To pull the plug or not to pull the plug?

I read an article today on the CNN website which spoke about how a family has decided to wait for their son to wake up, after he was trapped underground without oxygen for 15 to 20 minuted when a sand tunnel collapsed on him while he was at a beach in 2011 (Park & Wilson, 2012). He has remained in a vegetative state for a year, but his parents have brought him home and hope for him to awake from the vegetative state. Bringing their son, Ryan Buchanan, home was not the cheapest alternative, but it is an alternative that parents are often willing to take (Park & Wilson, 2012).

Ryan Buchanan. Taken from http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120503015738-buchanan-ryan-bed-horizontal-gallery.jpg

 As a parent, it is an alternative I know I would probably be tempted to take. Questions of concern may arise about whether it is ethically or morally okay to keep Ryan alive on equipment that the government or the people in Ryan's community  are paying for. Right now, the best I can offer is yes, as long as it is not an excessive amount of years (excessive meaning ten or more years). I say that with a hint of reservation because I am sure somewhere and somehow by the Grace of God, a person in a vegetative state for the past 10 or more years has awoken. But I believe waiting for an individual to awake is morally and ethically sound on the basis of treating others the way you would want to be treated. I can only imagine what the family and friends of Ryan went through, and I'm sure it was not an easy decision for the family to decide to keep him alive, despite his vegetative state. I just think about if I were to be in that situation, (I pray and thank God for shielding me so far) the last thing I would want to worry (or pretend to care) about are what other people who have no idea what I am going through tell me what they think is best. I think whatever the outcome--keeping a person alive on a machine or pulling the plug immediately--should be followed and regarded as ethical, as long as it is done according to the wishes of the family (if the person currently in a vegetative state has not made known any of their desires).

Reference:

Park, M., & Wilson, J. (2012, June 16). Waiting for our son to wake up. Retrieved June 19, 2012, from http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/16/health/buchanan-home-child-care/index.html