATMENT at any point in her course. I'm guessing she had a few weeks of therapy, made no observable progress, was reevaluated to see if anything had changed periodically through the years without much change.
One of the young men we had at the facility had a father who believed that medical science would some day bring his son back. He envisioned a brain transplant, not realizing that if such were possible it would be a body transplant, and the son would become whoever the brain had been in.
The zealousness of the "life at any cost" that kept Baby Jane Doe alive usually is a very emotional but ignorant one.
Without really knowing all the details obviously I'm not an expert as to what condition Terri is in. Judging from the videos though, I'm not convinced she's truly communicating or experiencing pleasure. The so-called laugh or grin looked more like a spasm/grimace.