I don't think you have a very good definition of life. If she is able to express love and feel pain she should be given the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It seems the people who have been taking care of her have a different opinion of a persistent vegetative state. They think when you are able to greet someone, enjoy jello and a laugh that you are not a vegetable. Of course you wouldn't want to live that way. That is what Tom McCall (former governor of Oregon) said when he was healthy. When he got cancer however, he used every 'extraordinary' means to stick around as long as he could.