A second factor that may explain or limit the results in O'Connor and Cruzan is the medical condition of the individuals involved. Both cases involved patients who were not "terminally ill," if "imminent death" is required in a common definition of that term. The court believed that providing O'Connor nutrition through a nasogastric tube could extend her life for "several months, perhaps several years." 96 Nancy Cruzan was in a persistent vegetative state and, with continued nutrition, could live for another thirty years.97