Nancy Cruzan is in her early thirties and has been in a persistent vegetative state for six years. According to the court, she is "oblivious to her environment except for reflexive responses . . .; [she has] cerebral cortical atrophy [that] is irreversible, permanent, progressive and ongoing; . . . she is a spastic quadriplegic; [and] her four extremities are contracted with irreversible muscular and tendon damage." 29